On Saturday, UFC on FOX 3 is underway in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The main event will feature Stockton native Nate Diaz taking on Jim Miller in a five-round fight.
The co-main featured Josh Koscheck, who fought out of San Jose and American Kickboxing Academy for years before his recent split with the prestigious dojo. Koscheck took on Johny Hendricks in a welterweight fight as both men attempt to re-insert themselves in the conversation for a title shot in the division.
In the opening round, both men stood and traded for a while before Hendricks scored a takedown. Hendricks landed more punches in the round and was the aggressor, which looked to be enough to easily win the round.
Round 2 saw both men work towards something significant in grapples, but neither could make anything happen and the round once again focused mostly on the standup. Both fighters landed some solid strikes, but nothing that ever looked close to putting the fight away. The second round was extremely close and the judges likely had things 19-19 at this point, but Koscheck entered the final round knowing he would need to dominate at the very least and try to finish if he was at all able to.
Both men landed some huge shots on one another about 2:00 into the third round and were swinging freely, both looking for the win. Koscheck had swelling over his eye midway through the round and was hit by a huge Hendricks knee, but scored a takedown in response. Kos stayed on top and held Hendricks down for the remainder of the fight to easily win the round, but it was left up to the judges at that point.
The fight was indeed as close as it appeared, as the judges awarded Hendricks the victory via split decision on scores of (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).
Here are the results of the main card of UFC on FOX up to the main event:
Heavyweight bout: Pat Barry vs. Lavar Johnson
Johnson defeated Barry via TKO (punches) at 4:38 of round 1.
Middleweight bout: Rousimar Palhares vs. Alan Belcher
Belcher defeated Palhares via TKO (elbows & punches) at 4:20 of round 1.
Welterweight bout: Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks
Hendricks defeated Koscheck via spilt decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).
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