UFC 146 Preliminary Recap: Dan Hardy retains job in impressive fashion

The UFC 146 preliminary fights are in the books and they delivered with a great amount of action. They started with Paul Sass utilizing his famous triangle choke for a first round submission. From there the action advanced quickly.

Dan Hardy was fighting for his job, facing Duane “Bang” Ludwig. Fortunately for him, he showed some of his old striking prowess in scoring the first round TKO. Hardy prematurely celebrated the bout after a great hook, but soon kept his job with a brutal TKO of his opponent.

Moving on, C.B. Dollaway toppled Jason “Mayhem” Miller in what many deemed a boring affair, leaving Miller’s MMA career in jeopardy after two poor UFC performances.

This fight was outshined by the following victory of former WEC Lightweight champion Jamie Varner. Varner was a late replacement of Evan Dunham, scheduled to face up-and-coming Lightweight superstar Edson Barboza. After knocking out Terry Etim with a wheelkick last January, Barboza’s hype was at an all-time high. However, he succumbed to Varner’s vicious hammerfists during the first round handed Barboza his first loss ever.

The preliminaries ended with a bout between between former The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Brandao and Darren Elkins, who survived some brutal punches in the first round to grind out a decision victory.

Overall, the preliminary bouts provided a great intro into one of the best overall UFC cards in history.