UFC 122 REVIEW PART 4: SOSZYNSKI VS. RELJIC

KRYSZTOF SOSZYNSKI VS. GORAN RELJIC

The first round starts out as an evenly matched stand up war, where both fighters receive as much as they give. It seems that every time one fighter becomes aggressive and lands a few successful shots, the other pays him in kind instantly. Reljic changes pace and takes Soszynksi down late in the round, though, and winds up almost being submitted by Soszynksi with a Kimura for his troubles. Soszynski is unable to finish, though, and the fight goes on to a second round. Very difficult round to score, but since Reljic got that takedown late in the round, I would think that he won it. 

Krysztof Soszynski pummels Goran Reljic with ground and pound

Reljic takes Soszynski down early in the second round and winds up on top, but does not press the action, so is stood up by referee Marc Goddard. Soszynski then goes for a takedown of his own, but Relji defends it and the fight winds up on the fence. The rest of the round stays here, with both fighters pressing against each other and reversing every chance they get. Not the most exciting thing to watch, and the crowd reacts as expected. Though Reljic got that takedown early in the round, I think Soszynski was the more of the active of the throughout, so I gave the round to him. 

Reljic shoots in at the start of the round, but Soszynksi stuffs it beautifully and manages to get Reljic's back. From here, he rains down some effective ground and pound shots, and even when Reljic manages to get back up, the fight quickly returns to the ground with Soszynski on top and raining hell. Reljic just seemed too gassed at this point from two straight rounds of grappling, so Soszynski's superior conditioning won the fight for him. He wins the fight via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Though the second round was a bit of a bore to behold, the first and seconds featured some great action from these two competitors, so it was a pretty decent fight, overall. 

Check out more amazing photos of UFC 122 at the official UFC website!