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UFC 103 Undercard Live Blog: Emerson vs. Dos Anjos, Miller-Lopez, More

This is the UFC 103 live blog for the undercard portion of the night's event. The undercard has six matches featuring Rob Emerson vs. Rafael Dos Anjos, Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez, Rafaello Oliveira Vs. Nik Lentz, Rick Story vs. Brian Foster, Jason Brilz vs. Eliot Marshall, Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Igor Pokrajac. The first bout is scheduled for 6:20PM ET.

I'm cageside at the American Airlines Center in Dallas for all the blow-by-blow. You can also keep track of all the action by following me on Twitter.

The live blog begins below.



Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rob Emerson

Round one: The pair come out striking early, with dos Anjos pressing much of the action and pressing forward, though Emerson countered effectively at times. Dos Anjos' first two takedown attempts were stuffed, and with less than a minute left in the round he tried another. Emerson struggled to stay upright, but dos Anjos completed the takedown with 20 scconds left. Dos Anjos landed a couple punches from the top before the round ended. Fanhouse scores the round 10-9, dos Anjos.

Round two: Emerson looked a bit more aggressive early in the round, finding a home for a straight right. Midway through the round, he landed a combination. Looks like he found his striking rhythm, but dos Anjos counters with a takedown. Emerson pops right up, however. Dos Anjos lands a thudding inside leg kick, then later tries the head kick. With 15 seconds left they clinch with dos Anjos looking for a takedown. It's a tossup round. FanHouse scores it 10-10.

Round three: Dos Anjos scores an early takedown and takes Emerson's back, landing a few punches. Emerson works back to half-guard. Dos Anjos lands elbows from the top as Emerson tries to escape. Emerson nearly kicks free, but Dos Anjos doesn't let that happen. Dos Anjos improves to side control for a moment, but Emerson frees himself and returns to his feet. He needs a big finish to win, however. He doesn't get it. FanHouse scores the round and the fight for dos Anjos.

Winner: Dos Anjos by unanimous decision (30-27 across the board)

Igor Pokrajac vs. Vladimir Matyushenko

Round one: Pokrajac is a Mirko Cro Cop protege. He struck first with a hard right. Matyushenko fires back with accurate striking, seemingly finding a home for everything he throws, but the pace isn't too fast. Crowd grows restless as they stalk each other. Pokrajac lands a hard right that wobbles Matyushenko, but the Russian gets out of trouble with a takedown. Matyushenko wants to pass, and finally does, to side control with 30 seconds left. Then full mount. Pokrajac hangs on for dear life. Pokrajac gives up his back, Matyushenko goes for a choke and Pokrajac escapes, dumping Matyushenko as time runs out. FanHouse scores the round for Matyushenko.

Round two: Matyushenko's nose bloodied from early strikes. He snaps Pokrajac's head back with a hard right, but the Croatian shakes it off. Vlad opening up with aggressive offense, then a sweet judo toss takedown. He moves to half-guard and abuses Pokajac with strikes. It's like he flipped a switch. Suddenly a different fighter. He traps Pokrjac's arm and goes for a kimura on the other. Pokrajac defends. Vlad then takes his back with 1:30 left. Pokrajac kept him at bay, and Matyushenko switched positioning for more ground and pound. Round big to Matyushenko, 10-9.

Round three: Matyushenko with another takedown. After a stalemate, the ref puts them back on their feet. Pokrajac scored a takedown with one minute left in a lackluster round, but wasn't able to do anything with the position and was soon reversed. Not much damage from the top as the round runs out. Round and likely the fight to Matyushenko in his UFC return.

Winner: Matyushenko via unanimous decision (30-27 across)

Jason Brilz vs. Eliot Marshall

Round one: Lengthy feeling-out process as Marshall uses his reach advantage early, landing a few punches but nothing significant. Brilz lands the first hard one of the early going with a straight right. Btilz looks like he's loading up, and does land a hard left hook. FanHouse scores the round for Marshall as the more active fighter.

Round two: About two minutes in, Marshall took a low blow on an inadvertent knee. He was OK after a timeout and action resumed. Brilz tried a takedown but Marshall stopped it. Marshall has a great ground game, so it might not be the best idea. Brilz tried again, Marshall escaped again. Brilz landed a pair of hard strikes just before the round ended.

