Before the UFC on FUEL TV 7: "Barao vs. McDonald" main card kicked off on FUEL TV today (Sat., Feb. 16, 2013) from Wembley Arena in London, England, an entire six-bout "Prelims" under card was broadcast on Facebook.com.
The final fight of the Facebook preliminary card saw Renee Forte outpoint Terry Etim for a unanimous victory. It was Etim's first fight since being on the wrong end of 2012's "Knockout of the Year" to Edson Barboza over one year ago and the 27-year-old looked flat in defeat. To Forte's credit, he was the more aggressive and powerful striker and the feet and was able to negate Etim's submission skills on the ground by establishing dominant position and landing heavy ground-and-pound. Forte, who has fought as high as middleweight, still looked somewhat undersized for the lightweight division and even with the victory the Brazilian may consider a move down to 145-pounds for his next fight.
Danny Castillo rebounded from a knockout loss to Michael Johnson last October with a three-round mauling of Paul Sass in the fifth bout of the preliminary card. "Last Call" dove right into the fire from the opening bell, taking it to the dangerous submission specialist on the ground. Castillo had no fear of Sass' high-level ground game as he powered through every submission attempt the Brit threw at him and was completely overwhelming in victory. The win pushed Castillo's record inside the Octagon to an impressive 5-2 and the Team Alpha Male product is certainly deserving of a step up in competition after a quality win.
Andy Ogle notched his first official UFC victory and in the process may have ended Josh Grispi's career inside the Octagon. Aside from the opening minutes of the first round where Grispi was close to securing a triangle choke, Ogle controlled all the action, which was mostly spent on the ground, for a unanimous decision win. It seemed as though Grispi completely lost his confidence after the failed submission attempt and Ogle simply wanted it more and overtook the fight. It's shocking to think Grispi was at one time scheduled to challenge Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight title and now he has lost four in a row and is likely going to have to look for employment elsewhere. As for Ogle, he couldn't have given himself a much better present on the day of his 24th birthday.
Tom Watson and Stanislav Nedkov more than made up for the first two bouts of the evening with their thrilling middleweight battle that saw Watson come out on top via second-round technical knockout. Watson's ability to manhandle Nedkov in the clinch played a huge role in his victory as "Kong" methodically picked the Bulgarian apart with elbows and knees from close range until the fight was over. Nedkov had his chance to win the fight late in the first round with a flurry of ground-and-pound; however, Watson showed fantastic survival instincts and made it out of the round. In the second frame, Nedkov, who was fighting at middleweight for the first time, quickly tired out which allowed the Brit to take over. Watson's win marked his first UFC victory and in his post-fight interview with Jon Anik, the 30-year-old called out users of testosterone-replacement-therapy (TRT) and said he wants to get his hands on anyone using testosterone, a statement that is sure to earn him some brownie points with fans.
Vaughan Lee notched his second career UFC victory with a unanimous decision win over Motonobu Tezuka in the second fight of the preliminary card. Even with 15 minutes of fighting, there was remotely not action to speak of in the bantamweight contest. Barring a second-round scramble where Tezuka attempted a leg lock, essentially the entire fight consisted of the Japanese fighter pushing Lee against the fence and looking for takedowns. When scoring the fight, the judge's favored Lee's ability to thwart the takedowns and land strikes over Tezuka's aggressiveness and failed grappling. Underwhelming fight, but one that allows Lee to extend his tenure under the UFC banner. Tezuka, on the other hand, may not be so lucky.
The opening bout of the UFC on FUEL TV 7 fight card saw flyweights Phil Harris and Ulysses Gomez engage in a lackluster three-round affair where Harris came out the winner by way of unanimous decision. For two fighters who have made careers of taking opponents down and getting submissions, Harris and Gomez spent a whole lot of time on the feet. Neither man ever seriously hurt the other, and the story of the fight was Harris' ability to walk through the leg kicks of Gomez and control the pace of the fight and work his counterstriking. It was far from a memorably performance by "Billy", but after losing his UFC debut to Darren Uyenoyama last October, the 29-year-old can only be happy to get the win.
Here are the complete results from the UFC on FUEL TV 7 preliminary card:
Terry Etim vs. Renee Forte - Forte defeats Etim via unanimous decision (29-28x2, 30-27)
Danny Castillo vs. Paul Sass - Castillo defeats Sass via unanimous decision (30-27x2, 29-28)
Josh Grispi vs. Andy Ogle - Ogle defeats Grispi via unanimous decision (30-27x3)
Stanislav Nedkov vs. Tom Watson - Watson defeats Nedkov via TKO (punches and knees) at 4:32 of round two
Vaughan Lee vs. Motonobu Tezuka - Lee defeats Tezuka via unanimous decisio (30-27x3)
Ulysses Gomez vs. Phil Harris - Harris defeats Gomez via unanimous decision (30-27x2, 29-28)
That's it for the "Prelims" portion of the UFC on FUEL TV 7 fight card.
Be sure to hit up MMAmania.com's for up to the minute results and blow-by-blow coverage of the rest of the night's UFC on FUEL TV 7 main card action by clicking here.
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