Raoni Barcelos vs. Khalid Taha

Round 1
Placed high on this ESPN show is a bantamweight brawl between rising contender Barcelos (15-1, 4-0 UFC) and proud German Taha (13-2, 1 NC; 1-1, 1 NC UFC). The third man inside the Octagon is referee Jason Herzog, and the touch of gloves starts the clock. After a tense 25 seconds, Barcelos kicks Taha in the face with a front kick. The German fighter ignores it and tries to jab from a distance, but he only paws off the gloves of his opponent. Taha slings a right hook, but Barcelos kicks him in the head again. The Brazilian chops the lead leg down with one kick, putting Taha down for a second with a single sweep of the leg. Taha springs back up and is already favoring his lead leg, but the two men come before one another and swing it out. Barcelos again jabs with his foot, and the calf kick once more puts Taha down to the ground. Taha springs back up, and Barcelos is in his face charging him and unloading a furious barrage of punches. As Barcelos pushes Taha into the fence, he rips a few knees on the jaw. They both slug it out a little longer, and Taha clips Barcelos on the side of the head to send the Brazilian reeling. Barcelos rushes in for a desperation takedown, and he hits it against the cage and takes top position. Taha circles around, and as he scrambles, Barcelos takes his back and fishes for a rear-naked choke. Taha fights off the choke as he gets to his knees, and crawls his way to the fence briefly. Barcelos is clinging to him like a bad penny, and he pulls Taha down as he maintains back control. Taha pushes off the hooks and blasts through to reverse the position and wind up on top. As Taha slings a few elbows from above, Barcelos throws his legs up and attacks an armbar. Using the submission to sweep position, Taha rolls through it and defends his limb before standing up. Taha continues to push through and as he stands up, he presses Barcelos to the fence and elbows his man on the temple. A wild scramble puts Barcelos on the offensive, and Taha pushes him away and swings heavy leather. Barcelos hacks at the calf once more, and when Taha charges at him, Barcelos snaps his head back with a flying knee. The two bantamweights trade punches right to the bell, ending this furiously paced opening round.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos
Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos

Round 2
Barcelos jogs out of his corner but touches gloves, and he proceeds to kick Taha in the calf with both legs. Taha absorbs a left hand and fires one back, and he hops forward to deliver a left hook that bounces off the guard. Barcelos attempts to pre-counter with a few check hooks, and Taha ignores them and strides forward with a big right hand. Barcelos leaps up with a flying knee and clips Taha again, but the German’s chin is made of German steel as he bites down on his mouthpiece to swing at his opponent. Barcelos takes a few punches on the chin before he steps in with a knee, and Taha paws at him with a right hook. Three punches from Taha very nearly land on then mark, and Barcelos blocks them to stick his man with a left hand and a blocked head kick. Barcelos stabs at the midsection with his toes, and he throws another kick that lands at the peninsula south of the Equator. Herzog pauses the fight and tells Taha to take all the time he needs, as the kick hit him square. Taha is ready to resume after minute break, and Barcelos offers an apology glove touch as they resume. Barcelos walks him down with a few jabs, and Taha swings hard and comes up short. Barcelos tries to time a knee, but Taha sees it coming and scores a right hand. Barcelos clubs the lead leg, and this time, Taha fires one back at him. Barcelos jabs out with both feet, and he gets off a low leg kick and nearly lands another before Taha is on him. Taha tries to make him pay with punches, and Barcelos is quick to counter. The two to tit-for-tat with strikes one after the other, and both men decide to start ripping the body with punches in their combinations. Barcelos misses with a check knee, and Taha steps forward with a one-two that Barcelos avoids. Barcelos clicks off a few punches on the head, and the calf kick from the Brazilian lands flush once more. Barcelos slaps away punches that come at him and rolls with strikes, and he slams his shin into Taha’s leg to force the German to change stances. Barcelos clubs him with punches, and delivers a knee up the middle that hurts Taha badly. Barcelos puts his foot on the gas as he cracks Taha with another knee, and he is trying to finish the fight as few seconds are left in the round. He chases and batters Taha around the cage, but he cannot get the stoppage he seeks as Herzog takes a close look at the action. Taha may be saved by the bell as the horn sounds.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos
Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos

Round 3
These two bantamweights clap hands to start off the final frame, and they pick up right where they left off. Barcelos flicks out a few kicks high and low, and Taha slaps his fists into the side of Barcelos’s head. Barcelos drills a knee on the jaw, and Taha eats it as he bounces off the cage. Taha tries to respond with strikes of his own, but Barcelos takes him down and starts unloading ground-and-pound from in guard. “The Warrior” scrambles his way to the fence and gets to one knee, but in the process, Barcelos takes his back and gets one hook in. As Taha sits up, the Brazilian wrenches a palm-to-palm neck crank to squeeze a vice grip on his opponent’s chin. Taha grits it out, survives the choke as it slides under the chin, and falls to his back. Barcelos drops down some thudding punches from above, and Taha keeps a rubber guard with his right leg before threatening with a leglock. The submission attempt allows him to force a scramble that gets him back to his feet, where Taha pursues a double leg takedown. Barcelos shrugs it off and breaks up, and Taha chases after him with winging punches. Barcelos snaps a left and a right off while Taha is marching forward, but Taha wades forward with an overhand right and an uppercut. The two trade overhand rights, and Taha blocks the strikes that come his way as he sneaks up an uppercut. Taha kicks the lead leg, but he eats several punches from over the top. Taha clubs him with a left hand, and Barcelos stands in front of him and knees him on the chin. Both men slug it out with everything they have, and Barcelos tries to knee him again but comes up short. Taha stands right in front of his man throwing punches, and Barcelos ducks and kicks the leg. Taha overextends on a right hand and Barcelos tries to take him down, but he cannot get it there. Barcelos scores a big knee on the jaw, and Taha wears it well and presses into a takedown. When Barcelos breaks out of the position, the two have one final slugfest right to the bell. What a fight!

