James Te Huna (Josh Hedges/UFC)
Seven-fight prelim card sees five stoppages in Australia
Cole Miller had revenge on his mind on Friday night, but Steven Siler had some thoughts of his own on the matter.
Miller, looking to avenge the loss Siler handed his brother Micah last year, was upset by the TUF 14 alum by unanimous decision on the preliminary card at UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann in Sydney, Australia.
Siler outstruck the heavily favored Miller in the first two rounds, then survived a late third-round rally by Miller to take a 29-28 decision on all three judges’ scorecards. Miller was fighting at featherweight for the first time in more than five years after dropping down from lightweight.
“He’s a very, very tough cat,” Siler said after the fight. “I expected a war, and I got it for sure. He definitely is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the featherweight division. I thought for sure I had the first two rounds. I rocked him a lot more and felt like I controlled the cage more. Third round, I let him get the takedown – he’s tough on the ground and I wanted to keep it standing.”
Miller was as much as a 5-to-1 betting favorite in the fight. Siler’s win over Micah Miller came in an unofficial fight to gain entry onto the Season 14 cast of “The Ultimate Fighter” last year. But despite Cole Miller’s hope to get the brothers to 1-1 against Siler, the underdog improved to 2-0 in the UFC – and 2-0 against the Miller family.
The preliminary card featured five finishes out of seven fights, including dominant performances from two of the three Australian fighters on the card.
James Te Huna dominated Aaron Rosa in a light heavyweight bout for a TKO win just over two minutes into the fight to close out the prelims on Fuel TV. And fellow Aussie Anthony Perosh got his TKO finish with just one second left in the first round, scoring a dominant win over Nick Penner.
The first three fights on the prelims were stoppages. Shawn Jordan made his UFC debut with a second-round TKO of Oli Thompson. Daniel Pineda‘s run of stoppages continued when he forced Mackens Semerzier to tap to a first-round armbar – giving him 17 stoppages in his 17 career victories. And TJ Waldburger needed just 55 seconds to submit Jake Hecht, also with an armbar.
The night’s only other decision, like Siler over Miller, was also an upset as local Australian favorite Kyle Noke was outpointed by Andrew Craig, who was making his UFC debut.