UFC 133: Mike Brown back on track

PHILADELPHIA -- Mike Brown is a former featherweight champion in the WEC with a pair of wins of Urijah Faber. And yet here he is as the second prelim bout at UFC 133 in a fight against Nam Phan. Yeah. you could say he needs a win to stick around.

And he got it.

After back-to-back losses, Brown managed to win by uanimous decision. The judges scored it 29-27, 29-28, 29-28.

“At the beginning my back was haunting me so that’s why I was a little conservative, but I’m glad I got the job done," Brown said.

That first score means that judge gave Brown the first round, 10-8. Here's how.

Brown (25-8) got Phan down to the canvas early in the first round, took his back and kept Phan's left leg locked. That allowed Brown complete body control and he spent the better part of three minutes hitting Phan in the face with left hands. They may not have inflicted too much damage (which is why the referee never stepped in), but they certainly won Brown the round and zapped Phan of any pre-fight swagger. After Brown mixed in some short elbows that bruised Phan near the left eye, Phan got to his feet with about 22 seconds left in the round.

"There was a lot of repetitive trauma there for over four minutes, so even though I didn’t knock him out, I know that I was breaking him down," Brown said. "It wasn’t the most perfect fight, but I’m happy I got the victory.”

Phan (16-10) fared much better in the second round, staying on his feet the entire five minutes and mixing in good body shots and combinations.  

-- UFC 133 live video of post-fight press conference at 12:30 a.m.