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Before Saturday night, many were stating that Aussie George Sotiropolous was facing too great a jump up in competition in Joe Stevenson at UFC 110. The thinking was that while he's shown promise in all of his UFC victories, he hadn't faced anyone of Stevenson's caliber to that point and Joe "Daddy" was going to be too much for him.
So much for that.
Sotiropolous put on a ground clinic through three rounds in front of a wild hometown crowd to not only defeat Stevenson via unanimous decision, but move himself into the UFC's Lightweight Title picture sooner rather than later.
The first round of the bout was one of the more exciting and competitive rounds seen in the UFC, with Sotiropolous showing off just how fast and dangerous he is with his top game, continuously searching for submissions and transitioning to better positions. Stevenson wasn't without his offense, though, as he tagged Sotiropolous with a couple of vicious leg kicks and nearly had a submission hold locked in as well.
As the fight continued Stevenson was able to stay aggressive, scoring a few takedowns throughout the next ten minutes, but on the ground he was completely flustered by Sotiropolous. Utilizing the rubber guard, Sotiropolous completely negated the first takedown with an omoplata, using it to sweep and regain position. The jockeying continued through the second and then Sotiropolous showed he was able to stand with Stevenson as well en route to the decision win.
The victory was by far the biggest in Sotiropolous's career, and with it he leaps into the deep end of the UFC lightweight division. A match up with Gray Maynard is highly intriguing and could help determine the next Title challenger once B.J. Penn faces off against Frankie Edgar. The fact that Sotiropolous brings his name into the mix from this fight proves how impressive he was, as prior to the event he would not have been near the top 5 or 10 names thought of near the top of the division.
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