Dan Hardy?s KO, Glover Teixeira?s submission and Jamie Varner?s upset highlight UFC 146 undercard

UFC 146's main card is about heavyweights, but the smaller weights made their mark on the preliminary card in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Jamie Varner scored an early upset with a TKO of previously unbeaten Edson Barboza. Taking the fight on short notice, Varner fought in the UFC for the first time since 2007. He gave Barboza trouble early with a takedown. Later in the first round, he pressured him against the fence, and peppered him with punches until Barboza fell to the ground. The bout was stopped at 3:23 in the first round.

"I can't believe it's me. It's so surreal. I just knocked out Edson Barboza, who was this monster in my mind," Varner said after the fight.

Dan Hardy broke his losing streak impressively. After losing four straight bouts, Hardy knocked Duane Ludwig out with a nasty left hook and followed with three elbows to end the fight at 3:51 in the first round.

"It felt great out there. You can put all the work in and if it goes wrong for 15 minutes then none of it matters. I've had a bad run. I took some time off and then I changed everything - new team, new training. It feels great. When you connect with the right shot you know its over. I put my arms up in celebration a little prematurely but when he looked back up I wasn't going to let it slip away so I went in and got the finish," Hardy said after the bout.

C.B. Dollaway used takedowns and ground control to get a unanimous decision win over Jason "Mayhem" Miller, 29-28, 30-26, 29-28. Miller had strong stand-up early but couldn't keep Dollaway's takedowns at bay. This is Miller's second loss in a row.

Diego Brandao and Darren Elkins fought a bruising, bloody fight to end the preliminary card with a 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 decision win for Elkins.  In the grappling-filled bout, Brandao was strong in the first round, but the momentum swung in Elkins' favor in the second round. With a bloody ear, Elkins controlled the final round.

Glover Teixeira had plenty of pre-fight hype going into the UFC 146 prelims, and he lived up to it with a dismantling of Kyle Kingsbury. He used nasty ground and pound to beat up Kingsbury before finishing him with an arm-triangle choke at 1:53 in the first round.

"I'm really happy a debut in the UFC feels like my debut in MMA. It was that exciting to me. I'm just so happy to be here and after Dana's speech last night I just went out there and decided to go for it. I wanted him to remember my fight, and me," Teixeira said.

Paul Sass got in on the submission game with a slick armbar/triangle choke combination over Jacob Volkmann in the first round. Former WEC champ Mike Brown returned to vintage form with a unanimous decision over Daniel Pineda.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dan-hardy-ko-glover-teixeira-submission-jamie-varner-015219934.html

Houston Alexander Ricardo Almeida  Eddie Alvarez Thiago Alves  Andre Amade 

Daniel Cormier takes Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix and Gilbert Melendez defends belt (VIDEO)

Daniel Cormier can no longer be called an exciting prospect, as he showed he's among the best heavyweights in MMA with a dominating unanimous decision win over Josh Barnett on Saturday night. Check out the video for one of the nastiest takedowns I've ever seen in an MMA bout as well as highlights from Gilbert Melendez's close decision over Josh Thomson to hold on to the Strikeforce lightweight belt.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/daniel-cormier-takes-strikeforce-heavyweight-grand-prix-gilbert-125546596.html

Bernard Ackah  Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama  Gilbert Aldana  José Aldo 

Dos Santos vs. Mir - Episode 2 - UFC Primetime

See heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos at home in Brazil, the country that he's using his success to help rebuilt; plus Frank Mir at home in Las Vegas with the family that saved his life after a motorcycle accident nearly derailed it.

Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-primetime/dos-santos-vs-mir-episode-2-video_a7b559b52.html

Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe Cyril Abidi  Daniel Acacio

Dan Hardy talks training with Frank Mir for upcomming fight vs Duane Ludwig - Dan Hardy

Dan Hardy talks about his upcoming UFC 146 matchup with Duane Ludwig and feels that in the best case scenario he beats him down in the 1st round. He also talks about training with Frank Mir and more.

Source: http://mmalice.com/dan-hardy/dan-hardy-talks-training-with-frank-mir-for-upcomming-fight-vs-duane-ludwig-video_32f600ec5.html

Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott Hiroyuki Abe

Alistair Overeem talks about Steroids to NSAC - Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) talking about testosterone and steroids. After he failed a pre drug test for UFC 146 with elevated testosterone levels (16:1).

Source: http://mmalice.com/alistair-overeem/alistair-overeem-talks-about-steroids-to-nsac-video_f29810891.html

Thiago Alves  Andre Amade  Dean Amasinger  Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen 

Bellator Inks Norwegian-based Middleweight Prospect Jack Hermansson

Bellator officials have confirmed to MMAJunkie.com that they have signed Norwegian-based prospect Jack Hermansson. While no date has been given, the likeliest outcome would be a non-tournament bout in the upcoming “Summer Series”, where he would likely fight for a slot in the seventh season’s tournament. Haermansson has yet to see the final bell in [...]

MMAFrenzy.com

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/28758/bellator-inks-norwegian-based-middleweight-prospect-jack-hermansson/

Matt Andersen  Alex Andrade  Jermaine Andrè  Yoji Anjo  Tank Abbott