The Serra-Longo team has not just one promising middleweight contender of which to brag, but two.
Constantinos Philippou has more work to do before he’s seriously considered a title contender at 185, but he took a major step up the ladder by ending Court McGee’s eight-fight winning streak with a unanimous decision victory at UFC on FX 2 in Sydney, Australia.
All three judges scored the fight 29-28 for the native of Limassol, Cyprus, and Chris Weidman’s teammate at the Long Island-based Serra Jiu-Jitsu Academy. The former Gold Gloves finalist showed off his impressive boxing skills while stuffing eight of McGee’s nine takedown attempts. CompuStrike numbers also indicate Philippou owning a significant edge in power strikes (55-24) during a bout that featured all but eight seconds standing up.
McGee (13-2), the Ultimate Fighter Season 11 winner, also saw his three-fight win streak in the UFC come to an end. Philippou, who ironically failed to make the TUF 11 cast after losing to Joseph Henle in an opening elimination bout, improves to 10-2 (1 no contest) and 2-1 in the UFC.
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