Thoughts, Reflections, And Recaps: UFC 143

UFC 143 went down last night and delivered some great fights, although it may not have been what you expected. Here are the results from the UFC's annual Super Bowl weekend show!

Main Card

Carlos Condit def. Nick Diaz via unanimous decision

Fabricio Werdum def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision

Josh Koscheck def. Mike Pierce via split decision

Renan Barao def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision

Ed Herman def. Clifford Starks via rear-naked choke

Undercard

Dustin Poirier def. Max Holloway via submission (triangle/armbar)

Edwin Figueroa def. Alex Caceres via split decision

Matt Brown def. Chris Cope via second-round TKO

Matt Riddle def. Henry Martinez via split decision

Rafael Natal def. Michael Kuiper via unanimous decision

Stephen Thompson def. Dan Stittgen via first-round KO

After the jump, check out some thoughts and recaps of the UFC 143 card!

Undercard

Stephen Thompson vs. Dan Stittgen

-Thompson took Stittgen out with a lead-leg head kick late in the first round. Thompson faked the leg kick and went high, similar to the question mark kick that Brazilian karateka Francisco Filho popularized in K-1 competition.

-Thompson looks like a very promising prospect with his unique Kenpo karate stylings. He spent most of the round with his hands down and attacking with his lead leg, as well as switching stances pretty frequently. I'd like to see Thompson fight a few more mediocre lightweights before taking on a guy who can outgrapple him, despite his BJJ training with brother-in-law and grappling wiz Carlos Machado and Japanese jiujitsu.

-Stittgen was brought in to lose. I doubt the UFC is really high on the Midwestern regional talents that they usually bring in, so why not put them up against prospects? Stittgen might get one more shot, but this fight was clearly a showcase for Thompson.

Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper

-Excellent fight for Natal initially. Really, I thought Natal's experience would be the deciding factor as Kuiper's skill doesn't cover up his lack of strength of schedule. Natal turned in a performance that showed some grit and poise with him being in trouble in the third.

-That said, props to Kuiper for demonstrating a solid skillset. He showed that he has some of the skill in kickboxing that the Dutch are known for. If he properly demonstrates that along with his solid judo and BJJ skills, Kuiper might be an undercard mainstay.

-Solid fight full of drama and technique. Too bad it was on Facebook, so you probably had ten people watching.

Matt Riddle vs. Henry Martinez

-One of the many controversial decisions during this card. Matt Riddle loves his decisions, regardless which end he is on. I like Riddle and he seems like a nice enough guy who is trying to put on a show for the fans, but fans will quickly turn on him due to the Leonard Garcia "effect" with these decisions. Doesn't matter if it his fault or not. They just will.

-Riddle demonstrated toughness and heart, like always. He also is slowly improving his standup so it looks less and less like a middle-aged woman doing Taebo. Martinez has some solid hands and a good skillset to build on.

-Really, Riddle is going to stay a prelims staple. Not much else to say. Martinez could be a solid prospect at lightweight.

Matt Brown vs. Chris Cope

-I am not surprised at all.

Edwin Figueroa vs. Alex Caceres

-Our second controversial decision of the night. Caceres lost due to a two point deduction for his second accidental kick to the groin, albeit the blows were very hard. I thought Caceres had the decision personally, even with the two-point deduction (10-9 Caceres in the first, 9-8 Figueroa in the second, 10-9 Caceres in the third). I picked him, but I still don't believe Figueroa had anything for him aside from that initial head kick.

-Herb Dean was on some sort of bad roll last night. I understand the point deduction there, but I have never witnessed a two-point deduction myself. The blows were pretty brutal but I don't believe they warranted a two-point deduction.

-I am pretty impressed by the bantamweight Bruce Leroy. He shows something new every fight. I liked his patience in this fight and his use of his reach. However, he needs to learn to actually complete his submissions instead of the idle attacks from his back. Nonetheless, I think he is fun to watch and improves and matures with each fight.

-Edwin Figueroa is good for a war and is always game standing. His ground game really needs a ton of work. If Bruce Leroy is destroying you on the ground, imagine what killer grapplers like Jeff Curran or Miguel Torres would do to him. Give him some fun fights with a brawler and give the fans a good show.

Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway

-Poirier put on a really impressive performance as expected. His mounted triangle/armbar was a thing of beauty. I truly can't say I expected anything less.

-Poirier probably won't be a guy that challenges Aldo. He is solid all-around, but doesn't posses a spectacular quality that would be detrimental to Aldo's championship run. However, he is one fight away from having that title shot and rightfully so.

