UFC 146 Prelims on FX featured four bouts that treated the Las Vegas crowd with some spectacular first round finishes and surprising upsets.
Dan Hardy kicked off the UFC prelims off with a bang against Duane Ludwig. The Brit was getting countered early in the first round, but late in the round Hardy turned it all around with a lead left hook that put Ludwig on Queer Street and followed with a few hard elbows.
Hardy was awarded the KO at 3:51 in round one.
Next up was a pair of middleweights with colorful Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. C.B. Dollaway. Dollaway was just too much for the former TUF coach as he was able to control all three rounds with takedowns and superior positioning.
Mayhem though wouldn’t go down without a fight as he did stun Dollaway in the first two rounds, but Dollaway’s ground control was just too much for Mayhem in the end. The judges all scored the fight 29-28, 30-26, 29-28 in favor of C.B. Dollaway.
Former WEC lightweight champ Jamie Varner made a triumphant return to the Octagon when he defeated former undefeated Brazilian Edson Barboza. Barboza landed a few leg kicks, but was taken down early on. He’d get to his feet but Varner would later rock Barboza with a right hand and then pounced on Barboza against the cage at 3:23 via TKO in the first round.
In a surprising upset to close to the prelims, Darren Elkins defeated TUF 14 featherweight winner Diego Brandao by unanimous decision. Round one was all Brandao as he tried putting Elkins away with a jumping knee and several hard, accurate ground n pound shots.
The second round and third rounds were all Elkin as the TUF 14 winner fatigued, and Elkin was able to get on top of Brandao and land solid shots from the mount and side control. The judges all scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Elkins.