Andre Petroski vs. Yaozong Hu

Round 1
Hu’s not on first, but he is on second tonight. To the surprise of many, former heavyweight Hu (3-2, 0-2 UFC) is still on the UFC roster, having last competed nearly three years ago up a division. Petroski (6-1, 1-0 UFC) will greet him in his return fight, who has competed in all but one of his career bouts since Hu last fought. Referee Jason Herzog presides over this middleweight clash, and the fighters do not touch gloves to get started. Instead, Hu paws out long left jabs to find any semblance of range, and Petroski fakes a level change to come over the top with a left hand. Hu walks into a left hand, and Petroski sees the success of it and blasts his Chinese foe with another. As Petroski loads up on another, Hu tries to counter, but the sheer impact of them leads Hu to fall to his back. Petroski leaps on top of him, claiming mount and latching on to a guillotine choke. Hu barely moves in this position, apparently not in submission danger, and he wriggles his neck free with tiny movement after tiny movement. Petroski follows Hu when Hu scrambles to land some strikes, and then take Hu’s back. Petroski snags a rear-naked choke, and when it is not under the chin, he bails on it and turns it into an anaconda choke. Hu does not fall victim to this either, and he gets to his knees and stands up. When they both get back up, Petroski clocks him with a left hand. The American lays into his opponent with strikes, and a solid front kick surprises him to the chest. Petroski loads up on power punches, each of them winging, and Hu walks through most of them although he is getting dinged up. This sloppy brawl may be emptying the gas tanks of both men, as technique is out the window and they are throwing nothing but wild power strikes. With a minute left in the first round, Petroski starts taking deep, deep breaths. Petroski turns a kick into a takedown, and Hu tries to defend with a submission off his back, so Petroski abandons ship and stands back up. A kick from Petroski knocks Hu all the way across the cage to ricochet off the wall, but he comes back with a vengeance with a few heavy punches. Petroski lands a right and a left before the round ends, and he avoids the counters that zoom past his face.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Petroski
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Petroski
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Petroski

Round 2
It’s anyone’s guess if Petroski’s cardio can hold up for two more rounds of exhausting action, because Hu appears fired up and ready to put on pressure. They flirt with a glove touch, but pull it back, allowing Petroski to drop down and hit a takedown. Hu falls to his back but springs back up into action, and he breaks the grip of an anaconda choke setup and turns with a gator roll to keep his neck safe. Petroski stands back up and lands a big right hand that slams into Hu’s face, and he chains that into a more successful takedown. After some ground-and-pound, Petroski grips on to a guillotine choke, and he pulls guard with it. When that does not succeed, he turns into a brabo choke setup. This too comes up short, and Petroski hops on top and over to the side to set up an arm-triangle choke. Hu hooks his arms beneath his knee to keep enough space so that the choke cannot be tight, and he does so until Petroski lets go of the grip. “Totoro” turns to his side and looks to stand up, but this allows Petroski to hook up an arm-triangle choke on the other side. Hu goes back to his leg grip to stop the choke from succeeding, and Petroski lets it go so that he does not burn himself out on something that is not there. Hu uses the moment of success to roll to his knees, but Petroski is on him like a cheap suit, holding him down to the mat and not allowing Hu to get back up. Hu ends up giving his back up as they continue to scramble, and Petroski gets a hook in and tries to wrap up a rear-naked choke that is not under the neck. Hu does survive the choke, but both hooks are in, and he is now content to ride out the round in this position. Hu explodes out of the position, and when he stands back up, Petroski nails him with two powerful elbows.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Petroski
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Petroski
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Petroski

Round 3
After two rounds of grueling action, Hu’s on third along with Petroski. Hu walks out of his corner only to get kicked in the body, and he tries to walk his opponent down. The forward momentum allows him to fight off a takedown, as he can stuff it in time. Petroski backs up, and like a wrestling version of Bald Bull from “Punch Out,” he charges from the edge of the cage wall all the way across the ring to hit a double and put Hu on his back at the other side of the Octagon with dramatic effect. The most telegraphed takedown try in recent memory succeeds, and he steps over to land some vicious elbows before taking Hu’s back. With a single hook in, Petroski goes after a rear-naked choke, and Hu’s submission defense holds up. When Hu turns, Petroski goes after a brabo choke, and Hu uses the posture to get to his knees and back up. Petroski is a man possessed, and he pounds Hu in the face with ferocious punches that knock his Chinese opponent’s head around. Petroski blasts Hu with shots, and then turns the forward-heavy approach into a takedown. Petroski instantly mounts Hu like a hot knife through butter, and after a failed rear-naked choke, he postures up to hammer Hu with elbows. Hu is hurt but still has his wits about him, and Petroski’s offense slows perhaps because of his gas tank.
Petroski lands a few punches, and then hops over to side control to link up an arm-triangle choke. Hu’s savvy hands-under-the-knee approach does not come in time, and when he finally gets his hands there, it is too late and the choke is too tight. Hu cannot answer the telephone, or any of the other colloquially named arm-triangle defenses, and he has no choice but to surrender to the submission.
What an outstanding performance for Petroski, who was well on his way to a dominant decision win over a tough out in former heavyweight Hu. With this tapout added to his ledger, Petroski keeps a perfect 100% finish rate in victory.

The Official Result
Andre Petroski def. Yaozong Hu R3 4:46 via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke)