UFC on FX 5: Browne vs. Silva Prelim Recap

The UFC delivers again. This event was yet another fantastic card on their small scale that introduced promising fighters, new title contenders, and hometown favorites prevailing in victory. Let's take a look at some of those bouts and some possible matchups for both the winners and losers

Darren Uyenoyama vs. Phil Harris: Both fighters impressed me in this fight. I thought it was going to be a striker vs. grappler match, but it was really a mixed martial artist against mixed martial artist. Harris took down Uyenoyama early, but they got up quickly and Darren threw some sort of flying spinning somersault kick. Yea, it was just as crazy looking as it sounds. The first round was closely contested but the second was another story. Uyenoyama took down Harris and got his back in an absolutely beautiful transition. He then soon after got the rear naked choke for the highlight reel submission.

Possible matchups for Uyenoyama: Darren Uyenoyama has now become a top guy in the UFC’s flyweight division with this finish over Harris. He has both unorthodox standup and a brilliant ground game. His original opponent for this fight was Louis Gaudinot and this fight still makes sense as they are both 1-0 at flyweight in the UFC with second round submissions. Who ever wins that fight should then fight in a number one contenders match.

Possible matchups for Harris: Despite being finished in his UFC debut, Harris is still a fighter with a lot of promise. Another fighter who lost his UFC debut was Ulysses Gomez. Because they are both 0-1, they should fight for a possible loser goes home, but hopefully not, fight.

Bart Palaszewski vs. Diego Nunes: This fight was bound to produce fireworks and it did, plus a little extra. Diego Nunes is typically the type of technical striker that picks his shots and strikes when he sees the opportunity. In this fight, he blitzed Bart from the opening bell. No one has ever seen Diego fight so aggressively, and I got to say, I really like it. He caught Bart on multiple occasions and almost finished him in the first and at the end of the fight. He even landed one of the most solid spinning back-fists to not knock someone out. If Diego can work on his cardio and continue to do what he did on Saturday, he will quickly become a top contender.

Possible matchups for Nunes: Like I just said, Nunes can become a title contender very quickly if he continues to do exactly what he did the other night. Now that he is a contender, he needs to fight some contenders. Hatsu Hioki is coming off of a huge loss to Ricardo Lamas and because he is still a top guy at 145, he will continue to fight top guys. With Diego Nunes looking to become a top guy and Hioki looking to reestablish himself as a top contender, this fight would be fantastic.

Possible matchups for Palaszewski: This has now been two losses in a row for "Bartimus" and his third of his last four. That isn’t great but he is still one of the better fighters at featherweight. Mike Brown is a former champion at 145 and is looking to go back into title contention. Now that he has wins over both Daniel Pineda and Nam Phan, he needs to take a step up in competition if he wants to get there. Bart Palaszewski is that step up.

Jacob Volkmann vs. Shane Roller: Volkmann finally got hat first finish under the UFC banner and better yet, he did it in front of his hometown in Minneapolis. Volkmann ran out and put his hands on Roller as quickly as possible. He got the takedown and Roller’s back in the process. The rear naked choke attempt followed soon after but Roller was not giving his neck up, but Volkmann didn't care, he decided to crush his jaw instead. Volkmann really impressed me in this fight. And with this loss, Roller has now lost 4 of his 5 fights. That is simply not UFC caliber. He has now even decided to retire.

Possible matchups for Volkmann: The man named "Christmas" is surprisingly a force at 155 pounds. He doesn't look menacing. Actually, he’s quite unassuming. But he has some solid grappling that can put any lightweight fighter on their back. I'm sure he wants another step up in competition and a fighter that was screwed out of a fight on Saturday was Thiago Tavares. This would be a fun grappling match.

Marcus LeVesseur vs. Carlo Prater: There is always that one fight you wish you could un-see at every UFC event. This was that one fight. And let me tell you, it was awful. For two guys who's jobs were on the line, you would expect a spirited affair. But this fight was packed with sloppy takedowns and guillotine attempts. That was it. The outcome was very questionable and no one cared. Prater is basically 0-3 in the UFC. He's gone.

Possible matchups for LeVesseur: Marcus could very well be 0-2 in the UFC so I don't think he deserves any step up and should be put right into a loser goes home fight. CJ Keith is coming off of a first round TKO loss to Ramsey Nijem after missing weight. I thought he would have been released but since he's still in the UFC, these two should square off.

Mike Pierce vs. Aaron Simpson: This fight was shockingly good. The UFC had it as the first fight originally for a reason. They have both had very boring fights in their last two performances. This fight was anything but. Midway through the first round, Simpson caught Pierce and almost finished him with some ground and pound and a submission. Simpson looked fantastic in the first round but Pierce showed a lot of heart going into the second round. He landed a huge right hand right on the chin of "The A-Train" and instantly put him out. It was a great comeback, but it wasn't the only one.

Possible matchups for Pierce: Pierce is one of the more under appreciated fighters in the UFC. He holds great knockout power and fantastic wrestling, a pretty good equation for success. He is slowly but surely making his way to the top and if he wants to continue that ascension, he should fight the winner of Mike Swick and Matt Brown. The winner would most likely become a top-10 welterweight.

Possible matchups for Simpson: If Aaron Simpson isn't considering retirement yet at 38 years of age, his time is coming soon. A fighter who is coming off of a win but just about at the same level of Simpson is Dan Miller. A wrestler vs. wrestler can sometimes turn into a slugfest.

