Stay right here to find out who wins on the UFC 196 Fox Sports 1 prelim card! This portion of tonight will be headlined by Brandon Thatch and Siyar Bahadurzada. Should be fireworks! This page updates live. To get a preview of tonight’s prelim match ups – click here.
Darren Elkins overwhelms Skelly, takes home UD victory
Things didn’t sart out so well for Team Alpha Male fighter Darren Elkins. He found himself at the wrong end of some punching exchanges, and a barrage of knees to the head by Chas Skelly. Elkins was able to turn the tide though gritty wrestling, dirty boxing, and barrages of ground and pound. Skelly quickly began to fade after having to carry Elkins’ weight or so long. This accentuated Elkins’ beating on Skelly. The judges gave Darren Elkins the unanimous decision.
Vitor Miranda scores impressive KO win over Guimaraes
From the beginning, it was clear Guimaraes wanted nothing to do with trading shots with muay thai ace Vitor Miranda. Guimares pressure against the cage, and constantly grinded on him in search of the takedown. Miranda stayed upright however, and even landed to good effect with elbows while defending the double leg (ala Travis Browne). In the second stanza, Miranda stunned Guimaraes with elbows to the side of the head, and quickly created space to land a head kick. A follow-up three-punch combination put Guimaraes stumbling to the ground as the ref saved him. Impressive win for Vitor Miranda
Taleb sleeps Silva with right hand
In the most impressive outting by Canada’s Nordine Taleb, a single right hand put Erick Silva unconscious in the second round. The majority of the bout featured both Taleb and Silva trading kicks. Taleb, a bit longer and a bit taller, stayed outside of Silva’s range yet countered effectively with leg kicks. An awkward moment occurred in the first round when Taleb seemingly rolled his ankle, resulting in a temporary lapse of concentration. However, Taleb recovered, and went on to put a blistering right hand down the pipe to Silva’s chin in the second round. Silva faceplanted, and a single follow up shot was all it took to put Silva away. Big win for Nordine Taleb. He very much looked like a Rory MacDonald in there; calculated, always shifting, and deadly precise.
Siyar Bahadurzada arm-triangles Thatch in round 3
The match-up between bangers Bahadurzada and Thatch resulted in quite a few memorable exchanges, but it was the ground game of Bahadurzada that made the difference. Thatch had Bahadurzada on his heels with big knees, a front kick, and several other methods of attack throughout the bout. However, Thatch failed to stop the predictable takedowns from Bahadurzada. From his back, Thatch offered little opposition resulting in being caught in an arm-triangle in the third round. Very disappointing performance by Thatch in a bout that I felt he could have easily won with a little better takedown defense. Thatch bullied Bahadurzada around the Octagon, and landed big shots. While Bahadurzada had his moments, his attacks were loopy, predictable, and considerably less precise than Thatch’s. Nevertheless, “Siyar the Great” exploited Thatch’s big weakness, and took home a hard-earned victory.
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