Wagnney Fabiano vs. Clint Godfrey
Round 1
Godfrey throws a low-kick and circles away. Fabiano patiently waits for an opening. Godfrey lands another kick to the inside of Fabiano’s lead leg before shooting in for a takedown. Fabiano sprawls and takes a front headlock before pushing Godfrey to his back. He tries to mount bout gets caught in half-guard. Fabiano continues to try to pass but keeps getting caught between full and half-guard. Godfrey using an effective butterfly guard to keep Fabiano frustrated. Fabiano works a Kimura with less than 30 seconds left but Godfrey uses his leg to block him from extending it. Fabiano uses the distraction of the submission to take mount and land a slew of shots before the horn ends the round.
Round 2
Fabiano looks to trade early in the second but runs right into a Godfrey kick. Fabiano locks him up and hip tosses him to the mat. From side control, Fabiano pins Godfrey into a crucifix position, trapping his right arm with his legs and his left with his right hand, before punching unabatedly to his face. Godfrey bucks his way out and takes top position shortly, but Fabiano sweeps back into the mount. Fabiano shoots short punches to the head of Godfrey as he battles to keep his head off the cage. Godfrey puts Fabiano back in guard and stalls him out until referee Herb Dean decides to restart them on their feet. Fabiano gets the bout back to the ground but with just seconds left, time runs out before he can’t advance position.
Round 3
Fabiano gives up the take down to kick off the final round. Godfrey fights to keep him on his back but the Brazilian rolls to his knees and fights off a guillotine to take top position. Fabiano works for the mount but gets caught in half-guard. He gives up on the mount and takes side-control before going back to mount. Godfrey puts him back in half-guard but eats a few punches for his effort. Dean, sensing the pace is not picking up, restarts the fighters on their feet. Godfrey shoots once again but is reversed again as well.
Fabiano takes the unanimous decision with scores of 30-27 across the board.
I have yet to see the fight, but from the sounds of it Godfrey was out worked and possibly should have kept the fight standing as he seemingly tried to test his ground game up against a brazilian jiu jitsu black belt in Fabiano. Clint didn’t go out there and get demolished and from the sounds of it showed alot of heart, so I think it’s safe to say they will continue with the current five-fight contract and have him back!
Let’s not forget that Godfrey was a late replacement with 3-4 weeks of prep time, not to mention Fabiano dropped a weight class previously being ranked #9 in the world at the featherweight division.
Say what you may, however, I have a feeling now that Clint has gotten his first WEC fight out of the way he will begin to pick it up a bit and these two will meet again in the future in a chase for that bantamweight championship!
*Round by round coverage from Sherdog.com
We should all be proud of Clint for taking this fight on short notice and showing heart in defeat. Now he has got the jitters out of the way and knows what to expect next time as far as the atmosphere and events that happen prior to the fight. I heard he is supposed to be heading down to Denver to train some at Grudge MMA with the likes of Nate Marquardt and Duane Ludwig. Hopefully he will be able to take in some training with some more world class training facilities and improve his skill set. Let’s not forget that Wagnney Fabiano is widely regarded as the best grappler in all of MMA. Hopefully this helped Clint and his trainers find flaws in Clint’s skills that they can help him improve upon. Again Congrats Clint and continue working hard!!!
BIG UPS TO CLINT GODFREY! He was able to go all the way to a decision, and as Crazy Chris said, he made several attempts to take a BJJ Black Belt to the ground. I’m insanely proud of Clint for taking this fight, for stepping up, and for finally taking the next step in his career. Clint was born to be a fighter and it’s about time the rest of the world will get a chance to see that. Thanks to Crazy Chris & John Ponton for providing such great coverage of Clint’s story.
I would love to see a fight between Ox Wheeler and Clint Godfrey. Both are coming off losses and are willing to trade and both are very active on the ground. Ox is coming off a fight of the night performance and think that would be a very explosive fight and one the fans would love to see.
I just watched the fight and Clint was more entertaining and was throwing the better and harder strikes. Clint hit a couple nice sweeps and Frank Mir was very complimentary of Clint coming in on short notice and going 3 full rounds pretty much on his back the entire time with the #9 ranked fighter and arguably the best submission fighter in MMA on top of him. If the WEC doesn’t have Clint back right away it would be a great travesty in this sport. He showed heart and determination even though he was getting dominated. Clearly Clint was frustrated but the “lay n pray” method won the fight for Fabiano.
Where’d you watch it at? Order it off WEC.tv?
Brother-in-law ordered it off WEC.tv.