UFC 143 Fight Card Complete Collection: Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper

Hello once more, fans and friends, and welcome back to my special series, “UFC 143 Complete Collection.”

I’ll be counting down and covering every single fight on the UFC 143 card—from the first preliminary fight all the way to the pay-per-view main event.

With one entry already under my belt, it’s time to dive into the second fight of the scheduled “UFC Prelims LIVE” Facebook broadcast: Rafael Natal vs. Michael Kuiper.

Natal vs. Kuiper

Rafael Natal has been competing in mixed martial arts since 2005.

Since his debut, he has compiled a more than respectable record of 13-3-1. Ten of his 13 wins have come by stoppage, with seven submissions. Natal began his career with a perfect 7-0 record, earning stoppage victories in his first five fights.

By the time September 2010 rolled around, Natal’s record stood at 10-2 and he was coming off of a major KO victory over Travis Lutter, the fighter who once famously won season four of “The Ultimate Fighter” and then failed to make weight for his shot at Anderson Silva’s UFC Middleweight Championship.

In his UFC debut, Natal would lose a tough decision to Rich Attonito. He then fought Jesse Bongfeldt to a draw. In his most recent performance, at UFC 133, Natal finally scored a win inside the Octagon when he beat Paul Bradley by unanimous decision.

Natal’s opponent, Michael Kuiper, will be making his UFC debut at UFC 143.

Kuiper has been a professional mixed martial artist for less than three years, but in that time he’s already fought 11 times. Kuiper began his career in 2009 by fighting seven times that year, winning all seven bouts. Only one of those wins was a decision.

Currently, Kuiper’s record stands at an unblemished 11-0, those bouts coming mostly overseas in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In his time spent outside of the Octagon, Kuiper has displayed some interesting versatility, knocking out six of his 11 opponents and submitting four of them. And unlike some strikers—whose "submissions" are often submissions "due to punches"—Kuiper’s submission wins are all by legitimate submission holds: one triangle choke and three armbars.

This fight has some interesting potential, depending on how much of Kuiper’s hype is justified.

I don’t really have anything negative to say about Natal, but I think I’m justified in pointing out that he’s had a bit of trouble adjusting to UFC-caliber opponents. His 1-1-1 UFC record isn’t the best way to start a run, but to his credit, Natal has displayed some skills inside the Octagon and I’m certainly not counting him out of this fight.

And when it comes to talented, upstart, unbeaten rookies nowadays, it’s getting tougher and tougher to find out whether or not they’re all hype. The UFC is getting so good that the gap in quality between fighters in regional promotions and UFC-caliber fighters just keeps growing.

Coming in undefeated with a long winning streak is definitely enough to get your foot in the door, but it’s simply no longer enough to guarantee instant success inside of the Octagon.

If Kuiper lives up to his hype, he’s going to take out Natal by the end of Round 1 or in the opening minutes of Round 2. If he doesn’t, Natal is going to grind on him, expose some weaknesses, and take the decision. Either way, this should be a pretty fun fight to help start off the night.

Oliver Saenz, also known as PdW2kX, is a freelance journalist, opinion columnist, hardcore MMA fan and lifelong video game nerd. For more news, views, previews and reviews on all things Mixed Martial Arts as well as video games, be sure to visit FightGamesBlog.net.