UFC On Fox 1

[JWGunslinger]

Main Card

Heavyweight Championship: Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

Lightweight bout: Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson
Featherweight bout: Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza
Featherweight bout: Cub Swanson vs. Ricardo Lamas
Welterweight bout: DaMarques Johnson vs. Clay Harvison
Bantamweight bout: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama
Featherweight bout: Mackens Semerzier vs. Robert Peralta
Bantamweight bout: Alex Caceres vs. Cole Escovedo
Welterweight bout: Mike Pierce vs. Paul Bradley
Light Heavyweight bout: Aaron Rosa vs. Matt Lucas




Well it’s finally here, the UFC is making it’s Fox debut with “UFC on Fox 1” Saturday and boy am I excited. Sure the fact that the main event is the only one televised and the rest are on Facebook, but in the future the Fox cards will feature more fights. I think that Velasquez vs Dos Santos is an excellent fight to start the UFC’s deal with Fox on because they’re both monsters who always come to fight and you can’t go wrong with a Heavyweight title fight. Let’s get to the card and see what match-ups we have to look forward to.


Aaron Rosa vs. Matt Lucas
Our first match-up features UFC newcomer Matt Lucas going up against battle tested Aaron Rosa, in what should be a real barn burner. Lucas is a prospect coming out of Arizona Combat Sports with a record of 14-2 with a notable win over Homer Moore. Rosa is another recent addition to the roster, after picking up his 16th win over TUF 10 cast member Abe Wagner it was time for Rosa to make his debut. However he didn’t find the success he hoped for, losing a bloody battle to Joey Beltran at UFC 131 by TKO. Both are young tough guys looking for their first win in the promotion, Rosa has a little more experience with tough competition after his fights with Jared Hamman and Rafael Cavalcante but Lucas is a tough hombre. I think the place where these two are uneven is in their ground game, Rosa has one but usually prefers to stand while Lucas is mediocre, and I think that his weak submission defense will come into play here, and if he can’t finish it he will control him throughout the fight.
Rosa by TKO(Ground N Pound)


Mike Pierce vs. Paul Bradley
If there’s one thing I can say for this fight it’s that this one will definitely be hitting the ground for some time. Mike Pierce is one of the better wrestlers in the UFC’s Welterweight division, the only reason he doesn’t get more recognition is he’s outshined by the likes of Jon Fitch and Johnny Hendricks who have both beaten him by decision. He definitely knows what he’s doing on the ground, he has good enough striking to survive on the feet, and he’s a tough dude. Paul Bradley is a guy who has been looking to find success in the octagon for a long time, he was originally on The Ultimate Fighter(I believe Hughes vs Serra) and was forced out due to an injury before he could even fight, and because of this he had to take the very long road to the UFC. He finally made it this year but instead of finding a win he received a decision loss to Rafael Natal at UFC 133. I would love to see Paul be able to pick up that win in the biggest stage of MMA in the world but I don’t see him beating Pierce, especially since the win that got Pierce into the UFC was a decision over Bradley in a smaller promotion.
Pierce by Decision


Alex Caceres vs. Cole Escovedo
Oh please let Escovedo win this so that Caceres gets the boot from the UFC, I beg of you MMA Gods! For those of you who do not know, Alex Caceres(aka Bruce Leroy) was the biggest douche in the history of The Ultimate Fighter. He douched up season 12 so much that everyone in the house wanted to kick his ass, and fortunatly since TUF he has been getting his ass kicked. After the show he did not fight on the finale but he fought later at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Davis, where he was submitted by Mackens Semerzier with a Rear Naked Choke. A few months later he faced Joe Hettes as UFC Live: Hardy vs Lytle and was once again submitted by a Rear Naked Choke. Now is his third attempt to pick up a UFC win, but this one will be even more difficult than the last when he steps in against Escovedo. Cole is a tough vet who has faced the likes of Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber, and defeated respected warriors Bart Palaszewski and Yoshiro Maeda. He has had a tough time since coming to the UFC as well, losing a decision to Renan Barao at UFC 130 and to Takeya Mizugaki by TKO at 135. However in this fight where both need to break a two fight losing streak to keep their jobs safe I see Escovedo using his veteran knowledge to end Leroy’s night before hearing the final bell.
Escovedo by Submission(Rear Naked Choke)


