UFC 143 Fight Card Primer: Matt Brown Vs. Chris Cope

by Fraser Coffeen on Feb 4, 2012 1:30 PM EST in UFC Event

At UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit, Matt Brown (12-11; 5-5 UFC) squares off against Chris Cope (5-2; 1-1 UFC). This Welterweight fight is the second of four fights on the FX prelim card. Neither man in currently ranked in the USA Today/BE Consensus Rankings. The prelims air on FX starting at 8 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, with the PPV broadcast following at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.

Cope and Brown are an interesting pairing as there are strong similarities between both men's path into the UFC. Both came to the organization through The Ultimate Fighter. Both ended their stint on TUF looking decent but not spectacular, though having developed a distinct persona on the show - Brown was the tough Chuck Norris type, while Cope was the goof (the weigh-in picture sums up each man's image nicely). Those personas helped each stand out from the pack and stay somewhat relevant in the UFC. The big difference is, Brown has the serious experience edge - he's been down the path that Cope is just beginning.

How do these two stack up?

Brown: 31 years old | 6'0" | 76" reach
Cope: 28 years old | 6'1" | 73" reach

What have these two done recently?

Brown: L - Seth Baczynski (Sub) | W - John Howard (UD) | L - Brian Foster (Sub)
Cope: L - Che Mills (TKO) | W - Chuck O'Neil (UD) | W - Ron Keslar (TKO)

How did these two get here?

Matt "The Immortal" Brown was part of season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter. Coming out of the show, he looked like a typical TUF veteran who would have a brief UFC career, but he turned heads in a tough losing effort against the at the time undefeated Dong Hyun Kim. He followed that performance up with 4 straight wins, giving him a 4-1 UFC record. Since then he has struggled, losing three straight before saving his job with an upset win over John Howard last year. He's since lost again, and could be fighting for his job here.

Chris "C-Murder" Cope is largely known for his grin and his Ric Flair style "Woo!" A member of Team Lesnar last year, Cope started his UFC career with a win over fellow TUF fighter Chuck O'Neil. He looked good in that win, but then lost to Che Mills at UFC 138. The California fighter has experience in Strikeforce, but is still very new to MMA with only 7 pro fights to his credit. Like Brown, he's coming off a loss, and I could see him being cut with a loss as well, though he's probably not in as dire a situation as Brown.

Why should you care?

Possible loser leaves town match-up here. The last time Brown was in this situation, he delivered, and I expect he'll do so again. There's not a ton of relevance here, but it's a well matched fight.

For a more in-depth look at Brown vs. Cope, check out Dallas Winston's fight dissection.

You can catch more UFC 143 preview content from Bloody Elbow after the jump.

SBN coverage of UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit