UFC 103: Preliminaries on Spike TV Re-Cap

UFC 103: Preliminaries
9/19/09
Dallas, Texas
American Airlines Center

These fights are on being brought to us on Spike TV before the UFC 103 PPV.

Middleweight Fight- Drew McFedries (8-5) vs. Tomasz Drwal (16-2)

Drwal fought at the TUF 9 Finale and got a first round Ground and Pound TKO of Mike Ciesnolevicz. McFedries fought last on UFC 98 and beat Xavier Foupa- Pokam in 37 seconds. Don’t blink this one could end quickly. Drwal has a 4” reach advantage. McFedries has to be the most exciting 8-5 fighter on the planet, which is why he’s still employed by the UFC. In his two previous fights in the UFC Drwal fought at Light Heavyweight.

R1- And there are some technical difficulties early in the first fight so we miss the first 45-50 seconds of the fight. If the fight goes this long McFedries usually comes up on the short end. McFedries had a couple of cuts on his face early into the fight. Drwal gets a take down about two minutes into the fight but McFedries got back to his feet and Drwal landed some nice knees. Both guys stood toe to toe and exchanged punches. Drwal hit a good right hand and McFedries looks to be tiring. Drwal gets McFedries down again and is landing some Ground and Pound and he mounts McFedries but there is only 10 seconds left in the round and McFedries will make it to the second round. Drwal is up 10-9 after round one. Both guys have cuts on their face.

R2- Drwal landed a nice punch right out of the gate and pushed forward and clinched McFedries and took him down. Drwal moved quickly to side control and then mounted and clamped on a choke and got the win. Nice showing by Tomasz Drwal.

Winner: Tomasz Drwal by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 1:03

Welterweight Fight- Rick Story vs. Brian Foster

Story last fought at UFC 99 and lost a unanimous decision to John Hathaway (I had it scored 29-28).

R1- Both guys are just swinging for the fences in the opening minute. Just throwing wild punches. Foster hit him with a big gut punch and then hit him with a judo throw and clamped in a guillotine but Story popped his head out. Story ended up in Foster’s guard and passed his guard and then took his back. Story’s nose is busted open and he’s bleeding a lot but he’s keeping top position. Foster got back to his feet and both guys started swinging for the fences again. Good first round that went to Story due to his control of the round.

R2- They come out and go after each other again and Story gets a take down. Story grabbed an arm triangle and Foster tapped out. Nice finish by Story. Rogan says it’s the first time he’s seen a guy finished from an arm triangle while inside the guard which shows the strength of Story.

Winner: Rick Story by Submission (Arm Triangle) R2 1:09

Joe Rogan interviews Rich Franklin backstage. Franklin says he’s tired because he hasn’t taken his pre-fight nap yet. Franklin says he’s worked a little with Robbie Lawler because he has a similar style to Belfort.

Lightweight Fight- Efrain Escudero (12-0) vs. Cole Miller (15-3)

Escudero was the TUF 9 winner and this is his first fight since winning TUF. Miller has recent wins over Jorge Gurgel and Junie Browning. Miller is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and Efrain has a strong wrestling background. Miller has a 4” height and 2” reach advantage. Based on those stats Escudero should have a strength advantage. Joe says that Escudero struggled to make weight yesterday at the weigh-ins.

R1- Both guys being very tentative early in the fight. Escudero got a sweep of Miller on a kick but let him back up. Miller is started to get more confident and is pushing the action and landing some strikes and really looks like he has more than a 2” reach advantage. Escudero finally caught Miller and slammed him hard to the mat but Miller got back to his feet. Escudero is starting to push the action now and he just leveled Miller with a big right hand that floored him. Escudero jumped on top and hit three punches on the floor and that’s it. Really impressive finish by Escudero.

Winner: Efrain Escudero by TKO (Punches) R1 3:36

Lightweight Fight- Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez

Jim Miller is coming off of a big decision win over Mac Danzig at UFC 100. Miller’s only losses have come to Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, both of which I have ranked in the World Top 10 Lightweights.

R1- They open up by both throwing strikes. Miller hit a good right that briefly floored Lopez. Miller landed some good leg kicks. Miller landed a really good left and then jumped all over Lopez but Lopez grabbed the guard and survived the onslaught. Lopez got back to his feet but Miller grabbed a front guillotine choke. Lopez slipped out and Miller pounded him with some Ground and Pound and then took Lopez’s back and then Lopez got him back to full guard. Miller took that round 10-9 and is in control of the fight.

R2- Lopez hurt his shoulder in the second round and you could see the bone popped out of place and he had to verbally submit.

Winner: Jim Miller by TKO R2 0:48

Joe Rogan interviews Vitor Belfort backstage and they talk about the fight tonight. Joe tries to bait him into talking about a possible Anderson Silva fight in the future but Vitor says he’s just taking it one fight at a time right now.

Joe is now with Dana White backstage and hype up the fights tonight to close out the show.