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UFC 197 Prelims Results

By Caitlin Johnstone
Published on: 15:27 PST, Apr 23, 2016

There were plenty of exciting matches to be found on the undercard of UFC 197, which will see the long-anticipated return of former champion Jon “Bones” Jones later tonight on the main card.

A technical knockout in a hard-hitting Heavyweight war got things warmed up early in the night as Walt “The Big Ticket” Harris took out “The Freight Train” Cody East late in the first round. Harris (8-4) overcame an inadvertent low blow by East (12-2) and fought through some stinging punches from his opponent, who switched frequently from southpaw to orthodox throughout the contest.

Harris, who was an underdog in this match, was eventually able to land a crushing left hand to East’s jaw and followed his opponent to the mat with punches, which East eventually succumbed to before referee Mark Smith rescued him from further damage. The Freight Train protested the stoppage, but he was on wobbly legs.

The early prelims also saw the always entertaining Marcos Rogerio De Lima score his 11th first-round stoppage over Clint “Headbussa” Hester in the Light Heavyweight division. De Lima cracked Hester with a solid left hook which sent him to the mat, where De Lima swarmed him in full mount and then in half guard, eventually succeeding in trapping an arm to finish the bout via arm triangle choke.

Headlining the undercard was a Flyweight bout between “The Greek Assassin” Chris Kelades and Sergio Pettis, whose brother, former Lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, is also fighting on this card later tonight in a fan favorite matchup against Edson Barboza. The younger Pettis brother out-struck, out-clinched, and out-grappled his opponent throughout the majority of the three-round contest, with Kelades nearly stealing the upset with a very late attempt at a Peruvian necktie submission. Pettis took the decision 30-27 on all three judges’ scorecards. Pettis is now 5-2 in the UFC at just 22-years of age.

The Ultimate Fighter finalist Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza grappled, body slammed, and ground-and-pounded her way to victory in a Strawweight bout against Juliana “Ju Thai” Lima. Esparza’s wrestling was there for her throughout the majority of the match, which saw Ju Thai fighting off her back for large portions of every round.

Esparza successfully slammed her way out of multiple submission attempts throughout the fight, and while Lima remained aggressive with sweep and sub attempts from guard and half guard, she was ultimately unable to cope with Cookie Monster’s relentless top pressure. Esparza took all three rounds 10-9 on all three judges’ scorecards. This was her first time back in the Octagon in over a year, and she’d taken the fight on just three weeks’ notice.

Danny “Hot Chocolate” Roberts took a controversial unanimous decision over Dominique Steele in a back-and-forth barn burner contest at 170 pounds. Steele had many shining moments throughout the fight, getting Roberts onto his back and dropping him with a hard right hand in the first round, but all three judges awarded the decision to Roberts, two rounds to one. Fans enjoyed the fight, but many were quick to voice their outrage about the decision.

This victory puts Roberts on a seven-fight win streak. The welterweight hasn’t lost a fight since 2011.

[Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images]

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