UFC on FOX 3 Recap and Results: Johny Hendricks edges Josh Koscheck in a close contest
Tonight’s UFC on Fox 3 from East Rutherford, New Jersey delivered an action-packed main card. Overall it was an exciting night of fights and an excellent event to continue the UFC’s run on Fox. All of the main card did not fail to live up to the hype.
With a Lightweight title shot possibly at stake for Nate Diaz this evening, many had considered his opponent Jim Miller the favorite. Diaz brought his trademark boxing to the cage to keep the talented grappler Miller at bay, who could never seem to find his range. Peppered with shots from the outside, Miller appeared to have perhaps broken his nose at some point. Diaz was so confident he resorted to taunting Miller before gaining top position on the ground and submitting him with a vicious guillotine choke. He gained the next Lightweight title shot with the finish, and will wait for the winner of Frankie Edgar/Ben Henderson later this summer.
In the co-main event, Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks fought a closely-contested split decision. Hendricks hit Koscheck with several good lefts and attempted several takedowns. While Koscheck refused to be taken down, his face became greatly swollen from the effects of Hendricks’s heavy hands. Throwing many bombs of his own, Koscheck seemed to be just out of range of Hendricks in the striking department. He ended the fight with a dominant position position and some ground-and-pound, but apparently it was not enough to take home the win. Hendricks will apparently get the next Welterweight title shot after Carlos Condit fights the returning Georges St. Pierre.
The rest of the main card consisted of two highly exciting knockouts, beginning with Lavar Johnson‘s dismantling of Pat Barry in a battle of power strikers. The two fighters came to swing with Johnson landing some brutally effective uppercuts until the ref stepped in to stop the fight during the first round. Finally in what may have been the performance of the evening, Alan Belcher knocked out Rousimar Palhares in his own arena on the ground, avoiding many of the inevitable legock attempts to earn the TKO from Palhares on the ground. Insisting that he is the number-one contended in the UFC Middleweight division after the fight, it appears that Alan Belcher is back in the mix in a quick way. Two possible number-one contenders were decided in a great show, making UFC on Fox 3 a great success.
Preliminary Card Results:
Michael Johnson def. Tony Ferguson via unanimous decision
John Dodson def. Tim Elliott via unanimous decision
John Hathaway def. Pascal Krauss via unanimous decision
Louis Gaudinot def. John Lineker via submission (guillotine choke)
Danny Castillo def. John Cholish via unanimous decision
Dennis Bermudez def. Pablo Garza via unanimous decision
Roland Delorme def. Nick Denis via submission (rear-naked choke)
Karlos Vemola def. Mike Massenzio via submission (rear-naked choke)
Further Reading: Nothing’s guaranteed: Dana White clarifies title implications of UFC on Fox 3
