UFC 187 results: Rafael Natal stuns Uriah Hall with controversial split decision

Rafael Natal

LAS VEGAS – Rafael Natal managed to bust a lot of parlays when the heavy underdog managed to eek out a split decision over Uriah Hall.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 187 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

It took only seconds for Natal (20-6-1 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) to land a leg kick that drifted north and cracked Hall (10-5 MMA, 3-3 UFC) to the cup, leading to a break in the action. For the first half of the round the action stayed on the feet before Natal finally shot in for a takedown which Hall stuffed with ease.

Hall then seemed to reach a level of comfort where he could open up with head kicks and he cracked Natal twice in a row before landing a beautiful spinning back kick to the body. Natal almost scored with a takedown to finish the round but Hall prevented himself from being put fully on his back.

Natal did explode through a takedown attempt early in Round 2 and got Hall down. Hall was able to work to his feet after roughly a minute but was pinned to the cage with Natal landing knees to the backs of his legs. Hall got separation and then attempted his own takedown which he couldn’t complete before the round came to a close.

Natal connected with a few good punches in Round 3 after eating some leg kicks and a hard knee. Natal attempted to drive through a takedown but Hall defended as both men appeared visibly fatigued. Natal had a few moments in the frame, as did Hall but neither man put a clear stamp on the round, leaving things murky as they headed to the judges’ scorecards.

Natal got his hand raised via split decision. The official scores read 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 187 results include:

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(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan, Matt Erickson and Mike Bohn contributed to this report on site in Las Vegas.)