UFC on Fox 5: Henderson vs. Diaz Prelim Recap

Edwards finishing off Stephens.
Photo via MMAFighting.com

From top to bottom, this card was one of the best in UFC history. With several “Fight of the Night” contenders, three vicious knockouts and a great submission, fans are unbelievably lucky to have been able to receive this event for free. Every fight but one was on network television for millions to witness an amazing night of fights.

Scott Jorgensen vs. John Albert: It’s a real shame that this fight was on Facebook rather than FX. They’re two of the scrappiest and fun to watch and aggressive bantamweights in the UFC. Albert continued to show lots of aggressiveness as he came out hard against former title contender in Scott Jorgensen. Scott negated his forward momentum with a takedown but Albert didn’t stop being aggressive here. He consistently went for triangles and armbars and even at one point swept Jorgensen onto his back and mounted him. Though it was only for a brief period of time, Albert showed great strength and technique. Scott got him back over and was put in an extremely tight triangle. It was mighty close but Jorgensen has a highly underrated ground game and made it out. Albert tried for another sweep but gave up his back in the process. Scott sunk in a rear naked choke and finished Albert with barely a second left in the first round. Albert has shown a lot of promise in all four of his fights in the UFC, but with a losing streak of 3 in-a-row and all coming in the first round by submission, I will be shocked to see Albert back in the UFC.

Possible matchups for Jorgensen: This was a huge, much needed win for Scott Jorgensen. Following two losses in which he was pretty easily dominated by both Eddie Wineland and Renan Barao, this was a make or break fight. Though this was a very impressive win, he needs one more big win before he can get a bigger name. Francisco Rivera is coming off of a brutal first round KO win over Roland Delorme, though it was turned over after he tested positive for a banned substance. This fight would undoubtedly be a Fight of the Year contender and a barnburner.

Dennis Siver vs. Nam Phan: From beginning to end, Siver utterly and completely dominated the underdog in Phan. He picked him apart in the first round with tons of jabs, hooks and spinning kicks. He even took down the black belt in Phan and just battered him with ground and pound and elbows. It was brutal and highly impressive. Siver is definitely a top featherweight after this performance and a handeful for anyone at featherweight.

Possible matchups for Siver: Siver was a top featherweight on almost everyone’s rankings before this fight and this performance cemented why. Chad Mendes was originally supposed to Hacran Dias of UFC on FX 6 but Dias pulled out. They should also pull Mendes off and have him fight Siver later next year in a potential number one contender bout.

Possible matchup for Phan: Phan was just completely outclassed in every sense of the word and every aspect of the sport. He did take this fight on very short notice but it was a big loss. Another man at 145 who just lost a very one-sided fight is Steven Siler. They both have wins over Cole Miller and excellent standup. It definitely has the makings to be Fight of the Night.

Abel Trujullo vs. Marcus LeVesseur: This fight was way different than I expected. Now, I did pick Trujillo to win, but I felt very sure that he would have been taken down at least once throughout the fight. Only once did LeVesseur takedown Trujillo but it was only for a split second. From the very beginning, LeVesseur went for takedowns that consistently were stuffed and went into the clinch. Trujillo brought these positions to his advantage by battering Marcus’ body with elbows and punches. In the second round, he spun LeVessuer around and had him on the ground in a turtled position. Trujillo landed at least 20 nasty, brutal knees to the body and the ref finally stepped in. Props to LeVesseur for taking the fight on one day notice but he could very well be 0-3 in his UFC career, which is a no go.

Possible matchups for Trujillo: Going into his fight with his original opponent Tim Means, I believed it was going to be a really easy fight for Means. Means slipped during his weight cut and couldn't fight the next day. Now I want to see this fight even more. What a fight that could be.

Daron Cruickshank vs. Henry Martinez: The best way to make a big statement in MMA is by knocking somebody out. A better way is destroying them up to the knockout. The best way is by doing that but to a guy who is well known for unbelievable durability. Cruickshank did just that against Henry Martinez on Saturday. After nearly finishing him on multiple occasions in the first round, Cruickshank went on to brutally finish him in the second round with headkick knockout. The fight was an absolute slugfest throughout that I personally thought deserved Fight of the Night honors. We also have an extremely exciting new prospect in the Detroit native with his insane accuracy and speed along with power to top it off, Cruickshank has all the makings to a star.

