UFC 123 Undercard Live Blog: Parisyan vs. Hallman, Griffin vs. Lentz, More

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- This is the UFC 123 live blog for all the preliminary bouts on tonight's card at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

The four unaired bouts are Dennis Hallman vs. Karo Parisyan, Edson Barboza vs. Mike Lullo, Paul Kelly vs. T.J. O'Brien
and Nik Lentz vs. Tyson Griffin.

The live blog is below.

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Nik Lentz vs. Tyson Griffin

Round 1: Lentz scores an early takedown after a quick exchange. Griffin works his way upright and takes Lentz down. Lentz tries a guillotine. Griffin picks him pu and slams him down. They get back up and clinch against the fence. We're midway through now as the fight for position continues. A long clinch against the fence ensues with Griffin trying to pull Lentz down. The ref asks them to work and the crowd has its first boo of the night. Eventually, Griffin gets him down inside of a minute left. Lentz gets back up and Griffin lands a hard right. A bit of a slow round, but it goes in Griffin's column, 10-9.

Round 2: The round settles into a standup round, but both fighters are slow to engage until Griffin unleashes a right hook 1:45 into the round. Lentz follows with a shoot, but they stay upright against the fence. The fight is not exactly a barn-burner, lots of clinching. Griffin scores another late takedown that probably steals the round, 10-9.

Round 3: Griffin drops Lentz with an uppercut. Lentz gets back up, but Griffin tags him again. Griffin opening up now. Lentz is bleeding from under the nose. Griffin is peppering him now. Lentz shoots in, Griffin stuffs it, then takes him down. Griffin opens up with some punches from the top as Lentz tries to escape. Lentz reverses position and ends up on top, scoring with strikes from the top. Lentz takes control until Griffin works his way upright. Lentz crowds him against the cage as time runs low. Lentz takes him down again. It might have won him the round but shouldn't be enough.

Winner: Nik Lentz via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 27-30)



Paul Kelly vs. T.J. O'Brien

Round 1: Kelly is the aggressor on the feet. He wants to keep it standing, and seems to have the big advantage there. At one point, he knocks O'Brien down flat on his back, but lets him up from the ground. O'Brien is willing to play guard, but Kelly will have none of it. Back to their feet and Kelly peppers him further. Big round for the Brit Kelly, 10-9.

Round 2: Kelly comes out just as strong as the first round with his striking edge. O'Brien gets his chance after reversing on the ground, and he advances to full mount and drops elbows but Kelly escapes. Kelly immediately moves to a better position and moments later he gets the crucifix. O'Brien takes a hellacious beating for what must seem like eternity until the ref stops it.

Winner: Paul Kelly via TKO, Rd. 2 (3:16)

Edson Barboza vs. Mike Lullo

Round 1: Barboza is considered a bigtime prospect. Let's see how he does in his UFC debut. Barboza fires off a few jabs early to gauge the distance. Lullo shoots in but Barboza sprawls. Barboza takes Lullo down and moves to side control, then lets him up. Barboza had another highlight reel throw moments later. Lullo moved to a modified gogoplata and threw strikes from the bottom. Barboza bided his time, calmly picked Lullo off the mat and shrugged him away. We reached the one-minute mark. Barboza scored with a couple of leg kicks, one which knocked Lullo down. Lullo had his moments, but the round goes to Barboza, 10-9.

Round 2: A Barboza left hook landed early. Lullo shot in again, but Barboza sprawled again. Barboza took him down and into Lullo's guard. Lullo used a rubber guard to slow Barboza down, but he escaped two minutes in. Barboza's leg kicks are vicious, and they're clearly slowing Lullo down. Lullo pushes Barboza into the corner and pulls guard. Barboza gets back up with 30 seconds left. Another leg kick buckles Lullo, who is now hobbling around the cage. Tough kid, but he can't walk. Another one puts Lullo down just before the horn. He barely gets back to his feet and I don't know how he'll come back for the third round. Barboza 10-9.

Round 3: Barboza is just crushing Lullo with leg kicks. Lullo can't stand anymore, and after being knocked down twice, the ref waves it off.

Winner: Edson Barboza via TKO, Rd. 3 (:26)

Dennis Hallman vs. Karo Parisyan

Round 1: Parisyan wades his way inside and pushes Hallman against the fence. Hallman briefly looks for a standing guillotine, but it barely threatens Parisyan before he's free. Lots of jockeying for position, but no one advances and they're broken up. On the restart, Hallman tags Parisyan who goes down and Hallman follows with ground and pound for the win. Parisyan immediately got up arguing. It seems like he thought he took an illegal eye poke but his protest falls on deaf ears; it's over.

Winner: Dennis Hallman via TKO (Rd. 1, 1:47)






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