UFC
UFC 153 FX Prelims Recap: Jason-Sicilia, Tibau-Trinaldo provide exciting battles in Brazil
Oct 13, 2012 - 9:10:27 PM UFC 153 FX Prelims Recap: Jason-Sicilia, Tibau-Trinaldo provide exciting battles in Brazil

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

A fairly entertaining preliminary card broadcast on FX served as a solid lead in to UFC 153 on Saturday night, with four fights working the crowd up in Brazil. Topping the broadcast was TUF: Brazil winner Rony Jason, who took out Sam Sicilia in the second round of a crazy back and forth brawl in the featherweight division. Both fighters were damaging one another early and often, landing swinging, wild strikes, and keeping their hands down. Neither was defending particularly well, which led to some crazy swings in the fight, but it finally came to an end when Jason caught a kick from Sicilia in the second round and dropped him with a straight right. A few strikes more on the ground earned him the stoppage, and his second straight win in the UFC.

Gleison Tibau and Francisco Trinaldo battled back and forth through their 15 minute fight, with each round of the fight being controlled by one or the other. Tibau began well in the first frame, landing several strikes and scoring takedowns, but Trinaldo nearly stole the fight back in the second round. He landed a huge knockdown with a wild left, and took Tibau's back in a scramble. He went for a choke that almost got locked in, but he ultimately had to settle for dominating the rest of the round with ground and pound and top control. Tibau bounced right back in the third, though, scoring an early takedown, then adding a second later in the round. He worked his way to mount, attempted a submission, and ended the fight on top to earn the unanimous decision two rounds to none.

TUF 14 winner Diego Brandao got back on track after a loss in his last fight, showing off improved takedown defense against Joey Gambino and controlling nearly the entirety of the 15-minute fight. Brandao dropped Gambino on several occasions, and scored with takedowns as well. A very good all around performance earned him the unanimous decision victory.

Finally, the broadcast opened with what was a less than thrilling fight between TUF: Brazil competitors Sergio Moraes and Renee Forte. After ten minutes of very lax action, Moraes then thrilled the crowd with an excellent scramble in the third to take Forte's back, and he ended it with a rear naked choke submission.