The UFC’s first trip to Maine took place on Saturday night, as UFC Fight Night 47 went live from the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The ten fight docket appeared to be well-matched on paper, and the majority of the bouts ended up being competitive in the cage as well, with several come-from-behind victories throughout the card. All told, seven favorites picked up victories, while three underdogs ended up cashing based on the closing odds at Several Bookmakers. Here’s a recap of what went down: Favorites That Won In the night’s main event, Ryan Bader continued to establish himself as the gatekeeper to the top of the light heavyweight division. Bader used his wrestling to control Ovince St. Preux in every round but the second, and moved his winning streak to three. With his decision win, Bader should get another shot at one of the division’s elite, a place he has faltered at multiple times before in his career. Bader closed at -185 in the bout. Ross Pearson didn’t have to worry about the judges this time around. After a bit of a slow start, he managed to find Gray Maynard’s chin in the second round to hand a third consecutive TKO loss to the former lightweight title challenger. The win snapped one of the stranger two-fight winless streaks in the UFC, and Pearson closed as a -160 favorite. Shawn Jordan was one of many fighters to come back from the brink to earn a stoppage victory. Jack May had him in serious trouble early in the second round, but Jordan managed to get the fight to the ground and wear his opponent out, eventually overwhelming him with strikes on the ground for a third-round TKO stoppage. Jordan was -200 as the fight went off. Thiago Tavares looked impressive in his debut as a featherweight, getting Robbie Peralta to the ground early and maintaining excellent control while doing solid damage with his ground-and-pound. Eventually Peralta’s left a big hole in his submission defense and Tavares locked in the rear-naked choke at 4:27 of the first round. Tavares was one of many slight favorites to cash on the night, as he closed at -135. In a bout that some found contentious, Sara McMann took a split decision over Lauren Murphy based heavily on her top control. McMann had top position for much of rounds one and two, but Murphy was landing more from her back and keeping McMann firmly in her guard. With McMann the largest favorite on the card at -570, the bout certainly wasn’t as easy as the public thought heading in, but she did get her hand raised. Tom Watson faced some serious adversity in the third round of his bout against Sam Alvey, but held on for the unanimous decision. Watson won the first two rounds primarily with his kicking game, as the fighters stood on the outside and Alvey offered little in the way of offense or defense. Watson was another tight favorite, at just -125 when the bell rang. 
In the opening bout of the evening, Frankie Saenz debuted successfully over Nolan Ticman, taking a 30-27 decision on all judges scorecards. Saenz was a very slight -120 favorite heading into the bout, but outworked Ticman throughout and certainly provided some great early value for those who bet him. Underdogs That Won Maine native Tim Boetsch found his way onto the UFC’s first card in his home state, but the first eight minutes of his bout with Brad Tavares made it seem like the homecoming wouldn’t be so sweet. Then, Boetsch landed a left hook in an exchange that dropped Tavares. He followed that up with a right hand as Tavares reeled against the cage, and that was it. Boetsch’s victory saw the crowd in Bangor erupt, and he was another big dog to cash on the night, closing at +285. If Alan Jouban continues to take the type of punishment he did against Seth Baczynski, he may need to put the male modelling career on the backburner. Luckily, he has a heck of a chin and excellent punching power which allowed him to come back from nearly being stopped to put Baczynski out with a left hook. Jouban cashed at +145 in his UFC debut. Former #1 flyweight in the world Jussier Formiga showed some of the skills that got him in that position, by outgrappling Zach Makovsky for the first ten minutes of their bout, before dropping the final frame. In the end, it was still enough for the Brazilian to take a decision and cash as a +290 underdog, the biggest of the night.
