Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft (Matt Erickson/HeavyMMA)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – HeavyMMA will have live coverage of tonight’s UFC debut on the FX cable channel, UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller, which takes place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Tune in here for live blogs from each of the main card fights, including the broadcast’s opener between heavyweights Pat Barry and Christian Morecraft, the co-main event welterweight fight between Duane Ludwig and Josh Neer and the main event, a lightweight contenders fight between Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller.
Tonight’s main card will air live on the FX cable channel starting at 9 p.m. Eastern. The preliminary card will be broadcast live on Fuel TV at 6 p.m. Eastern, and you can get round-by-round and fight-by-fight coverage of the six fights on the prelims right here at HeavyMMA.
Pat Barry vs. Christian Morecraft
Round 1: They touch gloves and they’re ready to go. Good straight jabs from Morecraft early. He uses a leg kick to get a takedown, and he takes Barry’s back. He’s looking for a choke, and he gets full mount on Barry’s side. He leaves the choke alone, and Barry does a great job of pushing back to his feet. Good jab from Barry, who then throws a leg kick, and then another one as he moves in for a takedown. Morecraft shoots again, but Barry gets a choke of his own and looks for a guillotine choke, but Morecraft gets the fight down. He looks for another choke, but Barry defends. Morecraft gets an arm, but Barry does a fantastic job getting over the top of Barry’s back to escape. Barry throws a head kick that just misses. Big left hook from Barry, and Morecraft is hurt. Barry lands a huge right on the ground, and then three more as Morecraft’s head bounces off the canvas. Herb Dean gets in to stop it, as Morecraft is completely out.
Result: Pat Barry def. Christian Morecraft, KO, 3:38 Round 1
Mike Easton vs. Jared Papazian
Round 1: They come out swinging early, bashing each other. Going right after that Fight of the Night bonus. No way to tell who gets the best of who, but after 15 seconds Easton drives Papazian to the cage and lands some short knees to the legs and body. But Papazian answers with an elbow, then reverses and has Easton’s back on the fence. Again they turn each other around. And again. Easton throws a nice knee as Papazian looks to get his hooks in. And Easton then turns him around, and Papazian throws another elbow. Easton throws hammer fists to the leg, but Yamasaki breaks them up and puts them back in the middle. Odd, given they were both doing plenty of work. But we restart and both fighters l and leg kicks. Papazian nearly grabs Easton’s leg on a kick. Big roundhouses from Papazian just miss. Papazian then ducks away from an Easton hook. Papazian changing up his stance nicely, and he circles on the outside. He lands a jab, but eats a punch, too. Big knee from Easton just misses. Spinning back kick from Easton doesn’t land cleanly. As the round comes to a close, they both land another flurry of punches. It’s a close fun round, but Easton was more aggressive and landed a few more shots. Easton gets it 10-9 on the HeavyMMA card.
Round 2: 1-2-3 from Papazian to open. Then he eats a leg kick. Papazian is moving around so much that Mario Yamasaki has to dance out of the way himself. Good left hook from Easton lands, but he stays on his feet. Papazian comes with a right uppercut. And here we go with another flurry from each guy. Easton lands a gorgeous leg kick that nearly sends Papazian off his feet. Easton lands a jab as he comes back up. But Papazian nicely clinches to slow things down and pushes Easton to the fence. One hook in for Papazian now as Easton looks for underhooks. But Yaasaki splits them up at 2:15. Good right from Papazian, but Easton lands a spinning back kick to push him away. Easton pushes in and looks to tie things up. Easton gets a takedown, gets into half guard, and looks for ground-and-pound on top. He briefly passes to side control, but can’t keep it and Papazian nicely powers his way back to his feet. Easton lands a nice knee to the gut, but they break away and go back to the middle. There’s another quick flurry as the round ends, and Papazian goes for a takedown – but it’s Easton who lands it. Easton will get the second on the Heavy card, 10-9.
