They keep the UFC Vegas 121 line moving with a middleweight clash
between Vieira (11-5, 6-5 UFC) and Bryczek (18-7, 1-2 UFC) at 185
pounds. Hatley oversees the action and gives the two men the green
light. Vieira flips out a few jabs and secures a single-leg
takedown. He settles in half guard and smothers Bryczek with
shoulder pressure. Vieira climbs to full mount and drops some
punches. Bryczek gives up his back, scrambles and escapes. Vieira
closes in and secures a trip takedown before moving behind his
Polish counterpart. He scores with right hands. Ninety seconds on
the clock. Bryczek has survived the worst-case scenario to this
point. More punches from Vieira, who tries and ultimately fails to
soften his opponent for the choke. Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Vieira
Tudor Leonte scores the round: 10-9 Vieira
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Vieira

They emerge for Round 2. Vieira opens with a leg kick, then
another. He jabs into a double-leg. Bryczek gets to his feet but
finds himself stuck in a body lock. Vieira scores with knees to the
leg. They separate and trade jabs. Bryczek ups his aggression.
Vieira clinches and presses the Pole into the fence, then drives a
few short punches into his face. He drops in on the hips but goes
nowhere. Vieira works toward a single-leg, reshoots and settles
back into the clinch, landing a left hook on the break. The
Brazilian clinches again and lands a few knees, one of which misses
the mark and nails Bryczek in the cup. It results in a pause to the
action that figures to benefit both men at this point. Hatley
restarts them after almost three minutes. Bryczek lands hooks with
both hands, pins the Brazilian to the fence and unleashes a
multi-punch barrage. Vieira weathers the storm and clinches,
stymying the rally. Bryczek defends against the takedown. Vieira
exits and connects with a clubbing left to close the round. Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Vieira
Tudor Leonte scores the round: 10-9 Vieira
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Vieira

Bryczek almost certainly needs a finish as Round 3 starts. Vieira
opens with a one-two, then whiffs on a left hook. Bryczek carrying
his hands low. Vieira cracks him with three hard low kicks, then
sweeps him off his feet with another. Bryczek answers with a jab
and goes headhunting. Vieira shoots and drives into the clinch.
Onlookers boo. Vieira ignores them and feeds his opponent a series
of knees to the legs, then stomps at the feet. They separate.
Bryczek jabs, moves forward and lands an overhand right. He
flurries with hooks and connects with another right hand over the
top. Vieira flirting with danger here. They trade jabs. Bryczek
shakes off a single-leg but cannot avoid the clinch. Two minutes to
go. Vieira works the body lock along the fence, all while
neutralizing the Pole and bleeding valuable time off the clock.
Ninety seconds left. Action stalls against the cage, as Hatley
hovers nearby. Vieira lands a few short punches, staying busy
enough to avoid a restart. Bryczek may be out of gas—and
understandably so. He denies a single-leg but cannot break free.
Bryczek lands a few elbows to the side of the head to end it. Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek (29-28 Vieira)
Tudor Leonte scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek (29-28 Vieira)
Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek (29-28 Vieira)
The Official Result
Rodolfo Vieira def. Robert Bryczek—Unanimous Decision (30-27,
30-27, 30-27)

“Battle Giraffe” Rowston (14-3; 2-0 UFC) seeks to continue his
impressive UFC run at the expense of Poland’s Bryczek (18-6; 1-1
UFC), with referee Lukasz Bosacki in charge of rules enforcement.
Both men are in orthodox stance to start things off, and it’s
Bryczek stalking forward as Rowston gives ground and looks for
counters. Bryczek is doing a lot of hand fighting, trying to get
inside on the much taller, rangier Aussie, but Rowston is wise to
it and catches him with the right cross twice in a row. Bryczek
wades into the pocket and lands a flurry of hooks to the body. They
appear to have had an effect, because Rowston changes levels for a
takedown. He hauls Bryczek to his seat, but Bryczek will not
concede the position, scooting and using underhooks to get back up.
Rowston changes levels again, drives Bryczek to the fence and
scoops him up for an easy-looking takedown. Rowston is in his
opponent’s full guard at the base of the fence with 90 seconds to
go, trying to posture up and drop punches while Bryczek controls
the wrists. Bryczek switches to butterfly hooks and kicks Rowston
off, but Rowston dives back into his guard before he can get up.
Rowston smashes Bryczek with a couple of hard ground punches before
the horn. 10-9 Rowston.

