UFC Fight Night 42 Prelim Results: Pettis, Jorgensen Victorious

Ufcc Three of four fights went the distance on Saturday night's preliminary portion of UFC Fight Night 42: Henderson vs. Khabilov from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a pair of UFC stars picked up much needed wins. Early in the evening, WEC/UFC vet Scott Jorgensen picked up a crucial win in an exciting flyweight battle, and Sergio Pettis, younger brother of Lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, scored his first victory in the Octagon. The UFC appears to be banking on the younger Pettis' star power potential, hoping that his career and style mimic that of his older brother, as they tabbed him to headline the preliminary card against Yaotzin Meza in a bantamweight tilt. Pettis was coming off a loss in his UFC debut, a Fight of the Night bout which saw him control most of the action prior to getting caught in a choke. Pettis, looking like he could easily make Flyweight, seemed a little tentative at the start of the fight, but displayed excellent movement and began throwing kicks just prior to the three minute mark. However, the majority of the first and start of the second was uneventful, drawing jeers from the Albuquerque crowd. Pettis likely took rounds one and two. The third didn't show much improvement, and Meza finished the round by dumping Pettis on his back, probably winning him the frame. Still, Sergio Pettis did enough to win the first two rounds, and took home the unanimous decision to mark his first victory in the octagon. In other action, Bobby Volker dropped an uneventful decision to Lance Benoist, throughout which altitude was frequently blamed for the lack of action. In a flyweight battle that turned out to be the highlight of the preliminary card, Danny Martinez came out with strong striking, and looked the aggressor until Scott Jorgensen, making his third appearance at 125lbs and winless in three, scored a solid suplex takedown. This led to Jorgensen taking the back of Martinez, who would make it back to his feet only to be taken back down by a belly-to-back suplex and worked on further. Jorgensen's wrestling in the first was smothering, and while Martinez managed to finally surge back to his feet with about 45 seconds to go, the round likely belonged to Jorgensen. To start the second, Martinez came out strong again, loading up some power shots and connecting with Jorgenzen's chin somewhere about the 4:20 mark. It looked as if the fight might end there, but Jorgensen displayed an incredible amount of heart and a hell of a chin, continuing to eat strikes along the fence. With the crowd awake and cheering, Martinez continued to land, while Jorgensen attemped to answer with strikes of his own while looking for a takedown. Towards the end of the round, Jorgensen took advantage of a gasing Martinez to land a few strikes and at long last another takedown, then a second, adding some elbows before taking the back of his opponent. Martinez escaped but wound up persued and gave up his back yet again. The round ended with Martinez face down, Jorgensen on top. Round three saw Jorgensen start strong and land an immediate takedown leading to a kimura attempt. Martinez managed to escape and eventually regained his feet only to meet a knee from Jorgensen. Moments later, Martinez would land a flying knee of his own. The standup game then took over before Martinez caught Jorgensen again, however this time Jorgensen was able to score a takedown and finished the fight on top. In the end, Jorgensen would take the fight 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 (lets not get into it over whatever judge saw that as a 30-27). Jorgensen ate some heavy strikes to gain the victory, but his superior wrestling saved the say, and the fan favourite lives to fight in the octagon again. Earlier in the night, Jon Tuck finished Jake Lindsey via a heel kick to the liver to open the televised portion of the card. Preliminary Card Results: BW Sergio Pettis defeated Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) WW Lance Benoist defeated Bobby Voelker unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) FW Scott Jorgensen defeated Danny Martinez unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) LW Jon Tuck defeated Jake Lindsey via heel strikes (Round 3 - 2:47)
 
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Primarily covering the sport of MMA from Ontario, Canada, Jay Anderson has been writing for various publications covering sports, technology, and pop culture since 2001. Jay holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Guelph, and a Certificate in Leadership Skills from Humber College.