UFC 156 Prelim Recap

Hieron following Woodley's KO.
Photo via Yahoo! Sports.

Francisco Rivera vs. Edwin Figueroa: This was a great way to start off one of the best cards in recent memory. It was well known that both of these guys were most likely going to put on a barnburner and that is exactly what it was. In the early goings of the first round, Figueroa caught Rivera on two occasions and even dropping him with the second punch. Rivera showed great recuperation ability as he came back and made the first round much closer than it seemed it was going to be. Rivera landed several takedowns before the round ended. The second round was a different story though. Figueroa landed a takedown early, but Rivera was able to get back up, showing off his improved ground game. Shortly thereafter, Rivera rocked Figueroa and finished him after landing several huge haymakers.

Possible matchups for Rivera: The former featherweight is really finding his home at 135 pounds. With two straight knockout finishes, Rivera is starting to cement himself as a contender at bantamweight. This wasn’t a flawless victory, so a bout with another up and comer should be put in the works with a fighter like Johnny Bedford.

Possible matchups for Figueroa: Despite this loss, Figueroa is still an exciting prospect. He has potential to be a star with his hispanic background and entertaining fight style. If he wants to get back on track he should face off with Azamat Gashimov, who is coming off of a first round submission loss to Ivan Menjivar.

Chico Camus vs. Dustin Kimura: We have a very promising fighter in the works ladies and gentlemen. The fight was very close throughout the first two rounds. Camus would slightly out-strike Kimura but then go for the takedown, only to be attacked by a crazy amount of submission attempts. Camus clearly had the better standup so I found it confusing as to why he continually went in for the takedowns. When he went for the takedown in the third, Kimura reversed it and ended up in mount. The rear naked choke came soon thereafter, tapping the Roufusport fighter.

Possible matchups for Kimura: I am in love with Kimura’s fighting style. I love fighters who feel comfortable fighting off of their back and are constantly threatening with submissions. I want the UFC to be smart in developing Kimura into a star, so I would like to see a fight with Issei Tamura to build up his stock.

Possible matchups for Camus: Chico Camus is a very good and well rounded fighter, but one thing that he greatly lacks is fight IQ: it is very poor. He should learn from this fight that he should keep it standing against a guy who is mainly a ground fighter. He should fight the loser of Kyung Ho Kang and Alex Caceres in order to stay with the UFC.

Yves Edwards vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg: The Strikeforce imports have now started 1-0. Facing off with such a veteran of the sport like Yves is a difficult task, but Isaac Vallie-Flagg seemed very ready for it. He started and ended the fight as the aggressor, something he is very well known for. After a very close first round that showed Ike coming forward while Edwards would land counters here and there, Edwards came back strong. The second was all Edwards as he got Ike’s back and nearly finished him with a rear naked choke. Vallie-Flagg then found his stride in the third round as he consistently moved forward and landed tons of strikes, earning himself the split decision win.

Possible matchups for Vallie-Flagg: A win over Yves Edwards is always a very impressive feat. With a charismatic personality and entertaining fighting style, Vallie-Flagg could build up a nice fan base. I would like to see him fight the winner of Paul Sass and Danny Castillo, who are fighting in a few weeks at UFC on Fuel 7.

Possible matchups for Edwards: There isn’t much more for Yves in MMA anymore. If he doesn’t retire, the only matchups that I would like him to be in are fan friendly fights. If this is what he wants, I would love to see a fight with Donald Cerrone, who is coming off of a TKO loss to Anthony Pettis. Though the fight doesn’t necessarily make sense in the title picture, it does for entertainment.

Jacob Volkmann vs. Bobby Green: Strikeforce: 2. UFC: 0. I was very confident coming into this fight that Volkmann was going to easily dominate this fight. That is how it started out, but Green showed a lot of toughness and skill. Green came back in the second and showed fantastic top control over Volkmann as he elbowed his head multiple times. The third was much of the same as Bobby also showed a great bottom game as he swept Volkmann, getting his back and finishing him with a choke.

Possible matchups for Green: Coming into the UFC, Green was an exciting prospect, but no one expected him to beat up Volkmann the way he did. I would to see a fight with fellow up and comer in Rustam Khabilov, who is coming off of a fantastic first round KO over Vinc Pichel, which came via slam.

Possible matchups for Volkmann: It seems as though every time that I believe Volkmann will pretty easily win, he loses. With him now only 1-2 in his last three, I see him getting released if he loses his next fight. Michael Johnson is coming off of a surprising decision loss to Myles Jury. Johnson and Volkmann should fight in what should be a fun grappling affair.

Jay Hieron vs. Tyron Woodley: Strikeforce imports are going to officially go undefeated tonight. There isn’t much to say about this fight. I felt as though Woodley would grind Hieron out for a decision. It was the complete opposite. Woodley landed a haymaker and ended up knocking Hieron into rigor mortis. It was beautiful, violent, and impressive. Hieron now has an overall record of 0-4 in the UFC. He just can’t keep up with UFC caliber fighters anymore.

Possible matchups for Woodley: Apparently Woodley wanted to prove a point following his loss to Nate Marquardt. He did better against Hieron than anyone ever did. For his second UFC fight, I would love to see him fight Thiago Alves, a fight that could truly be his coming out party.

Gleison Tibau vs. Evan Dunham: Evan Dunham just loves to put himself in slugfests. This one was no different. Tibau came out strong in the first round but Dunham came back and implemented a great gameplan. Evan loves to come out slow in the first round and come back strong. He came out and jabbed Tibau and landed several huge knees in the end of the third round to gain himself a split decision win.

Possible matchups for Dunham: After this very close fight with Tibau, Dunham puts him right back at the brink of contention. He’s not quite there, so I would like to see him fight the winner of Danny Castillo and Paul Sass. I believe a fight between Sass and Dunham would be a very good fight.

Possible matchups for Tibau: Now at 1-2 in his last three, Tibau is starting to fade and head near retirement. There isn’t much left for him so I think he is going to end up as a gatekeeper and stepping stone for up and comers in the UFC. I would like to see him fight John Cholish, who hasn’t fought since his very close decision loss to Danny Castillo.

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.