UFC 165 Facebook results and observations: Makdessi, Caceres, Prazeres and Omielanczuk win

WHO: Renee Forte vs. John Makdessi
Michel Prazeres vs. Jesse Ronson
Alex Caceres vs. Roland Delorme
Nandor Guelmino vs. Daniel Omielanczuk

WHAT: UFC 165 Facebook preliminary card results
WHERE: Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Renee Forte vs. John Makdessi -- Lightweight bout

John Makdessi was lauded for his electric and unorthodox kicking tactics when he first arrived in the UFC, but the man's boxing deserves to be equally hyped at this point. Early into the first, Makdessi dodged Forte's right and shoveled a stiff right hand into the side of Forte's head that sank the Brazilian. Makdessi swarmed with ground strikes that might've been a tad unnecessary as Forte was long gone.

• John Makdessi defeats Rene Forte by TKO (punches), Round 1
  

Michel Prazeres vs. Jesse Ronson -- Lightweight bout

Prazeres worked for an early takedown and got it, quickly advancing to side control. Ronson scrambled back to his feet but was subsequently dumped hard with a slam takedown. Prazeres was smooth on top: he knifed to side mount, tried for full mount and surfed on top of Ronson's knees to take side control on the opposite side, then took Ronson's back.

Ronson spent the opening half of the second fighting his way out of takedown attempts -- he either defended them but stayed locked in the clinch or got right back to his feet quickly after. Ronson keyed in his kickboxing to turn the tide in the latter half of the round, stalking Prazeres with crisp boxing and the occasional kick.

In the third, Ronson started off with a flashy set up for his uppercut by faking a spinning technique. It was tough to discern whether Ronson found his rhythm and timing or Prazeres just gassed out, but Ronson walked Prazeres down and peppered him with kicks and punches, easily staving off his takedowns. Prazeres fell to his back at one point and had to be coaxed back up to his feet.

• Michel Prazeres defeats Jesse Ronson by split decision (28-29, 29-28 x 2)
  

Alex Caceres vs. Roland Delorme -- Bantamweight bout

Delorme tagged Caceres with a big left hook and pounced on him, falling directly into a crucifix. Somehow, Caceres rolled Delorme over and took his back, showing his ultra-slippery scrambling skills. The pair then went wild with a series of dramatic reversals that saw both men take back control; Delorme first, but Caceres' crafty grappling allowed another escape and swap of position.

The second saw Caceres re-establish his stand up, though Delorme was much more confident and competitive with his boxing. Cacares landed a thudding jumping knee and tossed Delorme to the canvas but couldn't keep it on the ground. Another high-paced scramble ensued when Delorme hit a single leg and Caceres cradled a leg to sweep him immediately over, but Delorme followed suit with a reversal of his own. By the end of the round, Caceres had landed some heavy knees and close range kicks, and was clearly controlling the striking with his length and in-and-out movement.

In the third, Caceres spent most of the time dodging Delorme's charging flurries and spearing his long jab through. Halfway through, he landed some leather and a knee to the body that caused Delorme to slip, and Caceres pounced, taking back mount again to secure at least two rounds.

• Alex Caceres defeats Roland Delorme by split decision (28-29, 29-28 x 2)
  

Nandor Guelmino vs. Daniel Omielanczuk -- Heavyweight bout

Guelmino and Omielanczuk, both unorthodox strikers, threw front, high and low kicks; Omielanczuk chucked out an alternating-leg roundhouse and Guelmino mixed in a front-leg side kick. In the opening frame, the difference between their competitive kickboxing interplay was Omielanczuk's clinch control and wrestling, and, in the second, Omielanczuk started to sight in his boxing. He backed Guelmino up with a stiff flurry and finally hit a takedown, though a top-side kimura attempt allowed Guelmino to sweep into top position, where he remained until the bell sounded.

With everything seemingly evened up going into the third, Omielanczuk's boxing came back into play in the form of two nasty left hands that successively stunned and flattened Guelmino for a 3rd-round finish.

• Daniel Omielanczuk defeats Nandor Guelmino by KO (punch), Round 3
  

Random Observations

1. Round 2 of Prazeres vs. Ronson

Even though Prazeres might have been on the attack for slightly more than half the frame, it's hard to credit him with control as he failed on most of the takedown attempts and mounted no threatening offense, whereas Ronson dominated the rest of the round with striking, which is prioritized higher than control (which, again, Prazeres barely qualified for).The argument is usually something like, "The guy being controlled couldn't do anything and his offense was neutralized," but my argument is that Prazeres didn't mount any effective offense of his own; if he did, it was control at best whereas Ronson firmly demonstrated striking dominance.

Additionally, the question of how much time Ronson spent winning the striking versus Prazeres desperately trying to impose control is a big factor. And I don't remember.

2. How often do we see alternating-leg roundhouse kicks? Oddly enough, we saw them in consecutive fights from heavyweight Daniel Omielanczuk and bantamweight Alex Caceres (pictured), both of whom started with an outside low kick to one side and followed with a roundhouse kick up high to the opposite side.