UFC 143: Prelims Recap

The prelims are for UFC 143 have completed. Here they are.

Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson destroyed Dan Stittgen with a head kick knockout @ 4:13 of the first round. Stittgen stood with him for some odd reason and damn, he paid a serious price for it. This will be your Knockout Of The Night. I don't care what else happens.

Rafael Natal won a Unanimous Decision over Michael "Judo?" Kuiper (30-27x2 and 29-28). This one turned out to be pretty entertaining. Natal completed 5 takedowns in the first round alone prompting Joe Rogan to praise Michael Kuiper for his takedown defense (seriously). The second round was pretty much Natal landing absurd haymakers while Kuiper plodded forward and landed a number of strikes on his own. The third opened up with Kuiper crushing Natal with a right uppercut and nearly finishing the fight before Natal turned the tide and got Michael back to the ground, nearly submitting him with an arm triangle. I enjoyed this fight quite a bit.

Matt Riddle defeated Henry Martinez by a garbage split decision. Martinez, despite a HUGE size disadvantage absolutely lit Matt Riddle up on the feet for the first round and a half. He landed crisp counters and dominated the fight until Riddle discovered body kicks and started mashing buttons at the very end of the second. Riddle clearly dominated the 3rd round but in no way deserved that decision. Martinez should get another chance and hopefully at his real weight of 155. Martinez got flat out jobbed here. Someone needs to make sure that isn't Leonard Garcia inside a Matt Riddle suit.

Matt Brown put Chris Cope to sleep with a right-left combo in the second round. The first round was on the close side but a clear 10-9 for "The Immortal". Brown really started to get loose in the 2nd frame and it felt like a matter of time before he landed the deathblow and that was certainly the case as he dazed Cope with a right hand and then put him down with a left to the temple. A few shots on the ground and that was all she wrote.

Edwin Figueroa defeated Alex Caceres via Split Decision in the LONGEST THREE ROUND FIGHT EVER!!! Caceres absolutely jackhammered Figueroa with a penis head kick (hat tip to Dennis Bermudez) in the first round. After a long recovery period and a "strong warning" from Herb Dean, Edwin came back and dropped Alex with a MASSIVE head kick (to the correct head) and nearly stopped him. Alex ended up getting out of it and taking his back before the round ended. Then in the 2nd round, Alex lands yet another vicious penis head kick on Figueroa. After another long recovery period, Herb Dean takes *2* points from Caceres. The third round was full of more back and forth action with Figueroa being vulnerable to infinite submissions but surviving due to Alex's inability to lock up a choke. After the fight, Caceres can't believe that there is not one more round. That head kick really scrambled his brains. I can't even get too mad at the judges decision, though. The fight was a complete cluster and easily one of the more bizarre fights I have ever watched.

Dustin Porier submitted Max Holloway @ 3:23 1st round in what should be YOUR Submission of the Night. Porier got the takedown and went straight to mount. He locked up a tight armbar, transitioned to a triangle choke and rolled into mount. He finally got the tap from a nasty mounted triangle/armbar. Holloway is apparently only a white belt in bjj so that kind of stuff is likely to happen when you are in there with a monster like Porier. That was fantastic stuff.

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