Mackens Semerzier vs. Robert Peralta
Mackens Semerzier is a relative newcomer to the sport but in the short amount of time he’s been fighting he’s gotten a lot of experience. In his fifth professional fight he made his debut in the WEC, and scored a submission win over Wagnney Fabiano. However this would be his final win in the WEC, after that he dropped 3 in a row to top fighters like Javier Vasquez and Cub Swanson. But most recently he got back to his winning ways in his UFC debut against Alex Caceres, winning by rear naked choke and putting the cocky bitch to sleep. Peralta has a little more experience, 11 of his 15 wins come by TKO/KO and he is ready to add another to his resume. Peralta mainly a stand up fighter as you might expect, he is very good at avoiding takedowns and has good leg kicks. He recently made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Sheilds vs Ellenburger, defeating Mike Lullo by decision, and he nearly finished him several times. If Semerzier can get it to the ground he has the ability to finish it but I don’t see that happening and Peralta will either win a decision by controlling the fight and keeping it stand up or he will finish Semerzier.
Peralta by TKO


Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama
Time for Kid Yamamoto to pick up his first win in the UFC, if you don’t know who this guy is then hit youtube and I promise you will not be disappointed. Yamamoto is one of the most dynamic and crazy strikers in the Bantamweight division, with wins over many notable fighters including Rani Yahya, Genki Sudo, Caol Uno, and Jeff Curran. He’s hit a bit of a rough patch lately dropping his highly anticipated octagon debut to Demetrious Johnson at UFC 126, but he will be coming into this fight hungry and it seems as though Uyenoyama may be no more than fresh meat in this fight. Darren is a UFC newcomer sporting a record of 6-3 with a 3-0 record in Strikeforce, he’s a well rounded fighter but he is being fed to the dogs in this fight, and the dog is a very dangerous pissed off Japanese warrior named Kid Yamamoto. This fight is pretty much a set up for Norifumi’s first win in the octagon, I pray for Uyenoyama’s life.
Yamamoto by KO


DaMarques Johnson vs. Clay Harvison
A battle of guys who were my favorites on their seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, Johnson of Team Hendo and Harvison of Team Lesnar are going to come to kill in their match this Saturday. DaMarques has had an up and down career since joining the UFC, where he has had very high highs and low lows. After a disappointing loss in the finale of TUF: United States vs United Kingdom, he went on to pick up a Submission of the Night against Edgar Garcia and a Knockout of the Night against Brad Blackburn. Then after that he tasted defeat once again losing by TKO to Matt Riddle, but followed it up with an impressive victory over Mike Guymon where he submitted him into retirement with a Body Triangle. Then most recently he dropped another embarrassing loss to Amir Sodallah, basically when he comes to fight he is very dangerous and impressive with his ground game compliments of Jeremy Horn, but when he loses he is unmotivated, gets tired and wilts. Harvison had more luck at the finale of his season of TUF, when he picked up a decision over fellow cast mate Justin Edwards but followed it up with a loss to Seth Baczynski where he was outstruck and submitted. Harvison is extremely tough but this fight is bad news for him if it goes to the ground considering Johnson’s excellent BJJ. If DaMarques comes to kill and he gets it to the ground like I think he will then it’s be an early night, but if he can’t keep Clay down then he’s in for a world of hurt.
Johnson by Submission(Arm Triangle)