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos (30-27 Barcelos)
Tristen Critchfield scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos (30-27 Barcelos)
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Barcelos (30-27 Barcelos)

The Official Result
Raoni Barcelos def. Khalid Taha via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Khalid Taha vs. Bruno Silva

Round 1
To kick off our night, we have the only fight that does not feature a fighter from Oceania, as Germany's Taha (13-2, 1-1 UFC) takes on Silva (10-3-2, 0-0 UFC) from Brazil. Silva starts out strong with his walkout game, using a song normally attributed to Robert Whittaker: "Can't Be Touched" by Body Head Bangerz, most famously known as the rap group created by boxing legend Roy Jones Jr. Our referee for this 137-pound catchweight contest -- Taha missed weight -- is Greg Kleynjans. The two men touch gloves, and we begin the night. They feint and fake to find an angle, and it is Silva that strikes first, landing a low leg kick that almost buckles the leg of Taha. They come together, and both swing heavy leather, and Taha drops Silva with a left hook. Silva springs to his feet quickly and jumps into the clinch with Taha. The German stalks down Silva and throws a kick that falls short, but he has Silva backing away. "The Warrior" sits down on a right hand and even though Silva partly blocks it, it still stings him and marks his face up. Silva commits to a body kick, and Taha walks right through it while trying to wing another big right hand. Taha swings a leg kick so hard he nearly falls off balance, missing Silva, but he follows up with a hard right. As Silva backs off, he aims for a high leg kick but it misses the mark, catching Taha right in the cup. The action pauses, and Taha takes a minute before we start things up again. The Brazilian whiffs with a spinning wheel kick, and Taha presses forward into the clinch. Silva spins him around, and in the clinch fires a knee up the middle that loudly catches Taha in the groin. Taha crumples to the ground in obvious pain, and doesn't take nearly enough time to recover before the fight begins again. An angry Taha sprints toward Silva, but Silva backs away and eats a body kick. Silva just misses a spinning back fist, and then charges forward to pursue a body lock takedown, as the horn sounds to end the round.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Taha
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Taha
Cole Shelton scores the round: 10-9 Taha

Round 2
As Round 2 begins, Taha runs forward to throw a body kick, and then drops Silva with a powerful right straight. Taha blitzes forward and throws a kick as hard as he can, luckily missing the head of his opponent -- if it had landed, it would have been illegal, as Silva had a knee on the ground. Silva uses the aggression of his opponent to finally take Taha to the ground, and sitting in full guard he drops down multiple hammerfists. Posturing up for a moment only to jump back down with punches, Silva takes an upkick to the chin but uses the moment to advance his position to side control. Taha takes back side control, while exerting heavy pressure on the German. Silva briefly looks to set up an arm-triangle choke, but he is in the wrong position for it, so he bails and tries to set up some elbow strikes. The two men scramble as Taha desperately tries to get back to his feet, and he gets back to full guard but takes several hard elbows and punches in the process. Silva stands up again to return with more strikes, and instead of getting back to his feet, Taha throws a few more upkicks, allowing Silva to come back down on him. Taha spins out and gets to his knees, so Silva counters with a brief guillotine choke setup before blasting a knee to his opponent's chest as the round expires.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Silva
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Silva
Cole Shelton scores the round: 10-9 Silva

Round 3
Touching gloves one last time, Silva opens up the round with a spinning kick, but Taha closes the distance so it cannot land. Like the second round, Silva shoots in for a takedown, and gets his man down, but this time Taha does not stay grounded for long. Taha stands up, but embodying his nickname of "Bulldog," Silva stays tenacious in the clinch before dropping down for a single leg takedown. In the process, Taha scores a knee on the chin of the Brazilian, before going on to stuff the attempt. Silva tries for a trip before spinning out, and Taha comes on strong with several wide hooks. As Silva shoots in for another takedown in the center of the cage, Taha blasts him with a slew of loud elbows to the side of the head. Silva spins around, but Taha takes advantage and tries to cinch up a rear-naked choke. Silva falls to his back, and "The Warrior" quickly turns and jumps from mount to side control.
From that position, his sights are fully set on an arm-triangle choke, and as he pushes down Silva has no choice but to tap out or get put to sleep.
This is a big win for Taha, who usually prefers to finish his opponents with strikes.

The Official Result
Khalid Taha def. Bruno Silva R3 3:00 via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke)