Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) visited Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif., tonight (Sat., Dec. 14, 2013), for UFC on FOX 9: "Johnson vs. Benavidez 2."
Before the main card kicked off on FOX, the "Prelims" portion of this fight card included many eventful fights that took place in the lighter weight classes.
In the featured "Prelims" fight, Ryan LaFlare defeated Court McGee in a competitive, yet not exactly exciting, fight.
LaFlare, who took this fight on short notice after fighting in Brazil weeks ago, was the more active striker. He was hitting McGee often with his jab, and threw plenty of leg kicks in the way of the Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner.
Both competitors each traded takedowns, and it was in the second round where McGee looked incredibly flat -- with LaFlare taking advantage by continuously landing his jab and decided not to go with big power shots.
McGee had a better third round, catching LaFlare off guard with a few punches, although he never really hurt him, either. McGee did take his opponent down and tried to work some ground and pound late in the round, however LaFlare proved that it was more so his night than his foe's.
An early candidate for "Fight of the Night" would be Edson Barboza against Danny Castillo, with the Brazilian surviving a first round onslaught from "Last Call."
Barboza was rocked and dropped by Castillo in the first round, who troubled the Brazilian with choke attempts and brutal ground and pound. Barboza was able to survive, with blood pouring down from his forehead.
In the second round, Barboza started to adjust, and looked more like himself by landing those brutal low kicks he is known for. A spinning heel kick just grazed Castillo, and Barboza kept on coming.
The third round was better for Barboza as well, as he worked the body often, and had Castillo crouching down after a kick to the body. Castillo was also dropped by a punch from Barboza, who came back impressively in this fight. Castillo never stopped moving forward, yet the Brazilian kept on punishing his opponent and received the majority decision win.
In his 49th career fight, Pat Healy did everything he could to hang with Bobby Green, although the latter was able to squeak out a decision over the grinder.
Green had his hands down low for almost the entire first two rounds, beating Healy to the punch in almost every exchange.
Healy was never exactly out of the fight, yet he was eating that jab constantly, and only really started to pour it on in the third round -- landing a takedown and working well with elbows from top position.
However, it was not enough, as Green looked quite outstanding by being very relaxed and used a perfect strategy with his counter striking.
Resurrection Fighting Alliance's newly crowned flyweight champion decided to jump ship to the UFC on short notice, and it was definitely worth it for Zach Makovsky. The former Bellator champion was able to defeat Scott Jorgensen over the course of three rounds.
Makovsky did not let the Octagon jitters get to him in any way, hurting Jorgensen early on in the fight with an uppercut. Jorgensen was able to keep things going in the first round, however he looked slightly off and slower than his counterpart.
Makovsky used takedowns to create the difference, frustrating his foe on the mat and even looked for the guillotine choke on numerous attempts.
In the third round, Makovsky was more technical with his striking, and had Jorgensen in trouble later on in the round, almost sinking in a rear naked choke which would have ended the fight shortly before the third round came to a close.
Sam Stout picked apart Cody McKenzie en route to a unanimous decision win, using body shots as a preferred method to wear down his opponent in this fight.
McKenzie took Stout down early in the round, and even went for his patented guillotine, however Stout successfully fought it off. After a shaky first round, Stout stuffed every takedown McKenzie brought his way, and started to work on the body -- with McKenzie's gut turning red after a few hard shots.
Stout used his jab to wear down McKenzie, and went to the body often, with his foe feeling the effects as the fight went on. Stout rocked McKenzie with a few counter shots, but the former TUF alum was always in the fight.
A lot of back and forth pitter patter saw Stout advantageous in that aspect, and he easily obtained the decision as the fight was coming to an end.
The grudge match between Abel Trujillo and Roger Bowling was definitely decisive the second time around, as Trujillo viciously stopped Bowling with punches early in the second round for the bragging rights.
Trujillo looked amazing on the feet right from the get-go, clocking his opponent with big punches and took him down at will later on in the opening round. Bowling did catch Trujillo off-guard and slapped on a guillotine, yet Trujillo was having none of it and stormed out with fast combinations. In the second round, Trujillo took down Bowling and hit him with some heavy shots from side control. As Bowling got back to his feet, Trujillo hit him with some huge shots, which opened up Bowling badly. Big John McCarthy stepped in to save Bowling, who was seconds away from going out cold on his feet.
Alp Ozkilic was able to get his first UFC victory, taking a fight with Darren Uyenoyama on short notice.
The Turkish fighter took some time to adjust in the opening sequences, but started to mix up with superior striking with his takedowns to get the split decision victory.
Uyenoyama was never out of the fight, despite being rocked a few times by Ozkilic's power. He pulled guard as often as he could, and despite looking good off his back with elbows and submission attempts -- including an armbar that could have put the promotional debutant in trouble -- he came up short in a losing effort.
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