Rowston strikes first with a calf kick from distance. Bryczek
surges forward and Rowston tags him with a three-punch salvo. As
Bryczek backs off, Rowston gives chase, changing levels for a
double-leg attempt against the fence. Rowston can’t finish the
takedown and they circle away from the cage. Rowston comes forward
for another takedown attempt, which Bryczek intercepts with a front
headlock. Rowston pops his head out and finishes the takedown.
Rowston is in Bryczek’s full guard at the base of the cage,
posturing up and landing a couple of strikes. Rowston applies
shoulder pressure, sets up a possible arm-triangle choke and passes
to side control. Bryczek is surviving for the moment, but making no
moves to escape, let alone launch any offense of his own. Rowston
gives up on the choke, stands up from side control and nails
Bryczek with a couple of standing-to-ground punches. Rowston keeps
bombarding his man with long punches from above. Bryczek gets
Rowston back into guard, but this slows, rather than halts, the
onslaught. Thirty seconds to go and the round has been all Rowston
so far. Bryczek survives to hear the horn after a lopsided five
minutes. 10-9 Rowston.

The momentum is all with the home fighter as they come out for
Round 3. They exchange punches in the center of the cage, with both
men landing bur Rowston getting the better of it. Rowston lands a
slapping left kick to the midsection. Rowston grabs the Thai clinch
and drives a knee up the middle, then lets go, changes levels as
Bryczek straightens, and plows him to the floor effortlessly.
Rowston sets up in half guard, lands a couple of strikes and passes
to side control. Rowston is riding high, weighing heavy on
Bryczek’s chest and possibly looking for a topside choke, but
slithers to his opponent’s back when Bryczek bridges. Rowston is on
Bryczek’s back for a moment, but Bryczek manages to spin back to
guard. Bryczek gets butterfly hooks, elevating Rowston, but
Rowston’s reach is such that he’s pelting him in the face anyway.
Rowston gets back to full guard, postures up and lands a couple of
elbows as he passes to half guard. Rowston passes to side control,
then takes back control when Bryczek turtles up. Bryczek gets back
to guard, but Rowston keeps throwing punches. Rowston shrugs off a
last-ditch leglock attempt and keeps dropping strikes until the
final horn. Dominant performance by Cam Rowston. 10-8 Rowston
(30-26 Rowston).
The Official Result
Cam Rowston def. Robert Bryczek via Unanimous Decision (30-27,
30-27, 30-27)

Longtime veteran Tavares (21-10, 16-10 UFC) had his most recent
contract come to an end, and after a brief time of uncertainty he
was brought back to the promotion he joined by winning the 11th
season of “The Ultimate Fighter.” While he has faced many of the
best fighters in the history of the middleweight division, he draws
a Polish adversary in Bryczek (17-6, 0-1 UFC) that may be a bit
less decorated but is just as dangerous given his stoppage rate
above 70%. Referee Lukasz Bosacki draws the charge to handle the
185ers, who clap hands to initiate the match. Bryczek puts his foot on the gas, chasing the longtime vet around,
and he finds himself in the pocket with Tavares. This results in
them both trading, and Tavares backs off and takes a body shot and
a jab up top. Tavares replies with a pushing front kick, and he
catches Bryczek ducking down with a pair of punches on the temple.
Tavares stays on his back foot, firing off kicks as Bryczek
advances towards him. Bryczek continues marching ever forward, with
Tavares more than ready to counter, his right hand ready for
action. Bryczek smacks the front leg of his foe with a kick, and
puts his guard up to block a one-two that he expects. Bryczek
swings for the fences and knocks Tavares clean off his feet.
Tavares works his way up with the wall, but Bryczek is swarming him
with fists to the dome and guts. Tavares ties him up to clear the
cobwebs, and Bryczek settles for a few knees to the thigh before
breaking off. Tavares circles away, letting fly kicks and a pair of punches up
high, and the Polish athlete is incensed and ready for destruction.
He lays into Tavares with punches in bunches, dropping Tavares to a
knee as he tries to put his man away. Tavares is able to get back
up despite being under fire, and he even manages some looping
counters. When Bryczek overcommits on his attack, Tavares times a
magnificent double-leg takedown to put the heavy-handed Polish
fighter on his back. The nose of the Hawaiian is busted open and
leaking on the mat, but he pays it no mind as he climbs into half
guard and recovers. Tavares does some work on top but is largely
content to control the remainder of the round and take a possible
10-8 score off the table—although that remains to be seen if judges
believe the damage was substantial enough to award such a score.
The horn sounds. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-8 Bryczek Chris Laporte scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-8 Bryczek

