17 December 2016 | Golden 1 Center | Sacramento, CA MAIN CARD FOX, 9 p.m. ET Paige VanZant vs. Michelle Waterson Sage Northcutt vs. Mickey Gall Urijah Faber vs. Brad Pickett Alan Jouban vs. Mike Perry Luis Henrique da Silva vs. Paul Craig PRELIMINARY CARD FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m. ET Cole Miller vs. Mizuto Hirota Bryan Barberena vs. Colby Covington Josh Emmett vs. Scott Holtzman James Moontarsi vs. Alex Morono PRELIMINARY CARD UFC Fight Pass, 5:30pm ET Eddie Wineland vs. Takeya Mizugaki Hector Sandoval vs. Fredy Serrano Bojan Velickovic vs. Sultan Aliev Leslie Smith vs. Irene Aldana
They probably should've given Faber a better opponent and made his fight the main event if they knew it would be his last.
Sounds like they tried. Pickett says he was the third choice behind Bryan Caraway and Aljo Sterling. Bryan Caraway turning down a fight? I can hardly believe it. http://www.mmalatestnews.com/brad-pickett-caraway-sterling-turned-faber/
Must be nice to be Mr. Tate. Caraway has 12 fights in the last six years, two in the last two years. Is it becoming a hobby?
Results Michelle Waterson def. Paige VanZant via submission (rear naked choke) - Round 1 Mickey Gall def. Sage Northcutt via submission (rear naked choke) - Round 2 Urijah Faber def. Brad Pickett via unanimous decision Alan Jouban def. Mike Perry via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) Paul Craig def. Luis Henrique da Silva via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 1:59 Mizuto Hirota def. Cole Miller via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) Colby Covington def. Bryan Barberena via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Alex Morono def. James Moontasri via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Josh Emmett def. Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Leslie Smith def. Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) Eddie Wineland def. Takeya Mizugaki via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:04 Hector Sandoval def. Fredy Serrano via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) Sultan Aliev def. Bojan Velickovic via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)
For once I saw many of the fights. Leslie Smith's victory over Irene Aldana seemed to mean the world to her. Hometown boy Josh Emmett didn't show a lot of diversity in his win over Scott Holtzmann. Alex Morono emptied the tank trying to finish James Moontasri. Colby Covington struck to his game plan and solved Bryan Barberena. Mizuto Hirota was stronger and a better wrestler than Cole Miller. Miller has been complaining about fighting so infrequently saying the UFC has a grudge. Performances like this won't get him back in their good graces. "Bear Jew" Paul Craig had a strong debut. da Silva seemed ready to quit before Craig had secured the second arm bar attempt. Write that guy off. Alan Jouban shut up Mike Perry on behalf of everyone. Jouban is a well-rounded striker which is more than you can say for Perry. If the UFC was hoping that Brad Pickett would be a good showcase win for Urijah Faber he proved a little more difficult to get rid of than that. Still, not a huge challenge for Faber who is still clearly one of the top fighters in the lower weight classes. Losing seven (?) straight title fights aside the guy could still be competitive for a few more years at least. Kudos to him for going out with his health. I'm not sure where the UFC goes with Sage Northcutt and Paige VanZant. They are both still very raw. They need experience but UFC level competition is a problem. With Sage they can't keep bringing new guys in for him to fight. At some point he needs to be a guy they can throw in the mix with anyone in the division. As for PVZ her division is so shallow that she can probably hang around but she was badly outclassed by a fighter who probably belongs in a lower weight class (100-105). Mickey Gall is raw, too. He's looking to fight Dan Hardy which is weird since I thought he wanted to drop down to lightweight. Hardy's striking is much more advanced than his. Gall's UFC wins have all come against bottom of the weight class talent. He's likely to get a veteran next and that's a better way to gauge his spot. Michele Waterson is a fighter they'd probably do well not to rush at Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Let her build on her resume for a couple more fights. She looks great and her fighting style is pretty fun to watch. She already has the respect of the hardcore fans who have been following her career for a while. If Waterson eventually faces Jedrzejczyk and loses she could make a case for the UFC's new atomweight division. TBQH 135-lbs. is not a great weight class for the UFC (don't mention 145 FFS). 105, 115, and 125 seems more natural (akin to 145-155-170 for the men). More in line with the population.
I'm so glad Perry lost. He didn't only lose, he looked pathetic and one dimensional out there. No way this clown offers anything for Conor, he can't avoid a straight left to save his life. Conor would TKO him in 1. Watching him fight and not make any adjustments was entertaining. Fuck him. Jouban seems like a hell of a guy, hope he gets a nice step up in competition. I admire PVZ Fight to get out of that RNC, but I don't think she's ready for the top dogs. It seems like Hollywood awaits her, too. Glad Sage lost. Can't stand him.
