UFC 143 Results

UFC 143 Preview and Results: Diaz vs Condit

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UFC 143 Results

UFC 143 MAIN CARD
170#: Nick Diaz (26-7, 1 NC) vs. Carlos Condit (27-5) wins by Unanimous Decision!
265#: Roy Nelson (16-6) vs. Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) wins by Unanimous Decision!
170#: Josh Koscheck (16-5) vs Mike Pierce (13-4) wins by Unanimous Decision!
135#: Renan Pegado (27-1, 1 NC) vs. Scott Jorgensen (13-4) wins by Unanimous Decision!
185#: Ed Herman (19-7) vs. Clifford Starks (8-0) wins by Rear Naked Choke in RD2!

PRELIMINARY BOUTS
145#: Dustin Poirier (11-1) vs. Max Holloway (4-0) wins by Armbar in RD1!
135#: Alex Caceres (6-4) vs. Edwin Figueroa (8-1) wins by Split Decision!
170#: Matt Brown (12-11) vs. Chris Cope (5-2) wins by TKO in RD2!
170#: Matt Riddle (5-3) vs. Henry Martinez (8-1) wins by Split Decision!
185#: Rafael Natal (13-3-1) vs. Michael Kuiper (11-0) wins by Unanimous Decision!
170#: Dan Stittgen (7-1) vs. Stephen Thompson (5-0) wins by KO in RD1!

by Joe Silvia

Ultimate Fighting Championship 143 takes place Saturday February 4th, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first two preliminary bouts will be broadcast free on the UFC Facebook page at 7 PM Eastern. The remainder of the preliminary bouts will then be broadcast on FX channel at 8 PM Eastern, before going live to Pay-Per-View begins at 10 PM Eastern. In addition, the weigh-ins will take place on Friday, February 3rd, and broadcast live on FUEL TV at 7 PM Eastern.

Carlos Condit vs. Nick Diaz
Current Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre has been sidelined with a torn ACL and subsequent surgery, canceling his scheduled bout with Carlos Condit. Nick Diaz has stepped in to fight Condit and replace GSP with an interim Championship title bout, which many fans find a far more exciting match-up. Carlos Condit was the Welterweight champion in the now defunct World Extreme Cagefighting organization, before making the move to the UFC.

Nick Diaz Condit UFC 143 Weigh inBoth fighters are the archetypal fighter; hard nosed, aggressive risk takers. Diaz is known for his intensity, pressure, fast pace, and aggression. While he is a Cesar Gracie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and dangerous submission expert, these past few years he has been showcasing his striking ability developed from sparring such professional Boxers as Andre Ward. On an 11- fight win streak, with eight Submission victories and thirteen Technical Knock Outs (TKO), Diaz has shown himself to be one of the most dangerous Welterweights in the world. Diaz has fought for the UFC before, but after a few losses made a move to other smaller organizations in America and Japan.

After seemingly re-inventing himself and making vast improvements, Diaz started to come back into the picture in the Strikeforce organization. He strung together impressive victories over top opponents Frank Shamrock, Hayato Sakurai, K.J. Noons, Cyborg Santos, and Paul Daley, finishing all except Noons. This grabbed the attention of UFC President Dana White and Diaz was brought into the fold where he fought MMA pioneer and legend BJ Penn in October, blodding, bruising and battering Penn en route to winning a Unanimous Decision.

Carlos Condit who is equally as dangerous as Diaz, has only had one of his 27 wins go to a decision. With thirteen wins by submission, and thirteen by TKO his well-roundedness and dangerousness is apparent. Condit has gone 5-1 in the UFC since making the transition from the WEC. His sole loss was in his inaugural bout in the UFC and he dropped a very close split decision to Martin Kampmann which many attribute to “Octagon” nerves. The Jackson Mixed Martial Arts fighter then went on to win his next four bouts earning him a title shot against GSP. The difference between the two fighters is Condit is a bit more technical, composed and calculated and Diaz is willing to take as much punishment necessary and tries to overwhelm you with a volume of punches, aggression and pace. I don’t think there is any way possible for these two styles to produce anything other than a fight filled with fireworks.

Roy Nelson vs Fabricio Werdum
“Big Country” Roy Nelson will be welcoming Brazilian Fabricio Werdum back to the UFC. While Nelson may be the poster boy for a Pillsbury Dough Boy commercial, looks can be deceiving. The candid Nelson in spite of his appearance, has dynamite in his right hand, a BJJ black belt, and a lot of experience against top fighters. He also demonstrated a granite chin and taking some of the best punches from current Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos. Nelson came to the UFC in 2009 and beat Stefan Struve and Brendan Straub by TKO before losing a decision to Dos Santos. Immediately following that bout he fought a tough fight with Frank Mir and things began to look bleak for him. A sort of redemption came by way of TKO’ing MMA legend and Croatian native Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. Cro Cop is far past his prime, so it remains to be seen where Nelson really stands in the division. Many feel he is obese and can lose fat to go down to the Light Heavyweight division and leave a larger mark.

