Ex-NCAA mat champ Koscheck wins; Pierce, Jorgensen, Starks fall at UFC 143

It was a rough night for former college wrestlers at UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit in Las Vegas Saturday night, as only Josh Koscheck came out the victor in his match. 

Koscheck, a 2001 NCAA Division I champ at 174 pounds for Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, earned a split decision victory in his three-round middleweight bout vs. Mike Pierce, a former wrestler at Portland State.

Two of the judges awarded the fight 29-28 for Koscheck, while one scored it 29-28 for Pierce.

The MMA website Sherdog.com said of the match, "The two welterweight standouts spent much of their time jockeying for position in the clinch. Koscheck won the takedown battle, 2-1, perhaps swaying the judges ever so slightly to his side."

Koscheck, a four-time NCAA All-American for the Fighting Scots, is now 17-5 overall in MMA competition, and 15-5 in UFC. Pierce, "who did nothing to lower his profile in defeat," according to Sherdog.com, is now 13-5, and 6-3 in UFC.

Two other former collegiate matmen did not fare as well as Koscheck:

• Jorgensen falls to Pegado: Scott Jorgensen, a three-time Pac 10 conference champ at Boise State, lost a unanimous decision to Renan "Banao" Pegado in a three-round bantamweight bout. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 for the Brazilian. According to Sherdog, Jorgensen failed to score a single takedown, and now falls to 13-5 overall, 2-1 in UFC competition... while Pegado is now 28-1, 3-0 UFC.
• Starks submitted by Herman: Clifford Starks, who was a teammate of Cain Velasquez at Arizona State, tapped out to Ed Herman in the second round of their middleweight match. The former Sun Devil was done in by a rear-naked choke at 1:43 of Round 2. It was Starks' first MMA loss, falling to 8-1, 1-1 in UFC. Herman is now 20-8, 7-5 in UFC.

Want to know more? For a detailed play-by-play of all the matches at UFC 143, check out Sherdog.com's excellent coverage. In addition, Sherdog also offers a briefer account of the evening's bouts.