UFC on FX 1 Results: 10 Sober Truths About UFC on FX 2 in Australia

UFC on FX 1 is in the books, and while we have our own questions about UFC on FOX 2, let us not forget that on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012, the UFC will return to Sydney, Australia. The action-packed night of fights will emanate from the Allphones Arena (aka The Sydney Super Dome) and appear live on FX, with preliminaries on Fuel TV.

Headlining this night of fights are Thiago "Pitbull" Alves and Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann, who both officially went 1-1 in 2011—though Kampmann unofficially went 2-0. Nevertheless, both are coming off of year-ending wins and will face each other for the first time.

Also for the first time in UFC history, the 125-lb. flyweight division finally blasts off in what could appropriately be considered a two-part, co-main event.

The first part will feature Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson against consensus world-ranked No. 1 flyweight and former Tachi Palace Fights Flyweight Champion "Uncle Creepy" Ian McCall. The second half will feature the long-awaited flyweight debut of Joseph Benavidez against the consistently top-ranked flyweight and slick counter-striker Yasuhiro Urushitani.

Wrapping up the main card of action is a middleweight bout between fast-rising TUF 11 would-have-been Costa Philippou and TUF 11 winner Court "The Crusher" McGee, both of whom have shown a willingness to finish on the feet and on the ground.

It'll be all right there on March 3rd in Sydney. And, as the fight-drunken stupor from the events of the first UFC event on FX have worn off, we'd like to use the rest of our fight-drunkenness to drive 12 things home in this UFC on FX 2 edition of "Sober Truths."

Are you ready?

Star-Studded? Not If You're Talking Locally, but the Card Is Still Pretty Good.

Yeah, hate to say it out loud, but if we're looking around the local markets and not the major leagues, we're not looking to the UFC on FX card for the best of the best from Australia.

The most notable Aussie (as in "Aussies who are actual Aussies") is George Sotiropoulos, and he needs to beat Takanori Gomi to keep from getting s**t-canned after UFC 144 in Japan.

Brian Ebersole isn't an Aussie; he just fights out of Melbourne. James Te Huna is a New Zealander that has fought all but one bout in Australia.

And, unfortunately for the UFC brass, Hector Lombard, the Cuban-Australian middleweight with arguably the most explosive one-punch knockout power in MMA's middleweight landscape right now, has not yet lost the Bellator Middleweight Title to Alexander Shlemenko.

That just leaves Kyle Noke and Anthony Perosh as the lone soldiers raising up for The Land Down Under...and you need Fuel TV to see them. Or you need to hope they end their fights in the first or second round.

The card overall is still good, and it's really not like Australia was all over UFCs 110 or 127 in terms of star power, especially considering who was featured on those two cards. But if your focus is strictly local this time out, the UFC might not have anything for you until The Ultimate Fighter: U.K. vs. Australia materializes.

On the other hand, if you're just a fan of MMA in general and just glad that an international card is going to be free for viewing on FX (and FUEL TV, if you have it)—or if you're just glad you don't have to pay for a card that'll be coming live from Australia for once—this card's probably going to make you a happy person.

Heavyweight Debutants Shawn Jordan and Oli Thompson Open the Card

Of course, Oli Thompson was supposed to debut against Phillip De Fries at UFC 138, but Rob Broughton wound up replacing Thompson.

Fun fact: Thompson's first career decision loss is attributed to Broughton.

Now Thompson gets Shawn Jordan, who has finished 11 out of 12 of his opponents and has only been stopped in two out of three defeats.

In contrast, Thompson has been finished once, and that loss came before Thompson fought Broughton. Both men—meaning Thompson and Jordan—are different fighters from what they were the last time they lost.

It's intriguing enough that Jordan, a Strikeforce heavyweight transplant, is getting called up to the big stage for the first free card from The Land Down Under. And NO, the UFC's Spike prelims don't count—they consisted of two fights on Spike and replays of Facebook prelims.

Facing a newcomer like Thompson in his debut makes this, the lone heavyweight bout in Australia, all the more exciting to watch.

Jake Hecht Is Back in the Octagon, and That Might Be Bad If You're TJ Waldberger

Of course, if you believe that TJ Waldberger will just lay down for Jake Hecht, you probably don't know much about the 14-6 Texan. But you also might not be wrong in thinking Hecht's hot streak keeps on rolling.