-Holloway has some upside. His standup looks sound and he has some creative strikes that seem like they'd pack some power. Time is on his side and he can build around his proficient striking base.

Ed Herman vs. Clifford Starks

-The first fight on our main card and I still don't know why I had to pay for this. Truthfully, it was a good fight where both guys were willing to exchange and eat a few to land one.

-Ed Herman is fun to watch. His judo-inspired trip to take Starks down in the second was beautiful. Herman should be pushing top 25 status with three-fight win streak. He could present some problems to a few guys and could work his way up to a high-level gatekeeper with his decent power and excellent ground game.

-Back to the undercard for Starks. He has a nice straight right that he was landing at will on Herman. If he works on his submission grappling and becomes a good wrestleboxer like his former collegiate teammate Cain Velasquez, we could have a new force at middleweight. This will take a lot of time and work, but Starks could put up a respectable effort against many at middleweight. Hey, Alessio Sakara still has a job! Why not?

Renan Barao vs. Scott Jorgensen

-Not really the groundbreaking battle of high-level wrestling vs. execellent Brazilian jiujitsu that I expected. Credit to Barao for controlling Jorgensen's takedowns.

-Barao vs. Dominick Cruz or Urijah Faber will be an intriguing matchup. Whether or not he takes another bout will also be interesting. He has some holes in his game that could be exploited by a guy like Cruz, but he also holds some advantages over him as well.

-Cardio, Mr. Barao. You'll need that to compete with a guy like Faber or Cruz. Also, striking defense left a little to be desired against a guy like Scotty who has a simplistic boxing game that is predicated off of power and not much else.

-What can Jorgensen do now? Maybe a move to flyweight? Barao looked bigger to me and had no trouble shucking Scotty's takedowns off. If he moves to flyweight, he could definitely be a contender. I think he doesn't have much chance at bantamweight.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Roy Nelson

-Roy Nelson's chin is unbelievable. This guy is incredibly tough. However, this is the end of any talk about him being a contender. He'll be stuck at the Cheick Kongo level of gatekeeper, which suits him.

-Also, Nelson can't make the move to light heavyweight. Physically, yes, sure. But making the move from the shallow pools of heavyweight to a shark tank like light heavyweight is scary. Does anyone want to see him fight Lyoto Machida or Phil Davis? It would get ugly.

-With all this talk about Nelson's toughness, Werdum laid an UGLY whipping on Nelson. His Muay Thai has become damn good. Had this been a lesser man, this fight would have been over pretty early. I'm not confident that he'll move from the spot that he is currently in rankings wise, but he has cemented his top 5 rating.

-Nelson had no business jumping into Werdum's guard and Werdum showed that. I was impressed that Roy survived...but he was hedging his bets.

-One last thing of note here. Credit to Medium Country here for slimming down. Maybe 225 or 230 is the optimum weight for you without being way too small.

Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit

-I scored the fight 48-47 for Diaz. I had the first. second, and fifth going to Diaz. Scoring a fight simply on strikes landed is pretty weak. All the other criteria need to be accounted for and judging is totally subjective. That is one of the most simultaneously beautiful and ugly things about the sport. However, it isn't a robbery that Condit won.

-Condit's gameplan was brilliant. I thought that Diaz would get into his head and it seemed like he did for 5 seconds at a time on the rarest occasion. But Condit's patience and sharp technique need to be commended.

-This fight wasn't boring in the least. It was definitely far from what I expected to happen and the names in the fight bolstered the fight's excitement throughout. Had this been a matchup between gatekeeper lightweights opening the card, I'm sure everyone would be complaining majorly. But it was Diaz and Condit and it was one of those classic performances where the gameplan and what is happening because of it is simply amazing, not unlike Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen I.

-I hope Nick Diaz will be back and I'm pretty confident he will. Pretty smart powerplay for more money if that is what he was working for, but it worries me a little. He seems less and less into the sport with each fight. I don't know if he just wants to do endurance sports, boxing, or what. We'll never know what Nick Diaz wants until that impulsive decision comes about.

-Condit vs. Georges St. Pierre will not do half the business that Diaz vs. GSP would have. Still, it is an intriguing fight. Will Condit be able to end GSP's night with a power shot? Doubtful. I see a GSP decision or submission in the works. But Condit has a ton of heart and last night proved that.

Overall, this night gave us a lot of unexpected excitement and a fight for the ages, but not necessarily the fight we expected. It will be interesting to see what scenarios play out and which don't in the coming months.

Clip provided by The Big Lead