Earlier, we took a look at how my personal predictions for the preliminary card of UFC On Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller turned out. I was wrong more often than naught, which is just how this sport works sometimes. I assure you that I'm not always that poor at picking fights. Unfortunately, it didn't get much better for me when the main card came 'round.
And what a main card it was. Pat Barry taking on Lavar Johnson was everything the UFC wanted it to be, with a big, big knockout. Rousimar Palhares and Alan Belcher made those unacquainted with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu scratch their heads in wonderment, but ultimately enjoy what they see. Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks, those of the polarizing hair, threw down like they always do.
And Nate Diaz shocked everyone by stopping Jim Miller. It was quite the card. Let's see how I did in my predictions (spoiler alert: not good).
Lavar Johnson Vs. Pat Barry
At the very least, I did discuss why Johnson could win the fight - by hitting really, really hard. I also did discuss why Pat Barry could lose the fight - by being really, really stupid. He stood in front of Johnson and, accordingly, he got knocked out. I was wrong on this one.
Rousimar Palhares vs. Alan Belcher
Personally, I'm a big Belcher fan. Clearly, it didn't cloud my judgement, as I figured Palhares was going to walk out of there with one of his limbs. He didn't. Belcher escaped the leg lock like he should have, and Palhares, seemingly stunned that Belcher didn't, you know, run away immediately, proceeded to get TKO'd thanks to a solid Belcher elbow. I was wrong on this one, too.
Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks
I had Hendricks winning, and I also scored the fight for him. But I thought he was going to walk all over Koscheck, which he didn't, and that was surprising. Koscheck is getting older, and I pictured Hendricks doing what he did to Jon Fitch. That's not what happened, and I'm actually disappointed in that, but at the very least, I did pick the winner correctly ...
Kudos to Diaz, who is making me a fan. I know that's kind of crazy around here - I'm not a Diaz brothers fan, but Nate is winning me over. His career resurgence is nothing short of stunning at this point, so naturally he followed up his absolute destruction of Donald Cerrone by becoming the first man to finish Jim Miller. I said that Miller had all the ways to win this and if they fought again, I might say the same thing, but Diaz is improving by leaps and bounds, and if it means a smarter, more cerebral Nate, then I'm happy to be wrong.