LAS VEGAS In a time of injury plagued turmoil for the Ultimate Fighting Championship there are two bright spots tonight Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz both make their returns to the Octagon after extensive layoffs.
Silva 39 has been out of action since suffering a horrific leg break against Chris Weidman in December 2013. Diaz has not competed in nearly two years since a title fight loss to Georges St Pierre. Both men return tonight and they do so against each other which is cause for rejoicing.
As usual the Houston Chronicle will provide live commentary and results for all fights from the preliminary card all the way to the main card on pay per view.
BREAKING NEWS It was announced before the start of the preliminary card that the bout between Jimy Hettes and Diego Brandao has been canceled due to medical issues. Brawl Sports has confirmed that Hettes fell ill while having his hands wrapped and the fight was scrapped as a result. q
MAIN CARD
Anderson Silva d. Nick Diaz by unanimous decision (49 46 50 45 50 45) This was a weird fight. It was also awesome. Silva doesn t appear to have the same snap and verve he used to have but he s still good enough to handily beat top fighters. As far as fighting Chris Weidman again I don t know about that.
Tyron Woodley d. Kelvin Gastelum by split decision (29 28 28 29 30 27) This was not a good fight. It was a close one too much closer than the dumb judge who gave Woodley a 30 27 scorecard. That s asinine. Woodley picks up the win but looked lethargic in doing so. Once again he didn t pull the trigger.
Al Iaquinta d. Joe Lauzon by TKO round 2 Lauzon had a good first round though I still gave it to Iaquinta. But in the second Iaquinta turned it on and Lauzon showed his age. Iaquinta battered Lauzon dropping him to the canvas before allowing him to stand up and then thrashing him around the Octagon until ref Marc Goddard stopped the fight. This probably went on a little too long before the stoppage Lauzon was out on his feet for quite some time. But at least it was stopped. It was extraordinarily difficult to watch Lauzon stumbling around the cage. I shudder to think what would ve happened with another inept referee in the cage.
Thales Leites d. Tim Boetsch by submission round 2 Leites appeared to be playing with fire in trading punches with Boetsch and nearly paid the price for it. Finally in the second round Leites took Boetsch down and worked into an arm triangle. He didn t get it on the first attempt but got it on the second and Boetsch went to sleep. The great Leites comeback continues.
Thiago Alves d. Jordan Mein by TKO round 2 Man this was a nasty finish. Mein looked fantastic in the first round and appeared well on his way to a big win. And then out of nowhere Alves landed a body kick that reverberated around the arena. A pained look came over Mein s face immediately and he dropped to a knee on the ground. Alves rushed in with a knee that looked illegal in real time but replay showed it landed on Mein s knee and shoulder. Heck of a finish by Alves.
PRELIMINARY CARD FOX Sports 1 8 p.m. ET
Miesha Tate d. Sara McMann by majority decision (29 28 29 27 28 28) A strong comeback from Tate after being dominated in the first round. She lost most of the second round too but then secured a guillotine in the final two minutes and nearly finished McMann. In the third round it was all Tate as she kept Olympic medalist McMann on her back for the entire round. Weird scorecards at the conclusion but this is a big win for Tate in her search for a third title fight with Ronda Rousey.
Derek Brunson d. Ed Herman by TKO round 1 This one didn t last long. Herman doesn t have the ability to take much of a punch anymore and Brunson absolutely pasted him.
John Lineker d. Ian McCall by unanimous decision (29 28 29 28 29 28) Lineker after missing weight (again) turns in a non flyweight performance in beating McCall here. McCall has one hell of a chin. The problem with this result is that Lineker won t be allowed to fight at flyweight again per UFC officials and will have to move up to 135 pounds. So we just eliminated a flyweight title contender in favor of a guy who won t be in the division from this point forward.
Rafael Natal d. Tom Watson by unanimous decision (30 27 30 27 30 26) Watson developed a golf ball like obtrusion on his right foot in the first round. It did not seem to affect him as he threw kicks with the foot throughout the fight. Still he was fairly worked over by Natal for the entire fight. Realistically Natal should have finished this one as he was clearly better than Watson in every area of the fight.
PRELIMINARY CARD UFC Fight Pass 6 30 p.m. ET
Ildemar Alcantara d. Richardson Moreira by split decision I really can t give you much in the way of information about this fight. It was terrible and boring and the crowd hated it. I didn t actually watch enough of it to make a judgment on who won because I was trying to not fall asleep.
Thiago Santos d. Andy Enz by TKO round 1 Santos tried to kill Enz with nearly every punch and finally succeeded in putting him away in violent fashion.
Diego Brandao vs. Jimy Hettes
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