Cub Swanson vs. Ricardo Lamas
This one is going to be a war when two WEC vets collide in this Featherweight battle. Cub Swanson is one of the guys you think of when you think of the WEC, the guy had countless wars in the promotion from 2007 to 2010 when he last fought at one of the final events before their top fighters were transferred to the UFC. He faced everyone from Jens Pulver to Jose Aldo, and now it’s time for him to make his long awaited debut. He was supposed to face hot Featherweight Erik Koch in March but was forced out of the fight due to injury, he was again set to face Koch in July but was injured yet again and now he is finally 100 percent and ready to go against Ricardo Lamas. Ricardo did not take as much time to get his first fight after the transfer, after a good stint in the WEC where he but together a record of 4-2 with wins over Bart Palaszewski and James Krause. He lost his final WEC match against Yuri Alcantara by KO but after that loss he was fired up to get to work in the UFC and picked up an impressive TKO(head kick and punches) over Matt Grice. Both guys are warriors and can dish it out but I think Cub is just above Lamas on another level and he will pick this one up.
Swanson by Decision


Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza
This should be an interesting one, two former WEC standouts who are now making a name for themselves in the UFC collide in this Striker vs Grappler classic. Dustin Poirier has always been legit, he came into the WEC with 3 wins by Armbar and 4 by TKO/KO, no losses. In the promotion he went 1-1 but looked very good in both fights, however it was in his UFC debut where he turned heads. Poirier took out the man who was set to fight Jose Aldo for the Featherweight title in Josh Grispi in an all out dominating performance that put him on the map, throw in another dominant win over Jason Young at UFC 131 and we have a young man on fire. The same can be said for Pablo Garza though, who came into the WEC with a record of 9 wins and no losses with 6 by submission. He lost in his WEC debut at WEC 51 to Zhang Tie Quan by Guillotine, but then he entered the UFC ready to make people forget about his sole professional loss. When he fought Fredson Paixao at the TUF 12 finale he did just that, picking up an impressive Knockout Of The Night for a flying knee KO. And when he followed that win up with another bonus winning Submission Of The Night over Yves Jabouin via flying triangle choke it was clear that this young man is here to make an impact. Both of these guys are very tough, Garza may not look it with those little bird legs of his but he can take a hit. The advantage on the feet is Poirier’s and the ground belongs to Garza, however Pablo also has very good knees from the clinch so watch for those. This one is hard to call and although I would like to see Garza pull off another impressive finish I think Poirier is going to be too resilient.
Poirier by Decision


Clay Guida vs. Ben Henderson
Well I con honestly say that I have never been so torn on a fight, on one side there’s Clay Guida who has always blown me away with his incredible pace and freakish cario, and then there’s Ben Henderson who was one of my favorite WEC fighters and has been blowing away his competition since losing his Lightweight title to Anthony Pettis. Guida has been a big name in the UFC for some time now but being a legitimate contender for the title somehow always avoided him. In the past he’s taken down big names and he’s the former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, but what’s impressive is his most recent winning streak that he’s riding, which includes submissions over Shannon Gugerty, Rafael Dos Anjos and Takanori Gomi, and a decision win over the last man to beat Henderson, Anthony Pettis. Guida is as focused and ready as ever but he is going up against a guy who has improved so much in his last two fights it’s scary. Benson Henderson started off as a straight submission guy, winning most of his early pro fights by submission as well as his WEC debut against Anthony Njkouani. Henderson is a born fighter and when he got to the WEC he really adapted and became a true Mixed Martial Artist, he then TKO’d hot lightweight Shane Roller and then went on to win the Interim title by defeating Donald Cerrone by Decision in the Fight Of The Year. He defeated Jamie Varner by Guillotine to win the Undisputed title and then picked up his first defense in a rematch against Cerrone by Guillotine. After all that he lost his precious title at the final WEC event by decision to Anthony Pettis and that turned Bendo into a pissed off monster. In his first fight after the transition to the UFC he beat the hell out of Mark Bocek at UFC 129 and then most recently at UFC Live: Hardy vs Lytle he demolished and dominated contender Jim Miller to solidify his spot as one of the top Lightweights in the UFC. Ben Henderson is literally scary when he fights now, to the point where I’m watching and I feel bad for who he’s fighting, maybe it’s his new tattoo on his back . The point is that Clay puts on a crazy pace and has cardio for days but Bendo has good cardio, is ruthless & mean and it is pretty much impossible to submit him.
Ben Henderson by Submission(Guillotine Choke)


Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos
We have waited so long for this fight that the fact we get to see this go down on Saturday is almost surreal. Cain Velasquez is an unstoppable wrecking machine, but so is Junior Dos Santos. Cain is 9-0(7-0 in the UFC) and has knocked out top fighters like Ben Rothwell, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Brock Lesnar on his path to the UFC Heavyweight title, but he did it and did so flawlessly. However he has been out with a bad shoudler for just over a year now so that adds a little uncertainty to this fight. At the same time Junior Dos Santos has slowly been building his record up and it rivals that of Velasquez, as Dos Santos is 13-1(7-0 in the UFC) with wins over the likes of Fabricio Werdum, Mirko Cro Cop, Gabriel Gonzaga and Shane Carwin. Neither of these monsters have met a force that could stop them in the UFC and on Saturday that will change for one of them. It’s a hard fight to call considering nobody has been able to beat these guys, the only thing that we can look to is Cain’s fight with Cheick Kongo which he won but was continuously rocked. Aside from that fight we haven’t really seen his chin tested too much, but it is possible that his chin could be the end of him in this fight. Dos Santos does not have any weaknesses that we have seen, Cain’s offense could show give him some big problems though, but from what we’ve seen in his fights he has a very solid chin as he was able to take shots from Carwin. Velasquez could always take this fight to the ground but Dos Santos not only has good takedown defense but he has a ground game that we haven’t seen but is most likely very good considering he’s under Nog. This is a really hard one to call, I like both guys a lot and if I had to pick off likes alone then I would go with Cain. This one really could go either way and both could knock out the other, but I just had a creeping suspicion that JDS is going to take it. So I will be backing Cain and rooting for him but I have a bad feeling that Junior finishes him.
Dos Santos by TKO

Bonus Predictions
Knockout Of The Night: Norifumi Yamamoto
Submission Of The Night: DaMarques Johnson
Fight Of The Night: Clay Guida vs Ben Henderson

 

[INDYjon22]

[YOUTUBE]Sa7orJANZn8[/YOUTUBE]​

Main Card

• Heavyweight Championship Bout: Cain Velasquez (No. 1 HW) vs. Junior dos Santos (No. 4 HW)

Undercard (Facebook and FoxSports.com)

• Lightweight Bout: Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida
• Featherweight Bout: Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza
• Featherweight Bout: Cub Swanson vs. Ricardo Lamas
• Welterweight Bout: Clay Harvison vs. DaMarques Johnson
• Bantamweight Bout: Norifumi Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama
• Featherweight Bout: Mackens Semerzier vs. Robert Peralta
• Bantamweight Bout: Alex Caceres vs. Cole Escovedo
• Welterweight Bout: Mike Pierce vs. Paul Bradley
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Aaron Rosa vs. Matt Lucas

JDS vs. Cain is certain to be the most anticipated fight of the year. Both guys are heavy hitters and from all reports well rounded in all other fields, though we haven't exactly seen it. Both guys chins are going to be tested and this should be a fight for the ages. I am taking JDS by TKO somewhere between rounds 1 and 3, but it could go either way.

The undercard is stacked, but won't be the easiest to view. Bendo vs. Clay will effectively set up the next contender for Frankie Edgars title and should be one hell of an exciting fight. Bendo is the better striker and BJJ fighter but Clay is tenacious and has some very good wrestling. In addition, Kid Yamamoto vs. Uyenoyama should be an exciting fight that places the winner in good position in the Bantamweight division.

The show as a whole should be fantastic and a great opener for the UFC on Fox. I for one cannot wait to see the fights on this card.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Well pretty good show, either way it was a historic event and is the start of a beautiful partnership with Fox. It really felt like it fit well on Fox, I will say the football music threw me off at first but then came the feeling of the UFC finally being on the stage it deserves and that is a very cool thing as a dedicated fan.