Round three: Brilz visibly tired as round goes on. Marshall looks fresher, quicker. Brilz is determined to get a takedown, but it's not happening. hat leads to clinches against fence, and crowd growing restless. We're heading towards another decision. Brilz's corner told him he needed a big round, but it's not happening. Much of the crowd boos as Marshall raises his arms at the closing horn. FanHouse scores the round for Marshall.

Winner: Marshall via split-decision

Rick Story vs. Brian Foster

Round one: Both men come out firing both guns blazing. Foster wobbles Story, and is getting the best of standup. Then he dumps him down, tries a guillotine, but Story pulls out and ends up on top. Story is bleeding from the nose one minute in. From the irony department, his nickname is "Horror" Story and he's bleeding. But he does regain control in holding Foster down. Story exacts a litte revenge with elbows. Foster back to his feet, but only momentarily. Story can steal this round despite the early damage. Back to their feet and more fireworks. Tough round to score. FanHouse gives it to Foster for damage.

Round two: Story with an early takedown, gets the arm triangle in, and we have our first finish of the night. Interestingly, Story finished the arm triangle despite being in Foster's guard. That's rare.

Winner: Rick Story via arm triangle submission at 1:09

Rafaello Oliveira vs. Nik Lentz

Round one: Oliveira gets a takedown one minute in. Nothing doing. Back to their feet. Oliveira rocked Lentz with a right. Lentz got the takedown and nearly finished with a guillotine. Oliveira escaped, then hurt Lentz with a right-left combo. Oliveira takes him down and manages a few quality strikes before Lentz gets back to his feet. Lentz comes to life with big bombs against the fence. Lentz gets a takedown as the round expires. Good round that FanHouse scores for Oliveira.

Round two: Lentz looks much better in the standup this round, switching stances. As they clinch, he tries a guillotine but Oliveira quickly pulls out and ends up in Lentz's guard. Good defense from Lentz, staying out of harm's way. It's a stalemate for much of the round. Oliveira bloodied Lentz somewhere along the way. Close round that FanHouse scores for Oliveira.

Round three: Lentz got a takedown midway through, stood up and landed a series of punches to the body. Not often used, but effective in scoring points. That seemed to serve to soften up Oliveira as Lentz controlled him from half-guard with strikes as the crowd implored him to finish. He wasn't able to, but closed with his best round. FanHouse scores the round for Lentz.

Winner: Lentz by unanimous decision (29-29, 29-28, 30-27)

Jim Miller vs. Steve Lopez

Round one: Miller looks the much more comfortable fighter on his feet as he continues to evolve. He peppered Lopez, who continually shrugged off his shots as though he was annoyed, but they still counted. Midway through, Miller took an eyepoke, but continued. It seemed to anger him, and he unleashed a torrent of strikes that hurt Lopez. He followed him down and had a tight guillotine that Lopez worked out of. Miller moved to ground and pound and scored there, too. Miller rode out the round with more ground and pound before trying a heel hook that failed. FanHouse scores the round 10-9 for Miller.

Round two: During an exchange in which Lopez was throwing a punch, he hurt his shoulder. It was hard to tell if it was a break or dislocation, but he immediately clutched it and waved in surrender.

Winner: Miller by submission (injury)

This concludes the untelevised undercard. The next matches air on Spike TV starting at 8 pm ET. The live blog for Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller and Tomasz Drwal vs. Drew McFedries can be found here.

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DALLAS - SEPTEMBER 19: UFC fighter Vitor Belfort (L) battles UFC fighter Rich Franklin (R) during their Catch weight bout at UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort at the American Airlines Center on September 19, 2009 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Vitor Belfort;Rich Franklin
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    DALLAS - SEPTEMBER 19: UFC fighter Vitor Belfort (R) battles UFC fighter Rich Franklin (L) during their Catch weight bout at UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort at the American Airlines Center on September 19, 2009 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Vitor Belfort;Rich Franklin

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    DALLAS - SEPTEMBER 19: UFC fighter Vitor Belfort (L) battles UFC fighter Rich Franklin (R) during their Catch weight bout at UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort at the American Airlines Center on September 19, 2009 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Vitor Belfort;Rich Franklin

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    DALLAS - SEPTEMBER 19: UFC fighter Vitor Belfort (L) battles UFC fighter Rich Franklin (R) during their Catch weight bout at UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort at the American Airlines Center on September 19, 2009 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Vitor Belfort;Rich Franklin

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