The second round kicks off with a barrage of kicks from the
Hawaiian, using them to keep distance and prevent Bryczek from
hurling big hands at him. The low kicks are starting to mark up the
lead leg of Bryczek, who is lumbering awkwardly on it as he
advances. Tavares is the quicker of the two, as Bryczek may have
punched himself out in the first round, because Bryczek cannot
reach him. As Bryczek plods towards his man, Tavares shoots in on
his hips. Bryczek knows it is coming and defends it, and he stands
up and avoids a right hand zooming at his jaw. Bryczek bears down on Tavares, replying with his own chopping kicks
as he makes his way forward. Tavares lets fly a three-punch salvo
that hits nothing but air, but his technical kickboxing is stifling
Bryczek for the most part. Tavares backs himself to the wall and
quickly realizes he needs to reposition himself, scurrying to the
side as he spams the leg kick. Bryczek no-sells a head kick as he
goes after Tavares, but his offense is otherwise fairly muted. The
fans do not like this pick-and-poke strategy of low intensity,
perhaps spoiled by the action of the previous bouts as well as this
one’s first round, and they start booing heartily. A storied
veteran with a lot of decisions on his ledger, the audience has no
effect on the Hawaiian. He keeps his distance and probes with kicks
and one-twos until the not-so-great round ends. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Tavares Chris Laporte scores the round: 10-9 Tavares Dayne Fox scores the round: 10-9 Tavares

The middleweights touch ‘em up to show some respect opening the
final frame, and Bryczek gets back to his forward-or-bust strategy.
Tavares welcomes this, as he is able to simultaneously hop on his
bike and land enough strikes to gain the upper hand. The Hawaiian
puts some mustard into a body kick, and Bryczek does not like it
and twirls around to take some of the sting out of it. When Bryczek
gathers his thoughts, he marches Tavares down and guns for him with
big, swinging fists. Tavares’ are straighter, jabbing and getting
off one-twos. With a full head of steam, Bryczek attacks. Backing
Tavares up to the fence, Bryczek strings together a prolonged
combination of looping punches, cracking Tavares with a heavy right
hand. Stunned, Tavares starts to go down to a knee while still under
fire, and Bryczek continues battering the grizzled veteran with all
he has. With Bryczek hammering away with hammerfists as some land
directly on the back of the head, Bosacki steps in, and Tavares
immediately protests the stoppage. His team is equally
upset about what they feel was premature referee intervention, but
as the referee is the sole arbiter of the bout, that’s a wrap.
Bryczek notches his first UFC victory and it is a huge scalp he
collects by melting a formerly ranked fighter in Tavares.

Just one of the 14 fights on this card featured someone missing
weight—Flowers and Marcos both missed initially and then came back
to hit their proper marks. Former light heavyweight Potieria (19-5,
1-3 UFC) took his fight against Bryczek (17-5, 0-0 UFC) on short
notice, and he clocked in one and a half pounds over the
middleweight limit. As a result, Potieria surrenders 20% of his
purse to the Polish slugger. Whether that 20% will be from
Potieira’s one check or two, the two men have the next 15 minutes
or less to decide it. Referee Mike Beltran checks them in as they
touch gloves. Potieria is the aggressor as he pitches kicks from
his rear leg to the waist and knee. Bryczek allows Potieria to
crash the pocket, so he can sit down on two punches that stop
Potieria in his tracks. The Ukrainian shakes out immediate cobwebs
and continues to move forward, looking for a right hook that is not
there. Bryczek takes a kick to the ribs and responds with a right
hand, and he pushes off as a finger jabs into Potieria’s eye.
Beltran sees it immediately and calls time, and he lets Potieria
wipe it out with a towel as he brings in the doctor. Potieria
remarks that he is a little bleary in his eye, but that he is
otherwise good to continue. After two minutes, the fighters resume
their mutual combat in the center of the cage. Potieria tosses out
low kicks, and one lands with a thump instead of a slap. Bryczek
loops punches to the body, and Potieria scores a solid kick and a
right hand. Bryczek opens up with a huge right hand, and he cracks
Potieria again. Bryczek lets loose several more punches, and
Potieria bounces away and absorbs one more flush right hand on the
jaw. As Potieria backpedals, he parries a right hand from the
Polish fighter, which rebounds square into Potieria’s cup in an
unlucky turn of events. Beltran recognizes the unintentional foul
and allows Potieria to recover once more, and Potieria takes all
the time he needs. This results in another lengthy stoppage of
three minutes long, and Beltran loudly and sternly admonishes
Bryczek that he will lose a point if he fouls again. When they
resume, Bryczek is ready and rearing to throw hands, and he lands
several hard ones to force Potieria to shoot for an ill-advised
takedown. Bryczek stops it, but he gets pressed into the fence from
behind, with Potieria kneeing him in the back of the thigh
frustratingly. Bryczek spins around with seconds to go, and they
bang it out right to the bell. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Bryczek

