UFC 143 – Prelims – Reviews and Results

UFC 143 – Prelims – Reviews and Results

Published on February 5, 2012 by The Editor in UFC

Well I know this is an Austral-Asian MMA site but let’s be honst most of us would not be here if it were not for UFC.

So as I got up at stupid o’clock today I thought I might as well review the event.

First fight up was: Stephen’Wonderboy’ Thompson (5-0) Vs Dan ‘The Anvil’ Stittgen (7-1)

Apparently Thompson is a karate wonderkid with a record that is something crazy like 57-0!

Anyway Round 1:

The fight starts Thompson stands sideways on arms down low and bounces around like Bambi. He throws side kick galore and Stittgen really does not seem to know how to get past them apparently Stittgen game is on the ground so where he got the nick name ‘the anvil’ I don’t know.  Anyway apart from one attempted rush at Thompson he was getting nowhere so reverted to trying to out kick and box Thompson, he really was getting nowhere though. Thompson has such a wide range of kicks and strikes that Stuttgen was obviously confused as to what to do. It didn’t matter though as with 45 seconds of the first round left he never saw the combination that knocked him out a couple pf punches were not too much trouble but the kick that came straight from his side, over his shoulder and whacked him on the side of the head and he was down and out. Thompson did move straight down to punch in but the ref stopped him. It was over a very impressive debut.

Fight 2:

Michael ‘Judo’ Kuiper (11-0)  Vs Rafael Natal (13-3-1) Ref: Steve Mazzagati

Round 1: They exchange a couple of kicks and then Natal shoots taking Kuiper down with ease but Kaiper is straight back up, immediately though Natal takes him down again. Kapier scoots to the fence and gets back up again, Natal takes him straight back down. Kaiper is easily back up to his feet, no damage done to either fighter yet.

Yet another Natal take down, he is in half guard, Natal has head and arm control, Kaiper again escapes and is on top in full guard, Natal tries an armbar but Kaiper escapes and the round ends.

Round 2:

They start the round exchanging kicks and and punches, Kapier is now in his element. Natal attempts to take him down but is easily stopped, Kapier is looking more and more in his comfort zone but Natal is not giving up and is pushing forward. At around the 2:30 mark Natal has Kapier against the cage but he is ineffective, Kapier pushes away they continue to stand and Natal almost in desperation throws a couple of not very impressive spinning back fists which Kaiper ignores.

Natal is much more tired than Kaiper but is also much busier. With twenty seconds of the round left Natal takes Kaiper down and they stay there until the round ends.

Round 3:

Ten seconds in Kaiper lands a powerful punch and Natal goes down, Kaiper swarms but Natal is made of stern stuff and holds on tight his head mainly tucked in tight forcing Kapier to start attacking the body with punches. Kaiper postures up and is in full guard he get reversed and Natal is on top, he gets an arm triangle in at the 4:12 mark and slowly works it in, but although he seems to be getting it more solid the round ends before he can make Kaiper tap.

Natal takes the fight by Unanimous Decision: 30-27, 30-27 and 29 – 28

Third Fight:

Matthew “Deep Waters’ Riddle (5-3) Vs Henry Martinez (8-1)  Ref: Herb Dean

Round 1.

Martinez is much the smaller man having stepped up a weight class to take this fight on short notice.

He starts very busy with kicks and punches, every time riddle tries to attack Martinez counters.  It’s all stand up and Martinez, he is so far the better man at stand up even though he is much shorter and has a lesser reach. At the rounds end Riddle tries a couple of kicks and then a knee to the head of Martinez.

Round 2.

Still all stand up, Martinez continues to counter punch and there are still no take down attempts. With about two minutes to go it seems Riddle has solved the puzzle and he starts using his kicks to create space and is having much more success and with around thirty seconds of the round left he lays a front kick on Martinez and  starts to really swarm all over him and lays a thirty second beating on him taking it to the end of the round.

Round 3.

Riddle is more in control now, his kicks have taken the control away from Martinez and slowed him down considerably. Martinez still throws powerful punches but less and most of them are missing their target.

Riddle takes him down for the first time and has soon got Martinez’s back, ge tries to flatten him but somehow Martinez escapes and is up. Riddle places a nice hard kick and then takes Martinez down again and this is how we finish with Riddle laying punches and elbows onto Martinez.

It’s a Split Decision: 29-28 Martinez, 29-28 Riddle and 29-28 Riddle.

Fight 4.  

Matthew ‘The immortal’ Brown (14-11) Vs Chris ‘C-Murder’ Cope (5-3)  Ref: Kim Winslow

Round 1.

The first round is fairly even stand up. Not a lot of any importance, Brown takes Cope down but he is straight back up. Cope has him against the fence. Brown lifts him and throws him to the ground, he get’s straight up but eats a knee while doing so.

Round 2.

Still even stand up to start with but then a solid punch from Brown catches Cope and he is visibly hurt, touching at his face, Brown comes again and this time his punch takes cope down, he is soon being pounded by Brown and Kim Winslow steps in to rescue him at just 1:19 of round 2. Knock-out win to Brown.

Fight 5.

Alex Caceores (Bruce Leroy) (6-4) Vs Edwin Figueroa (8-1)

Round 1.

Starts with some kicks and punches and then at 50 seconds Caceroes does a soccer kick right into the box and Figueroa is down in massive pain, that was not the usual kick to the balls that was a massive kick.

Figueroa shows heart and after a couple of minutes he is up and ready to go, amazingly!

Caceores is doing his stand up Kung Fu stylie and looks comfortable when at around the half way mark of the round Figueroa catches him with a head kick and Caceores was on his ass and Figueroa was all over him trying to finish it off but he cannot, Caceores holds on and is soon back up, next we have Caceroes trying to put in a rear naked choke. Figueroa escapes but very quickly Caceroes has his back again and is trying again for a rear naked choke the round ends.

Round 2. 

Stand up, it’s fairly even with Caceores, Bruce Lee’esque style of kicks looking nicer, Caceores lands a nice head kick which looks like it shook Figueroa but he does not take advantage as he fails to keep the pressure up. Then comes the fights most important event as Caceores again gives a full powered kick into Figuroa’s tool box! He again is in immense pain and uses up most of his recovery time this time asking Herb Dean if there will be a third one?  Once he is ready to go a again Herb Dean goes to Caceores and deducts two points effectively making a stoppage probably his only chance.

He certainly goes for it and his punching and kicking is effective. Again Caceores is on Figuroas back and eventually they go to the ground, he then alternates between choke attempts and ground and pound. Soon Figuroas nose is bleeding and he is getting beat up. Caceeores tries for an arm bar and then switches to a triangle, he however ends the round on his back with Figuroa above him.

Round 3.

Stand up for the first almost two minutes back and forth and then once again Caceores gets Figueroa’s back, it goes to the ground, we have Figuroas who has a solid ground defence against Caceroes who even though he tries cannot find the right position to submit Figuroa.

The fight ends. It’s a Split Decision: 28-27 Caceroes and 28-27, 28-27 to  Figuroa who wins by split decision.

Fight 6.

Dustin ‘The Diamon’ Poirier (11-1) Vs Max Holloway (4-0)  ref: Steve Mazzagati

Round 1.

Stand up and Holloway is shining but around two minutes in and Poirier  picks up Holoway and slams him to the ground and easily takes top position. Holloway tries to escape but in doing so gives up an arm and so Poirier tries straight for an arm bar and Holloway turned to get away and Poireir slipped a triangle on him and rolled him he has Holloway in a solid triangle and grabbed Holloways arm and cranked and Holloway had no choice but to tap.

Poirier wins at 3:23 of round 1.