Undercard was pretty underwhelming, just about all of them went to decision but decent fights. It all started getting good with Damarques demonstrating his awesome and improved stand up when he knocked the hell out of Clay Harviston with an uppercut. Great win for "Darkness" and it's just like I said in my original post, when he comes ready to fight he tears it up.

Swanson and Lamas had a great fight as well, I was tearing out my hair during the fight because Swanson was not worried about Ricardo's takedowns like he should have been, and although he got back up fine in the first round in the second he never did and got caught in a nice Arm Triangle. Great showing from Lamas, he took some damage from Swanson in the first round but kept his composure and came back for the win.

Poirier looked dominant once again, this time against knockout and submission of the night winner Pablo Garza who has looked very impressive as of late. But in this fight Dustin was on another level, he showed that his striking was far superior and finished off with a nice D'Arce Choke. Impressive win from Poirier once again, between a slick sub like that and beating Josh Grispi at UFC 125(Grispi originally had a title shot) I see a title show in his future pretty soon.

Guida vs Bendo was everything I expected minus the finish, but I was very happy with that fight and pretty pissed that they didn't air it on Fox. Just as expected both men came out and fought their asses off, Guida was quick and strong as always but Bendo showed that he was the better man by scoring better in striking and getting more dominant positions on the ground. I thought he was going to finish Guida when he got his back and threw on the body triangle with a minute left in the round but to Clay's credit he popped out of that shit and back to his feet. Both men got great positions and got out of precarious ones themselves, excellent fight and I cannot wait to see Bendo take out Edgar and become the UFC Lightweight Champion. The guy was awesome in the WEC but since losing the WEC title and coming to the UFC he is a whole new animal and he is scary, watch out Frankie.

As soon as I saw Cain tonight I knew that he wasn't winning this fight, my heart was with him but he looked off and even more so when the fight started. Major respect to JDS though, I'm happy that he achieved his dream and I could see the raw emotion from him after the fight, that made me feel a bit better. Cain will be back but this fight proved that he can't take shots from guys like JDS or Carwin, I thought him getting rocked by Kongo was a fluke but sure as hell wasnt. Junior will probably hold the title through his fight with the winner of Brock-Overeem and drop it after that but for now it's his time and I'm happy for him, he certainly earned it.

 

[Foshinzo]

This probably isn't the place to admit that I didn't see any fight other than the Main, tonight, but yeah...all I saw was the Main. Lol.

I'll just cut to it: I was shocked, at the moment. Not Cain v Lesnar shocked, but I was pretty surprised. I wasn't even surprised by the finish, either. I told my friend an hour before the fight that JDS would win by TKO...except I picked it in the middle of the 2nd round. JDS matches up great with Cain, and Cain just didn't look like himself. Even Brock remarked that Cain didn't have the intensity that he expected, but, Brock also kept saying how he'd go on right past Ubereem...clearly he's out of his mind. Lol.

I don't think JDS will get past Alistair, though, and that would be a shame to see him not even defend the title, once, especially to Ubereem, with all due respect. Still, this is his night and he definitely earned it. JDS is a good champion, whether he retains in his next fight or not, and he was the better man, tonight. I think there's a window for Cain to get himself together and come back for JDS, making a stronger showing, but JDS is still the better fighter, IMO.

 

[INDYjon22]

Decent show for the most part. Super bummed by Kid losing, at least he didn't get finished. I hope the UFC keeps him around, but he is not the fighter he once was. DaMarques Johnson, while I don't like him, has crazy power in his fists. I don't think he will ever contend for the belt, but he will give us some fun fights. For some reason the Bendo/Guida fight wasn't aired on FoxSports, but I heard it was good.

As for the main event, I quiet enjoyed it, even though it was short. Cain didn't look like himself and that was probably because of his long layoff and rumored injury. Either way JDS looked great. I can't wait to see him fight either Brock or Overeem.