A nasty low blow. An eye poke. An odd referee restart. A tapout after the horn.
It was that type of fight between Marlon Moraes and John Dodson on Saturday night at UFC Norfolk. After 15 minutes of at-times strange but never boring action, Moraes, the the former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion, scored his first UFC victory.
Two judges gave scored the bout 30-27 Moraes to a 30-27 for Dodson for a split-decision win.
“I think I won all three rounds,” Moraes said. “That’s it.”
The duo were off to a well-contest opening round when Moraes hit a bulls-eye of a kick to the groin, which caused Dodson to dry heave.