UFC Fight Night 37 results: Claudio Henrique da Silva capitalizes on late restart to best Brad Scott

LONDON – Brazilian Claudio Henrique da Silva didn’t always look spectacular, but in the end he was effective enough to take home a hard-fought decision win over Brad Scott.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 37 event at O2 Arena in London. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

It was da Silva who rushed forward from the start, but Scott was able to time his opponent’s awkward takedown attempts and counter with well-placed punches. When da Silva did finally get hold of a leg one minute in, he took Scott to the floor and established top position. Scott eventually worked back to his feet, where they exchanged strikes until the final minute, when da Silva scored another takedown.

The second opened with da Silva firing off wild capoeira techniques, but they were generally just masks to move in for takedowns. Unfortunately for him, Scott started out by defending those well and countering with crisp punches. A bizarre series unfolded two minutes in, as da Silva complained of a kick to the groin, but referee Neil Hall declined to step in and call time. Scott was hesitant to attack but eventually began to unleash. A frustrated da Silva appeared to tire, as well, and Scott seized the momentum. When da Silva dropped willingly to the floor on two occasions, Scott backed immediately away and brought him back to the feet.

To start the third, da Silva’s right eye was nearly closed, but the contest carried on. An exhausted da Silva tried his best to attack, but it was Scott’s straight punches that scored with more tenacity. An inadvertent eye poke earned da Silva a brief break, and it wound up being the deciding moment of the fight, as he capitalized on the restart by scoring a quick takedown and transitioning to Scott’s back. He was too high on the position, and Scott slipped out the back and looked to reverse course. Unfortunately for him, da Silva immediately turned over and took top position, where he smothered Scott and started throwing short punches.

Scott crawled to his feet in the final 30 seconds, but da Silva dropped for an attack on the leg before using the attempt to pick his opponent and push him to the floor, finishing the fight in top position. The late work was enough to earn da Silva the final round, and he took home the win with three scores of 29-28.

“I feel great,” da Silva said after the win. “I trained really hard and deserved the win. I was a bit sick beforehand, but I stuck to my game and am so happy. It’s a dream come true.”

After losing his professional debut, da Silva (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has since earned 10-straight wins. Meanwhile, Scott (9-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has now earned just one victory in three UFC appearances, but admitted a series of eyepokes in the fight left him feeling wronged.

“I feel robbed,” Scott said. “I had three eye gouges in that fight, and it really knocked me off my game.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 37 results include:

For complete coverage of a UFC Fight Night 37, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson contributed to this report on-site in London.