UFC 158 St. Pierre vs Diaz prelims recap

The first fight of the preliminary card on FX was started off with a lightweight bout between Daron “Detroit Superstar” Cruickshank and John “The Bull” Makdessi.  These two taekwondo fighters delivered a plethora of unique strikes as both went deep into the arsenal for axe kicks, wheel kicks and everything that you could throw in a spinning matter at the opponent. Cruickshank tried to stay just on the outside of Makdessi’s reach but that called for him to be circling away most of the fight. The crowd was vocal from the beginning in this one as they were not happy about the feeling out and time it was taking to set up the strikes. In the second round the action picked up and Makdessi started to find his range and clearly dominated the third. Makdessi took home the unanimous decision 29-28 on all scorecards for his 11th win and second in a row.

Jordan “The Young Gun” Mein made it a successful debut in his first fight in the UFC. Mein survived an early takedown from Dan Miller and a deep arm bar attempt in the first two minutes. Mein dropped Miller shortly after they got back to their feet but let Miller get back standing. Mein realized at that point he could land the punches at will. Mein hurt Miller with a pair of lead jabs to the jaw then a right hand over the top. Mein opened up on the body as Miller crumpled. “The Young Gun” followed him to the mat and delivered ground and pound till the ref stepped in and waved off the fight with 18 seconds left in round 1. Mein gets the TKO victory and becomes the first to stop Dan Miller. Miller now moves to 6-6 in the UFC and 1-1 at welterweight. Miller has not put together the same success as his brother Jim has at lightweight but to note has also had his fair share of hardships to keep him from being fully focused on mma.

In a featherweight affair Antonio “Pato” Carvalho took on the red hot Darren “The Damage” Elkins. Elkins has rattled off wins over Steven Siler, Diego Brandao, Tiequan Zhang and Michirio Omigawa since entering the featherweight ranks. Elkins hurt Carvalho with a right to the jaw and you could see Carvalho was pretty much out on his feet. Elkins lands a left and right with the right dropping Carvalho but he quickly was popping up to his feet but Yves Lavigne was already waving off the fight. Elkins gets his second stoppage in the UFC and first since his debut at 3:06 of round 1.

The long time UFC veteran Patrick “The Predator” Cote, who first appeared in the Octagon in 2004, made his first cut down from middleweight to welterweight. His opponent would be another Strikeforce transplant looking to make a successful first trip to the UFC “Vicious” Bobby Voelker. The hometown fighter Cote had the crowd behind him in mass tonight. Cote started off the fight hot and even was effective of his back at the end of round 1 but the second round was a touch more back and forth. As Cote looked good striking out the gate and first have of the round then after Voelker took a barrage he returned the favor and followed up with some big knees and busted open the eye brow and forehead of Cote. The third round Voelker came out like a rock’em sock’em robot and planted his feet and threw the big left and rights. Voelker lands more big shots and knees as Cote comes ducking in. Voelker gets a take down and delivers dominate ground and pound to keep Cote on the ground for most of the final round. It wouldn’t be enough though as Patrick Cote gets the unanimous decision 29-28 on all three of the judges cards. Voelker is definitely one to keep an eye on going forward to see if he can make the needed changes to be a top 170er.

Earlier on Facebook:

TJ Dillashaw defeats Issei Tamura by knockout at :26 of round 2.

Rick Story wins via TKO at 3:05 of round 1 over Quinn Mulhern.

George Roop gets the unanimous decision over Reuben Duran (29-28×2, 30-27)