· UFC 143: What We Learned

Their legacies were on the line. One man left an interim champion, another man left a loser. It was an epic battle, one that no one deserved to lose. No, we’re not talking about Tom Brady vs. Eli Manning. We’re talking about Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit, who battled inside the Octagon last night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas at UFC 143. But before the event’s buzz fades away in the glory of Super Bowl Sunday, we still need the answers to the all-important question: What did we learn?

Pegado Announces His Arrival As A Bantamweight Threat

Renan Pegado cruised to a unanimous decision victory over Scott Jorgensen Saturday night, receiving dominant 30-27 scores across the board on the judges’ score cards. After such a resounding triumph over one of the division’s top contenders, Pegado may be looking at a title shot very soon.

Jorgensen never seemed comfortable on the feet. He often threw a single punch—usually in the form of a jab—and then never followed up with any combinations. Pegado, on the other hand, utilized his full arsenal, throwing punches, kicks and knees, all while avoiding Jorgensen’s vaunted takedowns. In fact, Jorgensen resorted to pulling guard in the second round, but even then Pegado controlled from the top and almost took the back as the two returned to their feet.

Pegado has the tools to threaten Dominick Cruz’s bantamweight crown. With his explosive array of strikes he keeps most challengers on their heels, but his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu makes him dangerous on the mat as well. Most importantly, Pegado has the quicks to keep up with Cruz, which might negate the champion’s typical strategy of keep-away.

Koscheck Remains Relevant At Welterweight

Koscheck gutted out a split-decision win over Mike Pierce at UFC 143, with two judges scoring the bout 29-28 in his favor. It was a crucial victory since he certainly has his sights set on another championship try once a clear welterweight title picture is finally settled later this year.

Though the fighters traded blows a large chunk of the bout was spent in the clinch, with neither fighter gaining a seeming advantage. With Koscheck scoring a takedown in round two, and then another one late in round three, the takedowns might have been the difference for him in such a razor-thin battle.

Koscheck dodged a bullet by garnering the judges’ nods in a bout that easily could have gone either way. Fightmetric had Pierce landing 62 total strikes to Koscheck’s 47. Moreover, he was also lucky that Herb Dean did not dock him a point after he poked Pierce in the eye during the final round. Dean had repeatedly warned Koscheck about measuring his punches with his fingers out, so the referee would have been warranted to swipe a point from him. Instead, Koscheck kept his hopes alive for yet another chance at welterweight gold.

Werdum Makes His UFC Return A Triumphant One

Fabricio Werdum’s name rang out once again in 2010 when he took away Fedor Emelianenko’s invincibility with a stunning (at the time) triangle armbar submission during his Strikeforce tenure. Now that’s he back inside the Octagon, Werdum is no longer under the radar, and after decimating Roy Nelson over three rounds at UFC 143, the rest of the UFC’s heavyweights will hope to avoid him.

Nelson’s Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt was on display as he escaped a Werdum back attack and later survived Werdum’s guard. While Nelson also landed a couple of his signature overhand rights, and threatened with a standing guillotine in round three, he was mostly outclassed by Werdum during their three-round affair. Werdum brutalized him in the clinch, landing nasty knees that left Nelson’s visage a smear of blood. The fact that Nelson survived the 15 minutes was one of the more amazing storylines of UFC 143.

Werdum might be one of MMA’s most underrated fighters. He only has two losses since 2008; he lost to current UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 90, and recently dropped a unanimous decision in his more recent Strikeforce bout with top contender Alistair Overeem. That’s not too shabby. With a world-class ground game and an evolving Muay Thai attack, Werdum looks ready to make waves in the UFC’s premiere division.

Condit Proves Strategy Can Beat Aggression

On Saturday night Carlos Condit defeated Nick Diaz via unanimous decision, earning scores of 48-47, 49-46 and 49-46. He also gained the interim welterweight championship, which sets up a showdown later this year with sidelined champ Georges St-Pierre.

Condit had his hand raised after 25 minutes by sticking with his successful strategy. He picked his shots, mostly choosing to pepper Diaz’s legs with kicks in an attempt to slow him down. Though Condit also mixed in a bevy of dynamic strikes—such as spinning backfists and flying knees—his elusiveness was where he proved to be the more cerebral fighter. He simply refused to get pinned up against the fence, where in the past Diaz has worn down many of his foes simply with a high-volume onslaught of punches. But every time Condit’s back touched the cage, he was quick to circle out and reset.

Frustrated by Condit’s ducking and dodging, Diaz turned to talking. While Diaz is well-known for running his mouth inside the cage, Condit remained unfazed. Then post-bout Diaz turned sore loser and drama queen, threatening to retire. But Fightmetric’s stats bore out this simple truth: Condit landed 151 significant strikes to Diaz’s 105. It doesn’t matter if you’re the stalker if you’re getting hit more.

Even with that strike discrepancy, Diaz slickly took Condit’s back in the fifth round and dragged him to the mat where he locked on a body triangle and hunted for a submission. Unfortunately for him he was unable to take the fight out of the judges’ hands. As far as the retirement talk, everyone knows that Diaz will come to his senses. He’s too talented not to. But his post-fight comments shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow Condit’s ascent to interim champion.

Another successful holdover from the WEC, Condit has had huge opportunities swiped out from under his feet over the past year. He should be applauded for staying the course through a slew of last-minute bout shuffles and broken UFC promises to make the most of his opportunity when it finally arrived. Now he, along with superior strategist and coach Greg Jackson, can set their sights on the ultimate goal: becoming the undisputed welterweight champion once St-Pierre is finally taken down off the shelf.