Saturday night’s fights eclipsed my wildest imagination. There were spectacular finishes, wars of attrition, come from behind wins, and a heartwarming rise of an underdog who once ruled his division and had fallen from grace in recent times. Believe it or not, so far I’ve only mentioned how I felt about the undercard.
I’m aware these types of sentiments sound cheesy but only to those who missed out on UFC 146 in my opinion. Those who were there know what I’m talking about. I couldn’t believe how amazing the under card was. Here is my recap of the fights in the order they occurred on FX.
Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy and Duane “Bang” Ludwig came out swinging! Initially Hardy was wobbled but was able to recover in a clinch and turn the tide back on Duane to knock him out in the first. The Outlaw was able to snap his four fight losing streak against top tear opponents since he rocketed to the top of the division only to lose a lop-sided “wrestling match” title fight with GSP. I say the UFC give this guy a break even though he has a ton of momentum with his knockout of the night honors. Joe Silva should look at how quickly Hardy was tossed in to the spotlight and maybe realize it was a little too early in his career. Prediction: Hardy faces a couple promising UFC prospects but is not granted a top ten fighter right out the door.
I would have liked to see Jason Miller win but after seeing his performance, I’m not sure if he can hang with the competitive fighters in the UFC middle weight division. He did well on his feet but had no answer for the ground game of CB Dollaway and wasn’t able to capitalize on the couple times he seemed to have Dollaway in trouble. His standup was sloppy and erratic and gave me a feeling he is setting himself up for getting knocked out in the future if he is given a competent opponent in the future. My prediction for Miller is he will be cut. I’m guessing Dollaway will retain some sort of gate keeper status as long as he doesn’t fall too far in to the loss column in the future.
The differences between Jamie Varner and Edson Barboza were strikingly dramatic (pun intended). Barboza was undefeated in his career with most wins by KO and a four fight win streak in the UFC. His highlight reel spinning wheel kick KO of Terry Etim made him a force to be reckoned with for anyone in the light weight division and painted him as a potential hybrid fighter of the future. Brought in on short notice Varner wasn’t given a chance to win this fight by many critics, including myself. He was on a two fight win streak in minor promotions but had fallen from grace before that after losing the WEC belt to Ben Henderson in 2010. He went on to go 1-3-1 in his five fights since then. Stepping in to the cage as a replacement he stunned the crowd with an impressive knockout against Barboza in the first round. It was fun to watch Varner enjoy the moment. I could tell he hadn’t expected the dominant result of his performance and he even looked surprised as Joe Rogan walked him through the KO finish after the fight. Prediction: Varner is not deserving of a rematch with Donald Ceronne just yet. Give him Jim Miller and let’s see who brawls their way back in to top contender status again.
Diego Brandao vs. Darren Elkins went to a decision. I felt that Diego had the speed and timing down in the first round but couldn’t remain disciplined in his attacks and allowed Elkins to stay in the fight. Through his display of superior wrestling, Elkins out pointed Brandao in route to a unanimous decision victory. My prediction: Give both fighters gate keep status and allow them to develop their game a little more. I would like to see Brandao learn to stay more disciplined in his striking and become more proficient in the wrestling department as well.