The card features a featherweight contest between contenders L.C. Davis and Raphael Assuncao, a lightweight match up between Edward Faalolotto and Anthony Njokuani, and four other contests. Follow along beginning at approximately 6 p.m. ET for all the action from this evening’s preliminary card.
Preliminary Card
Yves Jabouin vs. Brandon Visher
Round 1: They open up slowly, measuring each other out and checking distances. Jabouin presses forward with two punches but Visher moves away quickly. They’re keeping a pretty safe distance from each other. Jabouin grabs a clin, but Visher unloads with what appears to be hundreds of body shots. Jabouin powers through it and gets a takedown into the guard. He passes into half guard, but Visher does a great job of keeping him from improving the position further. Jabouin wins the round based solely on the takedown, because nothing much happened during this round at all. Heavy.com scores the round 10-9 for Yves Jabouin.
Round 2: More measuring for this round. Visher finally shoots for a takedown, but Jabouin blocks it and uses a trip to put Visher on his back. He’s not able to do much with it, however, as Visher is just completely nullifying him on the ground using his guard work. Jabouin stands up and then drops back down, grabbing a guillotine in the process. He switches it to an anaconda choke, but Visher escapes and gets back to his feet. Fisher tries a trip but gets blocked. They end the round clinched up. Visher is doing plenty to nullify Jabouin on the ground, but he was very nearly rocked by a body shot. Heavy.com scores the round 10-9 for Yves Jabouin.
Round 3: Yves is sitting back, perfectly content to let the fight come to him. Visher is trying to push, but Jabouin is being fairly evasive. Visher moves in for the kill, and Jabouin deposits him promptly on his back. Jabouin moves Visher against the cage and stifles him. This fight is stifling me. Not the most exciting way to kick off the card, that’s for sure. Visher is desperately looking for a shoulder lock, but Jabouin calmly moves into the half guard. It’s a good fight for Jabouin, who is being cornered tonight by Miguel Torres. Jabouin tries another guillotine at the end but doesn’t get it.
Official decision: Yves Jabouin d. Brandon Visher by unanimous decision
Mackens Semerzier vs. Cub Swanson
Round 1: Herb Dean is your ref for this bout. Cub and Mackens share a mean mug moment before the fight. Both guys exchange a series of nasty leg kicks. Semerzier catches a Swanson leg kick and takes him to the mat, but Cub immediately gets back to his feet. Swanson comes over the top with a wild right, then tries to blow out Semerzier’s knee with a kick. Semerzier clinches and looks to be working a takedown, but Cub stuffs it and they clinch against the cage. Swanson gets a trip takedown, but Semerzier moves back to his feet. Swanson is feeling pretty loose at this point, and he’s moving much quicker than we used to seeing him move. Semerzier tries a Jose Aldo flying knee but misses, then tries a flying front kick which also misses. This is a very fun fight. There is so much action happening that it’s literally almost impossible to describe it all. Both guys just keep unloading on each other until the round ends. No idea how to score that one, truthfully, and I don’t care because it was awesome.
Round 2: And they pick up right where they left off, with both guys swinging away wildly. Swanson is connecting much more, though, but Semerzier says he’s not being affected by the shots. Cub is literally putting his head down and just swinging from the hips. This is awesome. Cub gets a takedown where he just throws Semerzier to the mat, turns around and walks away. Semerzier back to his feet. Swanson has him against the cage unloading bombs. Semerzier continues to take the shots like they aren’t affected him. He finally lands a few nice shots on Swanson, so Cub immediately takes him down and lands in the guard. Cub with elbows from the top. Another awesome round.
Round 3: Semerzier misses with a huge head kick, but then gets a big takedown. Swanson gets back to his feet, narrowly avoiding certain death by a Semerzier knee. Semerzier shrimps his back back to his feet. Swanson is getting tired, but he separates and Semerzier comes forward. They’re exchanging the big punches. These guys are absolutely killing each other. Two minutes left in the round. Semerzier trying a takedown and now trying to take his back. He’s drilling Swanson from the back. Swanson is covering up. Semerzier looking for a rear naked choke, but Swanson is doing a good job of defending. Swanson moves to his back and gets Semerzier back into the guard. Great work by Swanson there. Semerzier unloading from the top. Swanson back to his feet. Both guys swinging wildly as the round ends. They embrace. That fight was AWESOME.
Matt Brown: That fight was just bonkers. If the guys on the main card are gonna want Fight of the Night honors, they are going to have to really bring it. These two went at it until the final bell.