Possible matchups for Cruickshank: Back in October of 2011, Cruickshank and Tristar product Mike Ricci battled it out for 5 rounds in Ringside MMA. Cruickshank would eventually win the fight and the title. Mike Ricci has been blasting through his competition on the 16^th season of TUF and will be fighting Colton Smith in the finale at welterweight rather than his natural lightweight. If Mike Ricci wins that fight and drops back down to lightweight, I would love to see a rematch between these two very promising fighters.

Possible matchups for Martinez: Martinez is unbelievably durable and this fight showed that, plus a little more. The amount of head kicks that Cruickshank landed was insane and Martinez took them all, minus one. This KO loss puts Martinez on the brink of getting released. He will most likely be put in a loser goes home bout next and the man for that is Al Iaquinta, who is coming off a first round submission loss to Michael Chiesa.

Ramsey Nijem vs. Joe Proctor: This was another really fun fight between two prospects with a solid ground game and a quickly developing standup game. Ramsey looked to finish the fight early after dropping the Boston native with a “crane kick”. He got on top and unleashed a lot of ground and pound. Proctor would get up eventually but still looked hurt. Nijem saw this and attacked, but became a tad bit overzealous and was rocked with a nice 3-4 combo from Proctor. The second round was much closer that easily could have gone either way. Nijem came out strong in the third round; he took him down, defended against submissions, and landed bombs. It was another fantastic fight that ended in a unanimous decision in for Ramsey Nijem.

Possible matchups for Nijem: Ramsey Nijem is definitely improving every fight and with this win I want to see him fight a bigger name. Sam Stout is coming off a demoralizing decision loss to John Makdessi and will be looking for a rebound fight. Nijem is looked for a step up and this fight is the one to make for both these guys.

Possible matchsups for Proctor: The Joe Lauzon student certainly showed a lot of promise throughout this fight but it’s definitely a big loss for Proctor. A fighter also coming off a decision loss to a TUF alumni is Tony Ferguson. This fight could definitely be fun standup war.

Mike Easton vs. Raphael Assuncao: This fight was genuinely disappointing. I was expecting a slugfest with great scrambles on the ground, but it was a tentative Mike Easton stalking Assincao as the Brazilian consistently leg kicked and countered his way to a unanimous decision win. It was a lot of technique between the two and it wasn't as bad as the crowd it out to be. It was a huge win for Assuncao who is now 3-0 at 135 pounds and has become a new contender at bantamweight.

Possible matchups for Assuncao: A brand new contender at bantamweight has emerged. Easton was a pretty hefty favorite heading into this fight with a big hype train and that Assuncao took this on two weeks’ notice. I want him to fight a top guy. Brian Bowles is still healing but once he comes back I want to see these two to fight.

Possible matchups for Easton: This was a huge and disappointing loss for a guy many were considering to be a title contender in 2013.Yves Jabouin is coming off of a violent loss to top contender Brad Pickett. This two could put on a barnburner.

Yves Edwards vs. Jeremy Stephens: Now this fight was shocking. Edwards’ chin has been seemingly deteriorating recently and many believed the combination of that and Stephens’ blistering power would lead to KO for Jeremy, but Yves apparently didn't receive the memo. When Stephens came in with a huge right hook, Yves countered with a right hook of his own and dropped Stephens. He followed it up with elbows to put him completely unconscious. It was an amazing finish for the veteran and a huge loss for Stephens.

Possible matchups for Edwards: I loved this fight. Edwards is the type of guy who is really hard to dislike and it was awesome seeing him get a win like this. John Makdessi, who is coming off a really impressive unanimous decision win over Sam Stout would put on a great standup war with the “Thugjitsu Master”.

Possible matchups for Stephens: This was his third loss in a row and he will be on the brink of a release. But because of his fighting style and talent, he won’t be. He desperately needs a rebound fight if he wants to stay in the UFC. Anton Kuivanen is a fighter to do that, with a 1-1 record, he could definitely be that rebound fight.

Click here for main card recap.

UFC on Fox 4 Prelim Recap

The star of the prelims, John Moraga finishes Ulysses Gomez.
Photo by MMAWeekly.com

The fourth event that the UFC has held was the most underwhelming on paper leading up to it. It ended up as one of the better events the sport has had in some time. With all of the main card fights being finished and two of them being absolute wars, the card was an absolute success. Not only is this the type of event that you would show to nonbelievers of the sport, but also it just happened to be shown on one of the most watched channels in the world. Joe Silva and Sean Shelby knew what they were doing with the matchups on this card.

