Baroni standing over Lindland.
The Fight[]
Big John asked if they were ready and Lindland grinned and said 'absolutely'. The first round began and Lindland landed a combination and they clinched against the cage. They exchanged shots inside, Lindland began landing some fast knees to the legs, surprisingly fast. Baroni landed some good body shots inside, going body body body body head repeatedly and quickly. Lindland was looking for the takedown. He was really looking for it. Baroni had Lindland turtled up and grabbed a guillotine and nearly had it, damn that was tight. He let it go and landed good punches in under, Lindland pushed forward and got Baroni on his back in open guard, Lindland passed to half-guard. Lindland landed a few nice elbows from the top, some good left hands. Lindland landed some body shots. A new rule change was that the fighters could be stood up if they weren't busy. Baroni was turtled up and he stood but Lindland had a headlock and Lindland landed big knees to the head. Baroni stood but Lindland had that headlock still landing big knees to the head just over and over. Baroni was still eating those big knees repeatedly. Big shots in under by Lindland. Lindland kept landing those big knees to that head of Baroni. Baroni broke away and landed a series of right hands and stunned Lindland but Lindland clinched quickly. Baroni had a swelling on his right eye from one of those knees. Lindland landed some quick knees to the legs inside, they exchanged dirty boxing reminiscent of Don Frye and Takyama. They broke away and Baroni landed a big straight left hand that dropped Lindland hard and Baroni pounced. Lindland was recovering nicely as Baroni passed to side control. Baroni landed a good forearm strike and another and another. Baroni stood and Lindland stayed laying down. Baroni landed a body kick downwards. The first round ended and the crowd cheered. Baroni looked at Lindland in their corners between rounds smiling tauntingly.
The second round began. Lindland landed a good leg kick and ate a counter striaght left. They clinched and Baroni landed big body shots and shots to the face inside that hurt Lindland. Lindland took Baroni down hard into side control. Lindland landed good hammerfists consistently. Lindland landed some more good shots inside, good elbows to the body. Lindland landed a good elbow to the face and another, and another, some good hammerfists, Lindland landed some more good shots, a good forearm strike. Baroni got back to full guard. Lindland landed more good shots from the top. Lindland landed a big elbow. Lindland landed some more good hammerfists. Lindland passed to mount and landed more good shots in under. Lindland kept raining those punches in under. Lindland landed some more forearm strikes. Baroni was trying to wall walk and he got it into Lindland's full guard and landed a good elbow and another. Lindland landed some good shots from the bottom. Baroni landed a few good elbows. Baroni stood and let Lindland up. Lindland landed some good combinations and took Baroni down and had his back, raining down more strikes, rolled him over into side control. Lindland landed two good knees to the back. Lindland landed two more good knees to the ribs. The second round ended. Tito Ortiz told Baroni in the corner 'Wall walk, man. This is what you fucking worked hard for. Come on, man.'
The third round began. Baroni was smiling again. Lindland landed a leg kick and ate another counter combination. Lindland landed a good right hand. Lindland landed a leg kick. Baroni landed a big straight left and Lindland clinched and he had Baroni's standing back, landing good knees to the leg and then to the head three times. Lindland took Baroni's back, had his hooks in, shoved Baroni down, looked for the choke, rained down blows in under, rolled him over into mount against the fence. Lindland landed shots in under. Lindland landed a good hammerfist. Lindland landed more good shots to the forehead. Baroni tried to wall walk again but Lindland was ready this time and stayed on top. Lindland landed a few good elbows to the forehead. Lindland landed constant shots in under. Baroni NEARLY rolled on top in guard and pushed it to half-guard, and ate some big forearm strikes to the face from Lindland. Lindland landed some elbows to the body. Baroni looked exhausted. Lindland passed to side control and landed two knees to the body. Lindland had Baroni's back again and got both hooks in, landed shots in under, just repeatedly, staying busy. Baroni turned on top into side control. Baroni took Lindlabd's back. Lindland rolled over on top in side control. The referee stood them up and gave them a time out. He told Lindland it was a foul because he had landed a knee to the head on the ground, and he took a point. They continued standing. Lindland landed a leg kick. They exchanged in close, Baroni was landing good shots inside, Lindland was hurt, continuous right hands. They exchanged again in close, Lindland was hurt, Baroni dropped Lindland, Lindland was turtled up, Baroni was landing shots in under, Lindland stood and was trying for a single leg, Baroni was defending for a bit and showing good balance, and Lindland got him down finally RIGHT as the fight ended. Both fighters put their hands up. Matt Lindland got the win by majority decision. It should have been either a win for Baroni or a draw because of that point taken.