Leonard Garcia defeats Nam Phan via controversial Split Decision

In the UFC’s first ever live featherweight bout, Leonard Garcia defeated Ultimate Fighter semi-finalist Nam Phan by controversial split-decision.  The victory marks Garcia’s first ever victory with the UFC, bringing his mark to 1-2 with promotion overall.

The bout started off as expected, with both fighters exchanging back and forth, with neither man gaining a clear advantage.  However, as the match-up progressed Garcia became noticeably tired in the second round, as his technique began to suffer Phan would gain a clear advantage in the stand-up.  As the second round came to a close, Pham rocked Garcia with a big punch followed by a kick that grounded the former WEC stand-out.  Pham’s attempts to sink in a late choke were interrupted by the sound of the bell however, and Garcia would survive to see a third round.  In the closing round we saw more of the same.  Garcia was noticeably gassed and had nothing to offer aside from a sloppy takedown attempt, and though successful Nam would regain his footing immediately and continue to dominate his opponent in the stand-up.

In an ongoing trend, the judges handed down a surprising decision 29-28, 27-30, 29-28 in favor of Garcia.