John Howard and Brian Ebersole met in a welterweight bout to kick off the UFC 178 prelims on Fox Sports 1.
The first round was a good one for Ebersole as he controlled the fight on the ground, dominating positionally and keeping Howard on the defensive. He did land an illegal upkick late in the round when Howard began to work from top position, but there was no point deduction.
In round two, it was Howard who dominated position and controlled the action. The fight had slowed down to a pace that allowed Howard to not exhaust himself and continued that way for round three.
Unfortunately for Howard, he wasn’t mixing in enough offensive output during the third round, allowing Ebersole to push volume and take the round on two official cards, getting him the win.
The official cards were 29-28 Ebersole, 29-28 Howard and 29-28 Ebersole
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Stephen Thompson and Patrick Cote were up next, also fighting at welterweight.
Thompson showed a clear speed advantage over his older foe, cracking him with some quick punches that seemed to take until the second round to really wake Cote up.
By round three it was a barrage of big shots from Thompson, each one seeming to draw high fives and chest pounding from Cote, but very little by way of return action.
Thompson would go on to win the fight by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.
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James Krause and Jorge Masvidal put on a lightweight scrap that was more in line with the UFC 178 excitement level expectations.
For three rounds the men exchanged heavy shots, Masvidal being a little more economical but a little more effective in his striking down the stretch. Krause got a takedown in round two but Masvidal simply did the better work throughout, including a very strong performance in round three.
Masvidal took the unanimous decision by scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27.