UFC 167 results, photos, gifs: Sergio Pettis gets tested by Will Campuzano, but wins UFC debut

LAS VEGAS – There were glimpses of his older brother’s high-flying offense, but for his UFC debut Sergio Pettis was given a stiff test from a game Will Campuzano.

Pettis had to go back and forth at times with Campuzano, who took the fight on short notice, but got out of the fight with a unanimous decision victory.

The bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 167 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It streamed on MMAjunkie ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and a main card on pay-per-view.

Pettis, the younger brother of UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis, bounced outside early in the fight while Campuzano took the center of the cage. But just 20 seconds in, Campuzano shot in for a solid double-leg takedown. Pettis, though, latched onto a guillotine choke and that helped him back to his feet. Once there, the two traded punches, but a kick from Pettis was caught and again Campuzano took the fight to the ground. Pettis returned to his feet, but Campuzano worked to take Pettis’ back. But Pettis reversed and landed a knee to the body on the ground.

The two traded kicks, and one from Pettis to Campuzano’s leg appeared to hurt him – and Pettis’ corner called for him to go after it. He did, and landed several big punches, as well. Pettis tried a flying knee with 30 seconds left, but Campuzano caught it and took Pettis back down.

In the second, Pettis went right back after the left leg, but Campuzano stayed in the pocket. Ninety seconds into the round, Pettis landed a takedown, and he was able to work a guillotine choke. Campuzano rolled out of it, but not out of danger. Pettis took his back momentarily – but then Campuzano expertly reversed to wind up on top.

Campuzano was able to land some good shots from the top. Pettis tried to get to his feet and did, then used it to get back to top position on the ground. With 30 seconds left, as Campuzano came forward for a takedown, Pettis landed a big knee. But he couldn’t finish things off. At the end of the round, Campuzano sat down against his opposite corner and needed to be reminded what corner he had to go to.

In the third, Campuzano had arguably his best round, spending quite a bit of time on top. But even that wasn’t enough for two of the judges, who gave “The Phenom” Pettis a 30-27 sweep. A third judge scored it 29-28 for the 20-year-old, who is the UFC’s youngest fighter.

“I wanted to go in there and look for the finish every second of the fight,” Pettis said. “I really was looking to make a statement out there, but Will is a very tough opponent and it was an honor fighting him. I think the fight was closer than the scores indicated, but I think I controlled it.”

Campuzano certainly would second the notion that the fight was closer than two 30-27s.

“I thought the decision was pretty biased, to be honest,” Campuzano said. “I was a late replacement and only got to train for three days before I had to start cutting weight. I for sure won the third round since I controlled about four and a half minutes of it, and I thought the second round was a toss-up. I really think I did enough to get the win.”

Pettis (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) stayed unbeaten in his MMA career. Campuzano (13-5 MMA, 0-3 UFC) had a five-fight winning streak snapped in his return to the promotion for the first time in nearly three years.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 167 results include:

For complete coverage of UFC 167, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Las Vegas.