He came into the UFC with a 10-2 record, but many fans believed Hecht was being led to slaughter in a bout against Rich Attonito at UFC 140.

Hecht proved them wrong...Hecht proved them very, very horrendously wrong.

Hecht is on his way up, and Waldberger needs to be able to put it all together and make something happen. But after what happened at UFC 140 to Attonito, one has to wonder if Waldberger really knows what he's up against when the UFC retuns to Sydney.

Steven Siler vs. Cole..."Mas Magrinho" Miller?

On this card we have Aaron Rosa's second light heavyweight fight in the UFC (against James Te-Huna). And Andrew Craig replaces an injured Jared Hamman against Kyle Noke.

But the big shock on paper is that Cole Miller is facing TUF 14's Steven Siler at featherweight.

Take a minute to digest that.

It'll be interesting to see how much Siler has improved since his last outing against Josh Clopton, which was a unanimous decision win. But the bigger story might surround Miller.

How well can Miller handle the drop to 145, and how competitive can he remain at the lighter weight when he's already a skinny fighter to begin with?

That may be a bigger question than how Siler handles the step up in competition.

Mackens Semerzier and Roberto Peralta Don't Have to Use Their Heads to Finish

Last time Mackens Semerzier and Roberto Peralta fought, they had an exciting bout that initially ended as a third round TKO win for Peralta, but the replays showed that an accidental headbutt caused the knockout.

Originally, Peralta was going to stand across the cage from Charles Oliveira in Oliveira's featherweight debut. But the rematch with Semerzier is one that just has to happen before either man continues with their featherweight trek.

If their first fight was any indication, fans can expect the same intensity when the two collide, but will the action produce a similar aura and a clear-cut winner this time?

Andrew Craig Changes the Game for Kyle Noke

Two days ago, MMA Junkie reported that Jared Hamman was injured and would need a replacement opponent.

Fast forward to now, and we've got ourselves a nice look at undefeated Houston-based Legacy Fighting Championships prospect, and reigning Legacy Middlewight Champion Andrew Craig. He will faceoff against fast-acting Australian submission machine Kyle Noke, whose five-fight win streak and 3-0 UFC streak were both snapped by Ed Herman at UFC on Versus 5.

Craig's 6-0 pro career includes two TKO wins, one submission win by triangle choke and three unanimous decision wins, with the most recent decision win coming against Eric Schambari.

If Craig's six-fight career hasn't told us anything about who he is, his performance against Noke will give us a pretty good idea. But Noke would rather beat this prospect on short notice than start a two-fight skid on his own home soil.

Nick Penner Wants to Stop Anthony Perosh Before Anthony Perosh Gets Going

The only problem Anthony "The Hippo" Perosh might have with 11-1 Manitoba native Nick Penner is that Penner might get this idea that he's beating Perosh in Sydney, which is Perosh's neck of the woods.

Would you blame Penner though?

He's on an eight-fight win streak. Perosh is on a two-fight win streak. 

The newcomer wants to make a great impression at the expense of his opponent with (most of) the whole world watching live.

Perosh is a big step up from Canadian prospects and recent Penner victims Tim Chemelli and Jon Ganshorn, though. And he's definitely not Eric Esch.

Even if Penner does beat Perosh, "The Hippo" is holding home-court advantage, and if he's going to lose in his own backyard, he's at least going to make Penner work as hard as any opponent in Penner's career has ever made him work for a win.

Aaron Rosa and James Te Huna Might Just Put on a Show Before the FX Card Starts

James Te Huna is a New Zealander who just needed 47 seconds to send Ricardo Romero packing.

Aaron "Big Red" Rosa got finished in his UFC debut against Joey Beltran but rebounded with a majority decision win over Matt Lucas.

Put them both together, and what do you get?

Considering that Te Huna showed great KO power against Romero and Rosa has shown a willingness to stand in his past two performances, you might just get a nice showcase of two rising light heavyweights before the FX card starts.

Contenders? Probably not, or not anytime soon.

Gamers? In every sense of the word, both are.

Court McGee vs. Costa Philippou Is the Middleweight Bout You Didn't See Coming

Court McGee only fought once in 2011, a UFC Fight Night 25 win by unanimous decision over Dongi Yang. But that only happened because a UFC 131 bout against Jesse Bongfeldt became Chris Weidman's bout with Bongfeldt.

