Ultimate Fighting Championship heads back to Brazil for the UFC 190 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which takes place TONIGHT (Sat., Aug. 1, 2015) inside HSBC Arena, featuring a women's Bantamweight title headliner of Ronda Rousey and No. 1 contender Bethe Correia.
The pair have a long-standing beef because of "Pitbull's" destruction of her two training partners Jessamyn Duke and Shayna Baszler, as well as these not so subtle comments regarding "Rowdy" and suicide. Because of these actions, Rousey will look to drag things out against her outspoken Brazilian opponent, leaving this is a gift to her country when it is all said and done.
The co-main event pits former Pride FC stars Shogun Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira against each other in a rematch of their epic June 2005 clash in Japan. Both men could use a "W" to prolong their mixed martial arts (MMA) careers after suffering lopsided losses of late.
Filling out the rest of the seven-fight, UFC 190 main card are The Ultimate Fighter (TUF): "Brazil" 4 Lightweight and Bantamweight finals, as well as meetings involving Stefan Struve, Antonio Minotauro Nogueira, Claudia Gadelha and Jessica Aguilar.
However, before fight fans become fixated on the PPV bouts, they will be treated to a set of six "Prelims," which begin on Fight Pass at 7 p.m. EST, before transitioning over to FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. EST.
Below are the live recaps for each of the two UFC 190 Fight Pass "Prelims:"
Clint Hester vs. Vitor Miranda
Hester aimed to take out Miranda in his home country in order to continue his assault up the middleweight ladder in a matchup of 185-pound bangers.
Hester starts of pawing with his jab. He takes the center of the Octagon. He is looking for the double leg takedown. "Headbussa" has the Brazilian grounded against the cage. Hester not giving him any room to breath. He starts to attack with huge knees to the body of his grounded opponent. He pulls Miranda away from the cage and is in half guard now. Hester rolls with him and has his back now. Miranda gets back to his feet with three minutes left in the round and stuffs a takedown by the Atlanta native. He then slides into half guard shortly after. "Lex Luthor" is teeing off a bit with two minutes to go. Hester is cut open from the heavy punches and elbows. A huge left hand connects for Miranda while he is in half guard. He looks like he might be going for an arm-triangle choke submission, but opts for more ground and pound as round one ends.
Miranda starts round two with an inside leg kick. Hester shoots in for a takedown. A clinch battle ensues; some knees land for Hester. A solid leg kick lands for Miranda. Hester launches a jab, followed by an uppercut and initiates the clinch. He is having difficult keeping him grounded so far in round two. He lands a good elbow before they exit the clinch. Miranda rocked an incoming Hester with a hard knee. Hester drops to the mat and Miranda launches an all-out assault to finish the fight. He cuts Hester open above the eye. A few more elbows from Miranda and no answer from Hester forces referee Herb Dean to call the fight near the middle of round two for a technical-knockout victory. Miranda gives Team Nogueira their first win of the night, tallying his second-straight win in the process, Hester drops his second fight in a row and sees his overall record fall to 11-5.
Guido Cannetti vs. Hugo Viana
The highly potent Argentinian Cannetti looked to start a new winning streak against the TUF: "Brazil" veteran Viana in the UFC 190 opener.
Fighters hesitant to engage to open the bout. Viana charges in with a head kick and a hook, but nothing landed clean. Cannetti went for a spinning heel kick, missed and is taken down by "Wolverine." Viana goes for a heel hook and is in the process of taking his back. The 32-year-old gets Cannetti's back as they are on their feet now. Viana is looking to get the fight back to the ground through a trip in the clinch. Cannetti is countering with knees to the body. His takedown defense is excellent so far. They trade knees with 90 seconds left in the first round. The referee restarts the pair in the center of the Octagon with a minute left. Viana connects with a solid body kick and then lands a takedown attempt, but Cannetti is back to his feet in a hurry. Cannetti ends the round with a nice kick.
Cannetti starts off round two with a hard leg kick. Head kick lands for Cannetti, which stuns the Brazilian. He takes Viana down and is in side control. He works his way back to full guard. Cannetti looking to posture up and land ground and pound. Solid left hand finds the mark. Viana gets back to his feet, lands a takedown, but Cannetti is right back up on his feet. Viana lands a spinning body kick. The Taekwondo specialist scores with a chopping leg kick that sends Cannetti down to the floor momentarily. He pushes forward and backs Cannetti into the fence. Viana can't find the double leg takedown after expending some energy. Viana, the southpaw, seems to be throw the jumping body kick often. He scores his second takedown of the fight a few seconds later and lands a few good hammer fists.
Viana goes to orthodox briefly to start round three. He goes for the takedown after a missed head kick attempt by Cannetti. Viana still searching for the takedown after about a minute. He gets grounded for a moment, but springs back up. For a bout with two strikers, a large portion of this tilt has taken place in the clinch. It could be decided by the number of takedowns landed. They separate from the clinch with less than 2:30 left. Cannetti fires off a good body shot, but allows Viana to clinch with him. The referee restarts the bantamweights with 90 seconds left in the fight. Now Cannetti initiates the clinch. He scores with a huge takedown attempt with 45 seconds left. Cannetti is landing short shots. A very pivotal turning point for Cannetti as round three draws to a close. Cannetti earns his first career victory outside of the first round via unanimous decision and is now 7-2 overall. Viana loses his second-straight fight, including his first career loss in Brazil.