Grispi aggressively pressed the action the clinch early, taking down Roop repeatedly and threatening with a few submission attempts when Roop was on his back. Roop's defense consisted of some brutal elbows and punches to the head along the fence and creative escapes while on his back. After four minutes of Grispi pressing Roop along the fence, Roop escaped to the center of the cage. Grispi pulled guard during the next exchange, allowing Roop to throw solid ground and pound strikes to the end of the round.
Roop started the second round where he left off in the first, landing a beautiful front kick to the body to put Grispi on his back. Roop crushed Grispi with elbows and punches from the top, blasting away for half of the round before Grispi finally gave up his back . Roop maintained his position, punching away before stepping up and allowing Grispi to roll to his back. Roop continued relentlessly to the horn.
Grispi was a bit more offensive in the third, getting Roop to the ground early. Unfortunately, he couldn't take advantage. Roop escaped to his feet and cruised in the stand-up department before crushing Grispi's midsection with a heavy right hand, ending the fight.
Grispi had amassed a ten-fight winning streak before running into an aggressive attack from Dustin Poirier at UFC 125 in January. The 22-year-old Plympton, Massachusetts-born fighter has had considerable hype surrounding him due to his impressive wins over LC Davis, Jens Pulver, Micah Miller, and recent UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick.
Roop entered the contest following a first round TKO loss to Mark Hominick at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 in January. He previously defeated Chan Sung Jung in stunning fashion via a head kick back in September at WEC 51, and he fought to a draw against Leonard Garcia at WEC 47 in March of last year. He fought to a 1-2 record in 2008-2009 under the UFC banner at 155 pounds, dropping a split decision to Shane Nelson and succumbing to a kimura from George Sotiropoulos.