Round 3: Easton seems motivated from the pep talk from his corner, who has told him to go out and finish the fight. And he goes right away with leg kicks and punches. And they start throwing flurries again. Easton tries to take the fight to the ground, but Papazian ties him up and pushes the fight to the cage. A minute in, Yamasaki is watching closely and he splits them up. But Papazian pauses from a knee to the mommy-daddy parts. Yamasaki gives him time, but he only needs 15 seconds. Easton tries for an inside kick, but it’s not there. He tries to push the fight to the cage. They trade uppercuts, but both stay standing. They’re standing right in front of each other landing some big shots, but both still stand. Who’s going to go down first? They’re right in front of UFC president Dana White, and they’re probably yelling down to him, “Fight of the Night bonus, boss! Fight of the Night!” They clinch briefly on the cage, but break apart and go back to trying to turn each others lights out. Good body kicks from Papazian. Good right from Easton, and shortly thereafter Easton trips him. Easton gets a Thai clinch as Papazian gets back up, but can’t throw a fight-ending knee. With 30 seconds left, we’ll see how many bombs they have left. Good combos from Papazian, and then he just misses a right. Then lands a big uppercut. They’re throwing big bombs. Papazian pushes in and looks for a takedown. It’s not there as the bell sounds. The two fighters embrace, and they’ve got to be pretty certain they’re getting a Fight of the Night bonus. HeavyMMA scores it 10-9 for Easton in the last, but it’s close. Heavy has the fight for him 30-27, but the scores could vary wildly.
Result: Mike Easton def. Jared Papazian, majority decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-29)
Duane Ludwig vs. Josh Neer
Round 1: This has had people saying it’s got Fight of the Night written all over it, but they’ll have to do a lot to top the last one. Ludwig catches Neer, but Neer clinches up and pushes “Bang” to the fence. Ludwig defending nicely and lands a knee as they break. Good left from Ludwig, then a right. Then a knee to the body. He hurts Neer with it. But Neer stays standing. Neer motions to Josh Rosenthal twice that he has no mouth piece. Rosenthal picks it up and Neer puts it back in. Neer lands a right to the body, then a right to the head near the fence. Ludwig lands a big shot, and then lands some good knees. Neer grabs hold of a single leg and Ludwig keeps his balance for a while. But then Neer finally gets him down. Ludwig looking for upkicks to try and get out of there. Ludwig reverses, but Neer gets a guillotine, and it’s tight. He’s got it deep. Ludwig tries to tap with his right hand, but he’s out cold. Rosenthal checks his hand and pulls Neer off of him. Ludwig is absolutely out cold and they immediately go to work on him to get him back. Fantastic showing for Neer, who wins his second since returning to the UFC.
Result: Josh Neer def. Duane Ludwig, submission (guillotine choke), 3:04 Round 1
Melvin Guillard vs. Jim Miller
Round 1: They touch gloves and we’re off in the main event. Miller jabs early. Guillard counters with a right hook. Flying knee from Guilard, but it misses. Another one hits the body. And Guillard lands a left hook and Miller goes down. Guillard pounces and tries to get a finish. But Miller pushes back up and tries to tie Guillard up on the fence. Another knee from Guillard, and then a right kick to the neck. Miller tries to get recovered, and Guillard stays patience – maybe a lesson learned from his last loss to Joe Lauzon. Antoehr high kick from Guillrard misses. Miller goes for a shot, and tries to push to the fence. But Guillard defends and they clinch on the cage. Another high knee from Guillard just misses. Another knee from Guillard, and it sounds like it lands, but this time Miller counters with a beautiful double-leg. He looks for Guillar’s back and he gets it. Guillard is going to go to sleep with a rear naked choke. He’s cranking it. And Guillard finally has to tap. It’s same ol’, same ol’ for Guillard – his 10th career loss, and his ninth submission setback. Miller capitalized on the flying knee to get the fight to the ground, just like he wanted to do.
Result: Jim Miller def. Melvin Guillard, submission (rear naked choke), 2:44 Round 1