UFC 200: Fox Sports 1 Prelims Results Recap

Photo by J.Pardo

‎Julianna Pena vs. Cat Zingano

(Women’s Bantamweight Bout – 3 Rounds)

‎One-time UFC title challenger, Zingano returned from over a year-long layoff to meet The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 winner Pena, as the main event of the UFC 200 preliminaries on Fox Sports 1. The two ladies were lobbying to challenge the winner of tonight’s headliner in a story line that writes itself seeing as how regardless of who won the main bout, Zingano has already beaten both Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes while on the other hand Pena is hungry for her title shot even if it’s against her former TUF 18 coach, Miesha Tate.

For the 1st Round the ex-title contender dominated her foe using a wrestling-heavy offense of taking her down multiple times after closing the distance fighting in close using the clinch as well as takedowns and body locks to drag Pena to the canvas. Zingano seemed on point, sinching the body locks and turning her opponent and slamming her to the mat if not doing similar damage thanks to a belly to belly suplex. She kept this up until about the midway point of Round 2, then Pena figured her out. The Venezuelan Vixen’ stuffed the takedown attempts or her foe and when needed, she used that same clinch of Zingano’s to reverse the position masterfully dropping her to the ground and then operating from top control. She did this on multiple instances and did not mind working out of Zingano’s half guard as she banked Round 2.

Going into Round 3, it was all Julianna Pena, the TUF alum applied a body lock, took her opponent down then transitioned to her back sinking in her hooks and going for a rear naked choke attempt. Even though she did not finish the submission, Pena kept Zingano in the hold for the majority of Round 3, with ‘Alpha’ Cat constantly defending and having absolutely no offense in the entire final round. ‎She managed to get to her feet within the final moments only to be taken down again and have Pena work out of her half guard to cruise to a points verdict.

RESULT: Julianna Pena upsets former women’s 135lbs title contender Cat Zingano via Unanimous Decision with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28.
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Johny Hendricks

(Welterweight Bout – 3 Rounds)

Former UFC 170lbs champion, Hendricks took on The Ultimate Fighter season 17 winner, Gastelum in a great stand up battle that saw back and forth action and multiple shifts in momentum. Right out of the gate, Gastelum fired on all cylinders ‎in Round 1 landing clean on his man pushing him backwards using his hard jab and follow-up right hand. He also took advantage of Hendricks’ bad habit of walking backwards in a straight line which enabled the Kings MMA teammate to land almost at will with looping hooks and double jabs.

Going into Round 2, Hendricks took advantage of a slower-paced and slower-moving Gastelum. The TUF alum seemed to have taken the round to asses his performance and not be too reckless moving forward against the ex-belt holder. This let Hendricks back into the match as he put together ‎some boxing combinations; jab-hook, jab-jab-hook, rinse and repeat. But, it seemed more of a temporary rally than a full fledged game plan since the Texan let up on the gas and began to retreat past the halfway point of the round. As expected, Gastelum then walked his man down during the final moments hitting a few long jabs and straight punches as Hendricks moved back in a straight line slipping some punches but also getting caught with a few strikes along the way.

Heading into Round 3, Gastelum appeared the fresher of the two welterweight warriors. His jab was better and he also added some low leg kicks to keep his foe guessing. Hendricks strung together one final burst of offense in the form of some powerful boxing combinations, body-head, head-body and a few hooks ‎but Gastelum weathered the storm and landed a few punches via counters hooks during the exchanges. During the last 80 secondss Hendricks hit a takedown on his man by shooting in on him, driving him to the cage wall and scooping his legs from underneath him as he dropped him to the floor but it was not enough as Gastelum was able to wall walk and return to his feet. The two welterweight landed big bombs at close range during the final 10 seconds of Round 3 to the crowd’s delight who cheered them on inside the T-MOBILE Arena before the round closed.

RESULT: TUF season 17 champion Kelvin Gastelum upsets Johny Hendricks via Unanimous Decision with scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27‎.

Raphael Assuncao vs. TJ Dillashaw

(Bantamweight Bout – 3 Rounds)

Former 135lbs UFC champion and TUF Season 14 finalist, Dillashaw avenged his 3-year old split decision loss to Assuncao with a unanimous verdict over his Brazilian adversary.

Dillashaw beat him to the punch, landed at close range , snapped away with leg kicks and slid out of the pocket before any damage came his way. The California native’s leg kicks were also on point keeping his man at bay. If he wanted to land, he stood in the pocket as Assuncao whipped a body or low leg kick at him as TJ stuck him with a straight left hand or powerful jab that hit its mark almost every time. To close out Round 3, the former bantamweight king secured a takedown and controlled his man on the mat before getting the fight back standing, slipping punches and returning fire via jabs and crosses.

RESULT: TJ Dillashaw defeats Raphael Assuncao ‎by unanimous decision with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27.

Enrique Marin vs. Sage Northcutt

(Lightweight ‎Bout – 3 Rounds)

Northcutt survived the biggest scare of his young MMA career after taking the 1st Round off of clean and effective punches ‎but then losing the 2nd Round when Marin implemented his slick submission game on the mat. During two pivotal points of the 2nd stanza, Marin transitioned masterfully once he got the match on the floor, took his foe’s back then moved to top control and slapped on a solid armbar. He even managed to adjust the angle to extend Northcutt’s arm further, hyper extending it more but the tough as nails lightweight did not tap.

He managed to escape the hold however, moments later when the two went to the ground again, Marin attacked him from half guard applying a kimura submission which Northcutt again refused to submit to. He rolled back to a dominant position and worked his strikes to close out the round.

Going into the 3rd Round Northcutt mixed in his leg kicks and lightning quick combinations. Primarily a striker, he was now comfortable enough due to not having been submitted and showing off his great conditioning, to control the pace and tempo of the battle. Northcutt also implemented some great takedowns and kept his man pinned on the mat or along the cagewall, out working him and out wrestling him for the majority of the match to cruise to a points verdict.

RESULT: Sage Northcutt defeats Enrique Marin by Unanimous Decision with scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28.