Constantinos "Costa" Philippou, on the other hand. went 3-1 in 2011, including a loss to Nick Catone and wins over Jared Hamman and Jorge Rivera.

To say that nobody saw this fight coming is a gigantic understatement.

Costa's got the tutelage of Matt Serra and Ray Longo on his side, and it's helped him to come into his own as a fighter on the ground and the feet. But will it be enough to counter a Court McGee that's been honing his skills since September?

As good as Costa is, I'd expect McGee to be every bit as he is come fight night.

The No. 1 Flyweight in MMA vs. One of the Best UFC "Flyweights-at-Bantamweight"

Ian McCall's come a long way since losing to Dominick Cruz.

He's developed a good game all around, helping to cement his status as the top flyweight with MMA in victories over Jussier Da Silva and Darrell Montague.

However, Demetrious Johnson seems determined to steal McCall's thunder and take the UFC flyweight title by any means necessary—though it's a whole different animal to tame "Uncle Creepy" in the heat of a fight (just as it's difficult to catch Johnson in any sort of predicament).

Still, Cruz might have exposed a flaw in Johnson, whom the champ almost totally outclassed in the UFC's final event on Versus, that McCall could use to his advantage—if Johnson doesn't implement his wrestling game and his own fast pace first.

McCall has finished seven fights, with three coming by submission and four wins by TKO. All four of his career decision wins were unanimous decisions.

Meanwhile, Johnson is one fight short of McCall's record. But he has a TKO-by-punches win and a head kick KO win to go with four submission wins (including his win over Damacio Page at WEC 52) and three undisputed wins by unanimous decision—with the only debatable "win" being Johnson's UFC 130 win over Miguel Angel Torres.

They both have only have two losses on their record, and, in a perfect world, this might end in some sort of draw. But this is a title bout, so someone's dealing career losses in threes after this bout without question.

Johnson was a force at 135 pounds and is expected to be among the elite at 125 pounds. But there's a reason why "Uncle Creepy" is considered the best flyweight in the world, and that's something Johnson may learn when the two collide Down Under.

Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Joseph Benavidez Is, by Default, the Fight of the Night

That's right, you read it here first.

Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Joseph Benavidez is, by far and away—and default—the Fight of The Night, and I'll let you all hear why right now.

First off, Benavidez has been a force at 135 pounds due to his own high-energy style of offense. The only people he's never beaten at that weight class are Demetrious Johnson, Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz.

Of course, Faber vs. Benavidez was an afterthought because of how dominant Faber was at featherweight. And Benavidez never got to cross paths with Johnson in the WEC. So that really just leaves Cruz, who is responsible for the only two losses on Benavidez's record.

Urushitani, a tactical striker and slick counter-striker, has drawn twice with former No. 1 Ffyweight Shinichi "BJ"" Kojima, and he can relate to Cruz as far as saying he's fought and beat certain fighters twice.

Not only that, but like the 135-lb. version of Benavidez, Urushitani is durable enough to last from the opening minute of the fight until the last minute of it. So stylistically, this fight is good enough to provide the UFC's first "Fight of 2012" contender.

Thiago Alves vs. Martin Kampmann, UFC on FX 2's Well-Rounded Main Event

If you've stayed awake on Thiago Alves and Martin Kampmann, you know that they're no longer just strikers.

Kampmann's takedowns have been a staple of his success for a long time now, while Alves' takedowns have come into play ever since he returned, missed weight and lost to Jon Fitch at UFC 117.

You wouldn't guess it when you see that both are strikers and both love to entertain crowds—therefore opting for the knockout. But they both know the game has changed; the best fighters in a division always seem to be good everywhere, even if they only excel in one area.

They've gotten better in areas where they were once inefficient and are coming into their own as mixed martial artists. But as well-rounded as they both are, the key differences could be Alves' leg kicks and Kampmann's ground game.

Kampmann seems more likely to get the submission than Alves, but Alves likes to take people's legs out to throw them off so that they can't go in for a proper takedown.

What will Kampmann do if his legs are taken from him by Alves. And, for that matter, how will Alves respond if Kampmann is the one to take it to the ground?