Official decision: Cub Swanson by split decision. This was one hell of a fight. Find a way to watch it.
Clint Godfrey vs. Michael McDonald
Round 1: My boy Josh Rosenthal is reffing this one. McDonald looks like a smaller Evan Dunham. He drops Godfrey to the mat and begins punching him, but lets him back up. Godfrey gets him back to the ground. McDonald works rubber guard, then grabs a super quick armbar and Godfrey immediately taps out. That was a really, really fast armbar.
Matt Brown: Very slick transition from the youngster. The new wave of MMA guys are going to be so sick.
Official decision: Michael McDonald by submission (round 1)
Zack Micklewright vs. Dustin Poirier
Round 1: Both guys come out swinging wildly. Poirier is killing Micklewright. Micklewright is staggered. He’s about to go down. The fight is finally stopped. Micklewright was knocked out standing. Poirier just absolutely destroyed this guy and stole his lunch money.
Matt Brown: Poirier came out throwing bombs early and often with nearly all of them landing. Micklewright was out on his feet and nearly fell over when fight was called. Job security for Poirier for sure.
Official decision: Dustin Poirier by TKO, round 1
Edward Faalolotto vs. Anthony Njokuani
Round 1: We had a problem with the live feed in the media room, so I missed most of the this round. Apparently Anthony Njokuani was drilled in the junk pretty hard, though.
Round 2: We come back to the action with Njokuani on top and roughly two minutes left in the first round. He’s in side control and is forcing his forearm across Faalolotto’s throat. Faalolotto gets back to his feet right. Njokuani appears to have plenty of energy left and is screaming with every punch he throws. He’s landing some shots now, too. He drills Faalolotto with two straight rights, then gets a clinch and delivers repeated knees to the head. A left hook drops Faalolotto to the mat, and that’s all she wrote as the ref steps in to stop the fight. Great win for Anthony Njokuani.
Official decision: Anthony Njokuani by TKO, round 3
Matt Brown: There’s that impressive striking that Anthony is known for. These 155 guys might be fighting for jobs tonight and he proved he deserves a spot on the UFC roster.
L.C. Davis vs. Raphael Assuncao
Round 1: Long feeling out process to start, but Davis finally takes Assuncao down. Davis is in side control, but Assuncao has a half guillotine on that won’t finish the fight, but looks highly uncomfortable.Davis finally frees himself and tries to posture up, but Assuncao is controlling his wrists. Assuncao working rubber guard. He’s really keeping Davis close. Well, for a moment, because Davis gets back to his feet and Assuncao follows him. They clinch and Davis presses him against the cage. They separate. Assuncao looked for a standing guillotine but can’t get it. Assuncao kicks Davis right in the junk, I mean SQUARE in the junk. That one looked amazingly painful. Davis takes a few moments to recover and then tells Herb Dean he’s ready to start. Assuncao grabs a leg and looks for a takedown, but Davis slips away. Davis fires away with rights, but Assuncao takes him to the mat and uses some ground and pound as the round ends.
Round 2: Assuncao grabs both legs and slowly forces Davis to a seated position, but can’t seem to get any further. Davis gets back to his feet. They separate. Davis pressing forward and lands a left hook, but misses the follow-up. Assuncao grabs underhooks again and moves against the cage. Big elbow from Assuncao lands as they separate. ASsuncao using leg kicks and left hooks to keep Davis at bay. Davis is trying to push the pace. Both guys are pawing at each other, neither really hitting much as the round comes to a close.
Round 3: Leg kick from Assuncao lands, then he lands a nice right hook. He’s really doing a great job of using kicks to keep Davis at bay in this fight. Davis shoots, but Assuncao stuffs it and switches to underhooks against the cage. Davis lands a high knee. They separate. Davis is a lot more cautious about coming in close now, since Assuncao is landing at will when he does so. He’s still pressing the action, though, mostly because he’s probably down 2 rounds at this point and knows it. Assuncao clinches against the cage again, then gets a takedown into the guard. He moves Davis against the cage. Casey Leydon from Fanhouse says this is not good for Davis, and he’s right. 20 seconds left and Davis tries another takedown, but Assuncao stays standing. He’s going to win the fight.
Official decision: Raphael Assuncao by unanimous decision
Matt Brown: Much needed win for Raphael Assuncao who came into the WEC with lots of hype. He’s still got a lot of work to do, but its a start.
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