The fighters meet in the middle and jab at one another from range,
with neither landing much early. Potieria misses with an overhand
right, but he plants a kick on the inside of the Polish fighter’s
calf. Potieria shoots for a takedown, and he abandons it right when
Bryczek sprawls so that he can aim an uppercut on the dome. Bryczek
sees it at the last second and dodges it, and he ducks a subsequent
spinning back fist. Potieria drops his hands and lands a few
punches from a safe distance, and he punctuates a combination with
a low kick. The two clash together and bang heads, but it does not
result in anything more problematic. Bryczek digs a left to the
body, and Potieria shrugs at him and then shoots for a single.
Potieria again follows that failed takedown with an uppercut, and
this one brushes the side of the UFC newcomer’s head. Bryczek looks
for a right hand over the top, and he kicks the body as Potieria
again shrugs at him mockingly. Potieria sprints in for a single,
and Bryczek hops away and walks Potieria down. Potieria intercepts
him with a spinning back kick to the midsection, and Bryczek takes
it cleanly and keeps his guard up to block and overhand left.
Potieria taps his chest and drops down to the floor with a Mortal
Kombat-esque leg sweep. Bryczek look at him confusedly. Potieria is
in his groove, having fun and dodging and weaving anything coming
from Bryczek. Potieria clips his man a few times with short shots,
and he catches Bryczek on the chin with an uppercut. Bryczek
headhunts and struggles to reach his opponent, and they trade one
big punch right as the horn sounds. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Potieria Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Potieria Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Potieria

There is a final glove touch to check in the last round, and
Potieria stays firmly in his groove with jabs and funky hand
movements. Bryczek reaches his foe with a straight left hand, but
it is one-and-done. Bryczek loads up on a right hand, only to get
countered with a left hook that shakes him up. Bryczek charges into
action with a huge left hook, and Potieria’s head snaps back like a
Pez dispenser. Potieria replies with a three-punch salvo that
knocks Bryczek off his feet, and Bryczek barely keeps with it
courtesy of a desperation takedown. Bryczek gets back to his feet,
and Potieria chases after him and swings for the bleachers. Bryczek
does the same, and he manages to catch Potieria coming in but is
taking shots as well. Both men use a ton of energy, and Potieria
presses the Polish fighter into the wall and strings four elbows
together. Bryczek slips and rips Potieria with big punches, and he
splits Potieria’s eyebrow open in the process. Potieria rips an
elbow that misses slightly, but he blasts Bryczek with an elbow and
several punches from up close. Bryczek turns his man around in the
tie-up, and he sneaks an elbow up top before breaking away.
Potieria reaches his foe with a few punches, and Bryczek tags him
back with his own short flurry. The two clash together, and
Potieria clinches up to wear on the exhausted Bryczek. Bryczek gets
space with 10 seconds to go, and the two throw down and knee one
another right as time expires. Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Potieria (29-28 Potieria) Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Potieria (29-28 Potieria) Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Potieria (29-28 Potieria)

Robert Bryczek

Fight History

Fighter Skills Radar

Key Insights

Striking Profile

Key Insights

Grappling Profile

Key Insights

Conclusions Summary