Danny Castillo vs. Michael Johnson: Remember when I said Pierce's comeback wasn’t the only one? Well this is the other one. Danny Castillo dropped the Blackzilian at about the one minute mark of the first round. He then started to rain down so many hammer fists on Johnson's temple, that I was actually telling the ref to stop the fight. After that, Castillo locked in an ultra tight arm triangle choke that I thought was going to end the fight for sure. But no, Johnson showed the heart of a warrior and defended well against every one of Castillo's attacks. Going into the second round, Johnson was instantly the aggressor, taking hold of the center of the octagon. Castillo came in and Johnson caught him with a short left hand and dropped him. He followed up with some brutal hammer fists of his own and knocked Danny Castillo clean out. It was another fantastic comeback.

Possible matchups for Johnson: With this win, Michael Johnson has become a legitimate contender at 155 pounds. He is athletic, strong, has great wrestling, and powerful striking. There is no wonder as to why Rashad says he is a future champion in the UFC. Another fighter who has looked great in his last performance was Matt Wiman. This would be a huge step up in competition for Johnson and it would also be extremely entertaining.

Possible matchups for Castillo: The Alpha Male product has yet to do anything that really impresses me inside the UFC. His lone finish win was over an out of shape Shamar Bailey. Although he is still a talented fighter, he has yet to truly make a statement. Evan Dunham is coming off of a close loss to TJ Grant and if either fighter wants to reinstate themselves as contenders, they need a win over a fellow former contender in each other. 

CR Exclusive Interview with Antonio Carvalho

Photo via MMAJunkie.com

Antonio Carvalho could very well be the most underrated fighter in the UFC’s featherweight division, if not all of the UFC, or even MMA. He came in against the young Felipe Arantes as a small favorite at UFC 142. He ended up losing a decision in a very underwhelming performance. Some people still saw some potential to do damage at 145 and others lost interest and didn’t expect much.

The former was right, and oh how right they were.

Antonio Carvalho went into his fight with Daniel Pineda at UFC 149 as a hefty underdog. Almost everyone thought that Pineda would easily run through Carvalho, including us here at CR. “Pato” quickly turned the tide in only 71 seconds as he knocked him out with a beautiful kick followed by a barrage of ground-and-pound. Carvalho became a very interesting contender at 145, and certainly a dark horse at 145.

His next fight is at UFC 154 in Montreal against TUF: Brazil standout in Rodrigo Damm. He sat down with us for an interview talking about his UFC career, his upcoming fight, and his personal heroes.

Check it out:

Championship Rounds: So your next fight is against Rodrigo Damm at UFC 154 in Montreal. Talk about this fight. How has training camp been going?

Antonio Carvalho: I haven't officially started my camp. At the moment, I am fixing up my techniques and trying to add some new ones that I hope to have ready come November 17th. Also, I’m still having fun training in a Gi and sparring with my students as well. It's important to have some fun prior to starting a camp. It's easy to burn out in this sport. As far as the fight, Rodrigo is a very tough veteran of this sport. Like me, he has travelled all over the globe and fought some of the best out there. Not to mention, he looked really impressive in his last fight as a featherweight. This division seems to be a good fit for him.

CR: Where do you believe your strengths matchup the best with Damm's weaknesses?

AC: I think we match up quite well in general. He is very strong on the mat and has good wrestling. He has also been working on his striking a lot recently and constantly improving. Truth is, though, I don't know where I will be stronger. That's why I like this fight. It intrigues me because I really don't know what he will try and do. I can only prepare for everything and hope for the best result.

CR: How will the home field advantage play into this next fight?

AC: I think for me, it will be the fact that I won't be changing time zones. He will. He will need to get to Montreal early enough to acclimatize himself. That said, like me, he is a veteran and used to fighting abroad. So that may or may not play a factor. One way or another, right off the bat, things will be more difficult for him. I certainly respect anyone who comes into someone else's backyard to fight.

CR: You were a sizable underdog going into your last fight with Daniel Pineda, how does the underdog status affect you?

AC: I'm kind of used to the underdog status. I am pretty inconsistent with my performances so I can see why I am often counted out. If anything, being the underdog motivates me. Then again, I always see myself as an underdog anyways. So that never bugs me.

CR: Was the plan to KO Pineda or try and get it to the ground?

AC: I went in there expecting everything from him. So I prepared everywhere. It just so happened that my striking was sharper then his that night and I caught him. I was very fortunate to get the win that night.

CR: So how come your UFC debut was so much more lackluster than the one that followed, which wasn't anything short of spectacular?

AC: Sometimes, things simply don't fall into place. I did the best I could that night and it wasn't good enough. I took that loss as a learning experience and came back stronger. I hope to keep that momentum going and stay on a winning path.

CR: What inspired you to become a mixed martial artist?

AC: Actually, I just wanted to be a martial artist and do martial arts. I really didn't get into martial arts thinking I was going to fight professionally. It just kind of came up one day and my old coach figured I should try it out. Once I tried it though, I knew I wanted to do it again. So now I have been at it for almost a decade now!

CR: On UFC.com, Darren Uyenoyama has you listed as one of his heroes. I'm curious, is there any story behind that?

AC: Really?! Darren is my hero too! Actually, myself, Darren and Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen come from the Japanese circuits and that is where we all met. We all learned from each other and influenced each other in some way shape or form.

I am quite humbled that he feels that way about me. I feel the same way about him. He is a great friend and I am happy he is both successful in and out of the cage.

CR: Thanks again Antonio! We will be cheering for you!

AC: Thanks! Cheers!

Thanks again to Antonio and we wish him the best of luck in his upcoming fight! Make sure you guys go follow him on Twitter @AntonioPatoMMA and support him at UFC 154.