UFC 143 Results Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit: Questions Heading into UFC on Fuel

UFC 143 is in the books, and the results are below:

Carlos Condit defeats Nick Diaz via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)

Fabricio Werdum defeats Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

Josh Koscheck defeats Mike Pierce via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Renan Barao defeats Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

Ed Herman defeats Clifford Starks via submission at 1:43 of Round 2

Dustin Poirier defeats Max Holloway via submission at 3:23 of Round 1

Edwin Figueroa defeats Alex Caceres via split decision (28-27, 27-28, 28-27)—Caceres had two points deducted for a low blow

Matt Brown defeats Chris Cope via knockout at 1:19 of Round 2

Matt Riddle defeats Henry Martinez via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Rafael Natal defeats Michael Kuiper via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Stephen Thompson defeats Dan Stittgen by knockout at 4:13 of Round 1

What follows are questions heading into the UFC's next fight card: UFC on Fuel TV, which is scheduled to take place on February 15 from the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska.

Who Are All These Newcomers?

The UFC on Fuel card boasts numerous fighters that will be making their UFC debut.

The evening's first fight will feature two lightweights that are new to the UFC, Tim Means and Bernardo Magalhaes. Means will enter the card with a record of 16-3-1, going unbeaten in his last nine fights, including five straight stoppage victories. Means, a King of the Cage champion, will face another champion in Magalhaes. The 11-1 Magalhaes was the Cage Fighting Championship lightweight champion before moving to the UFC.

In the second preliminary bout of the evening two more lightweights will fight in the UFC for the first time, as Anton Kuivanen and Justin Salas will meet. Kuivanen (16-4) comes into the promotion on a nine fight winning streak, and like the two aforementioned lightweights, he too was a champion before singing with the UFC, holding the Cage lightweight championship in Finland. Salas (9-3) is on a five-fight winning streak with his last two bouts being unanimous decision victories, defeating Robert Emerson and Joe Ellenberger.

Two middleweights will also debut on the preliminary card. Buddy Roberts (11-2) will be the latest Greg Jackson/Mike Winkeljohn product to join the UFC, while his opponent Sean Loeffler (25-5), will enter the fight having gone the distance a total of twice in his career. His latest fight ended via a seven-second knockout victory.

Who Moves Forward Jonathan Brookins or Vagner Rocha?

Jonathan Brookins won Season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter, taking a unanimous decision win over Michael Johnson. Following that victory Brookins dropped from lightweight to featherweight and met Erik Koch on the September 17, 2011, UFC Fight Night Live card. Brookins again went the distance, but unlike the Johnson fight, he came out on the losing end.

At UFC on Fuel he won't get an easy ride as he faces Vagner Rocha, a fighter who is coming into this event having submitted Cody McKenzie in his last bout.

This will be a good test for each fighter, as they have both wilted when they have faced higher level competition, Rocha dropping a unanimous decision to Donald Cerrone at UFC 131 and Brookins dropping the fight to Koch while also losing to Jose Aldo back at WEC 36.

A dominant win in this bout and the victor may work his way toward facing top-20 competition.

Will Ivan Menjivar Redeem Himself?

Whenever a fighter misses weight in the UFC, it's not shrugged off with a "oh, don't worry about it"—it is remembered, even if you have a valid excuse, like you were constipated.

That's what happened to Ivan Menjivar at UFC 133, when he came in at 138 pounds for a 135-pound fight. Menjivar didn't even attempt to lose the weight after the weigh-in. Sure he won the bout, taking a unanimous decision over Nick Pace, but he gave up 20 percent of his purse to Pace due to missing weight.

Menjivar will face John Albert on the UFC on Fuel card and will need to come in on weight, with no excuses, or he may be joining Anthony Johnson on the "show the UFC you can make weight in another promotion" program.

How Will TJ Dillashaw Fare?

Anyone that watched the past season of The Ultimate Fighter probably saw how T.J. Dillashaw, in the eyes of his housemates, took the easy road into the finals of the show. That easy road came to an abrupt stop when he ran into John Dodson, who won the fight via TKO at the 1:54 mark of Round 1. The victory gave Dodson the six-figure UFC contract and left Dillashaw with some rebuilding to do.

The jury is still out on Dillashaw after that loss and he'll get another test in his next bout as he faces Walel Watson, a fighter coming off a split decision loss to Yves Jabouin at UFC 140. A loss here and Dillahaw may not like the verdict that will be read regarding his future with the UFC.

Will Stipe Miocic Continue His Ascent?

Stipe Miocic made his UFC debut at UFC 136 defeating Joey Beltran via unanimous decision. The win moved the 29-year-old to 7-0 in his professional career, it was also the first time he had gone the distance.

Miocic faced his first bit of big league adversity in the second round of that bout, but he stayed calm and weathered the storm after Beltran dropped him, refusing to panic as the more experienced Beltran opened up his striking game.

Miocic will face another unbeaten fighter, the 8-0-0-1 Philip De Fries on the Fuel fight card. De Fries is coming off a win over Rob Broughton at UFC 138 and he will want nothing more to put a stop to the hype that surrounds Miocic.

This fight has some potential to launch the winner up the rankings, mostly due to the fact that the heavyweight division is not particularly deep and a dominant win should be enough to raise some eyebrows in the UFC's matchmaking department.

Can Stefan Struve Capitalize on His Win over Pat Barry?

Stefan Struve is a notoriously slow starter, often times paying for that fact with his own blood. In his last bout he faced Pat Barry and both fighters seemed tentative at first, knowing full well the power that each possessed in their striking. The mutual refusal to engage may have bought Struve enough time to find his groove.

The fighters exchanged kicks in the second round and when Struve went to close the distance he was able to lock on a guillotine choke and take the fight to the ground. From there he transitioned that choke into a triangle choke and despite the fact that Barry lifted the much taller Struve in the air and slammed him to the ground in a desperation move Struve maintained the hold and forced Barry to tap.

The fight earned Struve "Submission of the Night" honors and made many highlight reels. Struve's stock is rising due to that win, the question now is will he be able to capitalize when he faces Dave Herman in Omaha?

Is Jake Ellenberger on His Way to a Title Shot?

If you were not paying attention it may have seemed as if Jake Ellenberger came from out of nowhere to destroy Jake Shields last September in New Orleans. The reality of the situation was that prior to the Shields fight Ellenberger had put together an 8-1 run, with his only loss coming at the hands of Carlos Condit.

The win over Shields gave Ellenberger a career record of 26-5, with 17 of those wins coming by knockout. During his current five fight winning streak he has gone the distance only once.

A dominant win in Omaha may see him getting a shot at the interim title if Georges St-Pierre's recovery takes longer than expected.

At this point his upcoming fight against Diego Sanchez will be, the most important fight of Ellenberger's career. A win may define him as a potential champion, while a loss may send him on the path toward gatekeeper status.

What Can We Expect from Diego Sanchez?

The last time Diego Sanchez fought he left the Octagon a swollen and bloody mess, but he left as the victor, a fact that probably significantly reduced the amount of pain he was feeling.  The attached photo of Sanchez tells you two important facts about the fighter that once went by "Nightmare." The first is that Sanchez can take a beating, while the second is that he is not going to quit.

The fighter that now goes by "The Dream" is a pretty big underdog going into his fight against Jake Ellenberger, which gives him the perfect opportunity to play the role of the spoiler, ruining the title dreams of the favored Ellenberger.

The main question is will Sanchez be ready for the fight that Ellenberger is going to bring his way as Sanchez fought only once in 2011, while Ellenberger had three bouts last year.