Decorated BJJ’er and highly experience Fabricio Werdum has had an on again and off again career in MMA. Just when he begins to gain momentum stringing together wins, he loses. To be fair, Werdum has always fought top opponents, so his 14-5-1 record isn’t an indicator of how dangerous he really is. While known to be dangerous with submissions as demonstrated in his submission wins over Alistair Overeem (Kimura), Aleksander Emelianenko (Arm Triangle), Fedor Emelianenko (Triangle Choke), and Mike Kyle (Guillotine Choke), he showed a much improved striking ability even in losing against K-1 (Kickboxing) Champion and veteran Alistair Overeem. Werdum will be looking to do what he does best and catch Nelson in a submission, but need to set up any attempts to take it to the ground with striking.

Josh Koscheck vs Mike Pierce
Four time D1 All-American Josh Koscheck has fought for the UFC organization a record 19 times, which is his entire career except his first two fights. With 5 submission wins and 5 TKO wins, earning 2 submission of the night and one Knockout of the Night awards, Josh has shown he is much more than one of the most decorated wrestlers in MMA. Josh made an attempt to take the  championship belt from GSP in December of 2011, but was battered from one end of the octagon to the other, dropping a unanimous decision. Since then he only fought once last year and that was against ex-Champion and MMA legend Matt Hughes, whom he KO’d in the first round. He’d love to climb his way back into contention, but has UFC veteran Mike Pierce ready to spoil it.

Pierce who wrestled for Portland State University, fights out of Oregon’s Team Quest camp. He has had seven bouts in the UFC, running a 5-2 record. His most recent performance was a split decision victory over Paul Bradley at UFC on Fox 1 in September. Since Pierce has come to the UFC he has shown a style of grinding and working his way to a decision. He will have his work cut out for him, fighting Koscheck who has far more experience fighting top fighters, is a much better wrestler, and is always setting a very busy pace.

Renan “Barao” Pegado vs Scott Jorgensen
Brazilian Renan Barao is an incredibly dangerous fighter who combines lethal striking with lightning fast submissions. He in essence, kicks and punches you so much that you want to take it to the ground to get relief, but he has a submission waiting for you. After losing his MMA debut in 2005, Pegado then went on to create perhaps the longest win streak in the sport: 26 wins in a row. Of course, the majority of these wins were club fights in Brazil, he has been able to continue his streak in the WEC and the UFC. After an impressive win over Brit Brad Pickett by Rear Naked Choke, he earned himself a top opponent and got one in veteran Scott Jorgensen.

Jorgensen is a 3x Pac-10 wrestling champion and “salty dog” with fights against some of the biggest names in the sport. After running a 7-3 record in the WEC, he made the transition to the UFC winning both his bouts against Ken Stone and Jeff Curran. Besides his pedigree wrestling Jorgensen brings a decent submission game and with 2 TKO wins has demonstrated that he is somewhat of a threat standing. He will need to pull all his experience and tools together and execute a flawless gameplan to disrupt Pedago’s meteoric rise.

Ed Herman vs Clifford Starks
Team Quest and UFC Veteran Ed Herman is a submission specialist with a 6-5 record in the UFC. His biggest wins are over Joe Doerkson, Tim Creduer, and most recently against Kyle Noke. Herman is always exciting to watch, as he lets it all hang out in the ring as evidenced by his 2 submission of the night and KO of the night awards. However, he seems to lose the fights that he must win, and has lost each time he has tried to move up in ranks losing against Demian Maia, Kendall Grove, Alan Belcher, and Aaron Simpson.

His opponent Arizona Combat Sport’s fighter Clifford Starks is undefeated and won his UFC debut by decision against Dustin Jacoby at UFC 137 last October. With half of his bouts being won by decision, criticism is building that he is a grinder and not a finisher. He’ll have some pressure to make a statement and finish this fight.

My picks for fight of the night has to go to Diaz vs Condit, with the possibility of Koscheck vs Pierce stealing it. Werdum or Barao have the best chances to snag Submission of the Night, and Barao or believe it or not Nelson stealing KO of the night. Come back for the results, updates and animated gifs. What are your picks for Condit vs Diaz? The main card bouts? Who wins the bonuses?

About Joe Silvia

When Joe isn't writing, he's coaching people to punch each other in the face. He enjoys ancient cultures, dead and living languages, cooking, benching 999#s, and saving the elderly, babies and puppies from burning buildings. While he enjoys long walks on the beach, he will not be your alarm clock, because he's no ding-a-ling.

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2 comments

  1. Even though GSP is one of my favorite fighters, I’m excited to see Diaz take on Condit instead. I’ve ordered this in HD through DISH because I know it’s going to be a quick fight and I want to be able to have my own instant replays. I have a bet going with some co-workers at DISH that Diaz will surprise everyone and win by KO. They disagree and think that Condit has the skill to win the fight by decision. So far, the Facebook fights have been fun to watch so I can’t wait for the main event because I think it’s going to surprise MMA fans everywhere!

  2. Couldn’t agree more about the match-up Kyle. However I can’t imagine how the fight unfolds, because both are such dangerous, dynamic finishers. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be exciting though.

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