Ulysses Gomez vs. John Moraga: Moraga came into this fight as a decent underdog. Gomez was ranked in the top 10 at 125 and has some great BJJ, but Moraga seemed much faster and much more powerful as he stuffed all of Gomez’ takedowns and eventually finished him with a beautiful combo of uppercuts and elbows. Moraga is the real deal.

Possible matchups for Moraga: His original opponent for this fight was Ian McCall, which confused a lot of people at the time. Now, after this performance, I would absolutely love to see that fight, because I believe that Moraga will be challenging for the title sooner rather than later.

Possible matchups for Gomez: When the flyweight division was originally added, people wanted Gomez in as soon as possible. His debut was a huge disappointment but he still is a top-15 flyweight. Josh Ferguson still hasn’t been officially released by the UFC and I’m sure that Gomez is itching for a rebound fight.

Manny Gamburyan vs. Michihiro Omigawa: This fight was great. Omigawa came out very strong in the first and even rocked Manny with some of his powerful short punches. Gamburyan came back, though, and almost finished Omigawa himself. The fight was very back and forth and Gamburyan ultimately took the unanimous decision, leading to the very likely release of Michihiro Omigawa.

Possible matchups for Gamburyan: Manny is still a very solid fighter with some of the best Judo at 145 pounds. Him and both Darren Elkins have wins over Omigawa and the winner would certainly get a solid step up in competition.

Phil De Fries vs. Oli Thompson: This fight’s first round was horribly sloppy and terribly boring as it was reminiscent of the infamous Cheick Kongo/Shawn Jordan fight. De Fries eventually rocked Thompson badly and finished the fight with a face crank in the 2nd round. With Thompson now 0-2 in the UFC, he will most likely be cut, as both his losses were finishes as well.

Possible matchups for De Fries: Shawn Jordan is coming off of a loss and they are both two of the bigger prospects in the heavyweight division. A win for either man would be huge.

Rani Yahya vs. Josh Grispi: Never, have I ever seen a bizarre nickname more apt to a fighter. Josh Grispi was once considered to be the next big thing, he even had a title fight lined up against Jose Aldo in what was going to be the first ever featherweight title fight. Once Aldo hurt his neck, Grispi has never been the same. He lost to both Dustin Poirier (UD) and George Roop (TKO). People were scratching their heads at just how quickly his career disintegrated right in front of our eyes. His nickname is “The fluke”, have you ever heard of such a perfect nickname? Anyway, Rani Yahya proved to us why he has one of the best ground games in all of MMA. He choked out the former number 1 contender with a north/south choke that wasn’t even fully locked in. It was slick, and beautiful. Grispi is most likely gone after losing 3 in a row.

Possible matchups for Yahya: Rani Yahya is one of the more underrated fighters in the UFC. A lot of people were picking Grispi, and I personally thought that was just plain crazy. Grispi has some of the worst fight IQ in the UFC and it was shown as he threw a kick at Yahya when he should have just boxed with him. Hacran Dias is one of the more hyped fighters presently in the UFC and Yahya would show us just how good Dias truly is.

Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado: Prado was looking very good against a top 10 light heavyweight. He was backing Davis up when Phil accidently scraped Prado’s eye with his finger. The ref then stopped the fight when Prado said he was seeing double, even though Prado can’t really speak English. It was really disappointing because Prado was looking solid and it was absolutely heartbreaking as he was screaming “WHY?!” at the top of his lungs as he watched his months of work and his dream get flushed down the toilet in a no contest.

Possible matchups for Prado and Davis: Looks like that toilet is giving it back to Prado. The rematch is already being set up for UFC on FX 5.

Cole Miller vs. Nam Phan: This fight would have been FOTN on most other cards, and yet it came in 3^rd. These guys put on a war for 3 rounds with some beautiful boxing, mainly on the part of Phan. He showed some of the best boxing combinations that I have seen in a really long time in the UFC. I was shocked by the split decision. I thought that it was a very clear 29-28 for Phan.

Possible matchups for Phan: Nam Phan is highly underrated, his performance Saturday further proved just how good Jimy Hettes is. Jonathan Brookins is coming off a tough loss to Charles Oliviera and these guys would certainly put on an awesome fight wherever that it goes.

Possible matchups for Miller: Cole Miller has a ton of potential, but he still has yet to find it. The only time that we had a sneak peak in what was to come was in his win over Ross Pearson when he dominated the standup, rocked him, and submitted him. Miller is close to being released. Him and Cody McKenzie are both close to being released and are very tall, lanky featherweights.

Click here for the main card recap.