Check out the results and highlights from the UFC Lincoln prelims, including the video of several awesome finishes.
The UFC Lincoln prelims just closed out with James Krause knocking out Warlley Alves in the second round. This makes three straight wins for Krause, five straight if you omit his exhibition bout with Jesse Taylor on TUF 25. Iuri Alcantara vs. Cory Sandhagen was quite the wild ride! The veteran in Alcantara came out hot, blasting his foe with strikes and locking up an early and super-tight armbar, but Sandhagen hung tough, escaped, and then unleashed a lengthy barrage of ground strikes to earn the second round TKO.
Before that, Andrew Sanchez went back and forth with Markus Perez for the full fifteen minutes, to ultimately pick up a unanimous decision. The bout was highly competitive throughout, and perhaps could have gone either way, but nonetheless, the victory snapped a two-fight skid for Sanchez. Mickey Gall kicked off the FS2 prelims in style, choking out George Sullivan in a sporty 69 seconds. In his post-fight interview, Gall called for Diego Sanchez or a Sage Northcutt rematch.
Closing out the Fight Pass portion of the prelims, Joanne Calderwood realized a crafty triangle armbar on Kalindra Faria with just three seconds remaining in the opening round. This mark’s Calderwood’s first career submission, and also gets “JO JO” back into the win column. Drew Dober put on a strong showing, leaning on his wrestling down the stretch to earn himself a unanimous decision over UFC veteran Jon Tuck. Dober has now moved his winning streak to three. Opening up the event, Rani Yahya made quick work of Luke Sanders, sniffing out a first-round submission in just over 90 seconds.
FS2 prelims:
James Krause def. Warlley Alves by KO at 2:28 of round 2: Welterweight
Krause shot in early on his opponent, forcing Alves to defend off an early takedown. The volume striking of Krause started to pick up as he began tagging Alves and moving just out of range. Alves struggled to get much of anything going in the first round, but went after Krause to start the second.
Krause was able to stall out Alves up against the cage to calm down the early aggression of Alves, before the fight returned back to open space. Just after Alves landed a big punch, Krause responded with a knee up that middle that sent Alves stumbling backwards. Krause went into kill mode, unleashing a flurry of punches to swarm his victim. Alves was clearly out on his feet so the referee stepped in and stopped the match.
Cory Sandhagen def. Iuri Alcantara by TKO at 1:01 of round 2: Bantamweight
Alcantara went right after Sandhagen, lighting him with with a flurry of punches to start the bout. Then, Alcantara jumps a triangle and gets a full on armbar. Somehow, Sandhagen refused to tap and kept on fighting the arm lock until he escaped. Sandhagen unloaded a plethora of elbows and punches from the top, dropping strike after strike, but the referee allowed the beating to continue. Alcantara managed to make it to the bell without going completely unconscious, and then somehow managed to get back to his stool and answer the bell.
Sandhagen blasted Alcantara to open the second round, and then dropped the veteran with a heavy leg kick. A blazing storm of ground strikes ensued. Blow after blow landed over and over again, until the referee finally felt like the blood gods got their fix, and stopped the fight.
Andrew Sanchez def. Markus Perez by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Middleweight
The middleweights swapped body kicks to open the bout, leaving welts across the midsection of the other man. Sanchez was able to stall his opponent up against the cage, but Perez found a way to get himself back to the middle. A bit more clinching went on against the fence before the round expired, but nothing substantial was really landed.
Perez really got his strikes moving in the second round, scoring with body kicks and sneaky punches. Sanchez was able take the action to the cage a few times, and even across a substantial chunk of the end of the round, but didn’t seem to be landing nearly as many effective strikes as Perez did.
Things heated up in the final round, with each man landing solid strikes. Perez went terminator mode, and began taunting Sanchez and walking him down. Sanchez responded with punching combos of his own followed by more clinch work up against the fence. Sanchez landed his own flurry of creative strikes to close out the round in style.
Mickey Gall def. George Sullivan by submission (RNC) at 1:09 of round 1: Welterweight
Sullivan exposed his back within the first minute of the fight, and Gall quickly locked on the body triangle to lock down control. It didn’t take very long for Gall to lock up an RNC, and after a fit of hand fighting, the choke was realized. It was either tap or nap for Sullivan, so he selected tap. What a showing from Gall!
Joanne Calderwood def. Kalindra Faria by submission (armbar) at 4:57 of round 1: Flyweight
Faria immediately closed the distance and put Calderwood on her back. A bit of shuffling around in half guard took place before Faria could drop some meaningful punches. Calderwood was able to gain guard, and then threw up a triangle attempt. Faria hung tough and defended well, but with less than ten seconds remaining in the round, Calderwood transitioned to the armbar. Faria was unable escape this time, and was forced to tap just three seconds before the bell.
Drew Dober def. Jon Tuck by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26 x2): Lightweight
The lightweights met in the middle of the Octagon and began exchanging kicks back and forth, with each man getting in their licks. Tuck was first to close the distance, but Dober easily addressed the situation and escaped back into open space. It was a really close opening round, but Dober may have gotten in the heavier of the strikes.
The action continued into the second stanza, with each man throwing and landing at a descent clip. It was Dober who shot in to put Tuck on his back and take top control, after quickly escaping a brief guillotine attempt. The volume of ground strikes raining down from Dober was enough to keep the fight from getting stood up and scored plenty with the judges, but they weren’t exactly fight enders. Tuck was unable to return to his feet until the bell sounded.
Dober came out winging over hand lefts to open up the final round, which backed up Tuck to the cage. Tuck jumped another guillotine as Dober shot in, but that only resulted in him getting smashed on the bottom. We saw the same sort of ground attack out of Dober that he deployed at the end of the second round. Punches in bunches and Tuck struggling to make it back to his feet.
Rani Yahya def. Luke Sanders by submission (Heel Hook) at 1:31 of round 1: Bantamweight
Yahya was quick to get Sanders down to the mat and start attacking the leg. Sanders did a descent job of defending, at first, but just when it looked as if Sanders was about to scramble out, Yahya kept ahold of the leg and kept the bout on the ground. Yahya locked up a really tight heel hook, forcing Sanders to give up.
