UFC Boise prelims results and highlights: Perez gets past Wineland, Volkanovski dominates Elkins

The UFC Boise prelims just finished up with Top-15 bantamweights on display. The #15 ranked Eddie Wineland and the #13 Alejandro Perez traded punches back and forth for the majority of the full fifteen minutes. When the dust had settled, it Perez was who walked away with the decision win. Before that, Alexander Volkanovski out-grinded the grinder in Darren Elkins, bloodying up “The Damage” pretty good on his way to a unanimous decision victory.

Said Nurmagomedov squeaked by Justin Scoggins, picking up the controversial split decision in his UFC debut. Opening up the FS1 portion of the prelims, Raoni Barcelos and Kurt Holobaugh slugged it out for quite a bit, until Barcelos put together a sweet sequence to get the third round TKO. Barcelos climbed to 12-1 as he made his UFC debut in style.

Liz Carmouche put on a solid veteran performance to close out the Fight Pass prelims, mixing up her striking and grappling to score the unanimous decision victory. Mark De La Rosa came up big tonight in the second round, getting the takedown and finding an RNC on Elias Garcia to move to 10-1. Opening up the event, Jessica Aguilar and Jodie Esquibel stood for the bulk of fifteen minutes, throwing mostly punches, with Aguilar earning the unanimous nod and her first UFC win when it was all said and done.

FS1 Prelims:

Alejandro Perez def. Eddie Wineland by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Bantamweight

Wineland found a brief takedown to open the round, but Perez was quick to spring back to his feet. Perez started connecting with his hands, catching Wineland multiple times with his hands down. WIneland dropped his foe with a crisp straight, but Perez stood right back up and continued to throw. A strong flurry from both guys closed out the opening round.

Wineland pressed the action in the second round, with Perez on the back foot looking to counter. The punches of Perez had WIneland bleeding around the left eye, but that didn’t stop WIneland from moving forward. The final round saw more forward pressure out of Wineland, and playing the back foot for Perez, but the output dwindled a bit for both fighters.

The leather was flying:

Alexander Volkanovski def. Darren Elkins by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Featherweight

Elkins came out attacking the body of Volkanovski with kicks, and even went for an Imanari Roll. Volkanovski locked up a brief guillotine, but Elkins was able to hang tough and power his way out. Volkanovski dropped his foe with a powerful right hand, and continued to punch away before locking up a guillotine choke. Elkins was able to get the takedown and survive until the bell.

Volkanovski continued to bring the heat with his right hand in the second round, backing up Elkins to the cage. There was no quit in Elkins, as he started firing back, finishing his combos with kicks. In true Elkins fashion, he slowly started to scrap his way back into the fight. Elkins attacked an early takedown to start the final round, but Volkanovski remained vertical and picked up a takedown of his own. Elkins got right back up, but was really living up to his nickname, wearing all sorts of damage on his face. Volkanovski continued to grind on Elkins, and landed a huge punch before the bell to hurt his opponent one more time.

Volkanovski had Elkins in all sorts of trouble:

This was pretty tight:

Said Nurmagomedov def. Justin Scoggins by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Flyweight

Nurmagomedov was looking to spin early on in the fight, and even f=got dropped for it when Scoggins caught him with a powerful cross. Quite a bit of strike for strike fighting was going on, with neither man really able to take over the round.

Scoggins clipped Nurmagomedov with a left hand that briefly dropped him early in the second round. Nurmagomedov attempted to get the fight down to the mat on a few occasions, but Scoggins was hip to them and was able to remain in open space.

Nurmagomedov picked up an early takedown to start the final frame, but the referee didn’t like what he saw and stood the fighters up to their feet. Scoggins started working his kicks, attacking the legs and spinning to the body. Nurmagomedov shot in a couple of times but Scoggins was having none of it.

Look at this laser left hand from Scoggins:

Raoni Barcelos def. Kurt Holobaugh by TKO at 1:29 of round 3: Featherweight

Both featherweights went right after one another, engaging in heated exchanges with zero feeling out. Each man landed clean shots back and forth, standing right in front of each other. Barcelos switched things up and blasted a takedown, but Holobaugh sprung right back to his feet.

The pocket punching continued into the second frame, until Barcelos blasted another takedown. Holobaugh scrambled back up to his feet, but Barcelos hit a gorgeous trip takedown to bring the fight right back down to the ground. Holobaugh again stood back up, and even took the back of Barcelos before the round ended.

It was toe to toe again to start the final frame, but this time the right hand of Barcelos began landing at will. Then, a left hook from Barcelos wobbled Holobaugh, followed by a right hand, right hand, then a right uppercut that put him down. What a way to win your UFC debut!

Barcelos was landing that right hand:

Peep this sweet sweep:

Fight Pass Card:

Liz Carmouche def. Jennifer Maia by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28): (W) Flyweight

Carmouche came out and clinched up with Maia, cracked her in the face with a knee, and then took her down to the mat. Maia was able to return to her feet, where she was able to land a couple of solid right hands. The flyweights went toe to toe in the second round, with each athlete landing their respective punches. Maia initiated the clinch and controlled Carmouche up against the fence until the referee broke them apart. Carmouche used her strikes to set up a takedown, where she landed in side control. Carmouche took full mount and went for a last second armbar, but time ran out before she could really lock it up.

Carmouche found an early takedown to kick off the final frame. Maia gave up the full mount and was controlled on the ground for the bulk of the round. Maia got back to her feet and came forward down the stretch, trading with Carmouche until the bell sounded. Although Maia went for it there at the end, it didn’t appear to be enough to steal the round.

Check out this awesome sequence from Liz Carmouche:

Mark De La Rosa def. Elias Garcia by submission (RNC) at 2:00 of round 2: Flyweight

DLR popped off with his hands to start the fight, but then the fight settled down into a bit of a feeling out process. Garcia jumped a standing guard and even threw his leg over into a triangle position, but DLR started to spin like a helicopter propeller and Garcia flew off of him. DLR was able to plant his foe on the mat, and as soon as Garcia locked up his legs for a triangle, DLR got up and started to spin again to get free. DLR played to his grappling strengths in the second frame, getting the fight to the ground and transitioning to the back. it didn’t take very long for DLR to sink an RNC to get the submission win.

Look at DLR get the RNC:

Spinarooni:

Jessica Aguilar def. Jodie Esquibel by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Strawweight

Aguilar came out and forced a clinch position, scoring a brief takedown and forcing Esquibel to work with her back to the cage. Back in open space, the strawweights exchanged punching combinations, but Esquibel seemed to whiff on a lot of her strikes. Esquibel came out in the second round throwing a lot of punches, but again whiffed on most of them. Aguilar wasn’t throwing as much as her opponent was, but when she did throw she connected more often than not. The final round saw more of the same, a slower paced boxing match with some better volume being scored for each but few bombs being landed.