In the main event, Kenny Florian (Pictures) (his nickname really should be “Focker” not “Ken-Flo”) made quick work of expert striker Sam Stout (Pictures), submitting him in just one minute and 46 seconds.
Florian was the one who backed up his words as he took Stout to the canvas almost instantaneously and worked his way into a textbook rear-naked choke. Stout did everything in his power to escape and defend the choke, but Florian’s black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu was the deciding factor; Stout was forced to either tapout or black out.
It seemed as though Florian set up the choke a minute or so beforehand and led his opponent into the trap. Florian seemed to feel it coming before his arms even encircled Stout’s throat and before long, Stout was tapping away at his foe’s arm, signaling that he had enough. And just like that, the fight was over. Florian barely broke a sweat and it seems that the sky is the limit now that he has been fighting at his natural weight of 155 pounds.
Keith Jardine (Pictures) proved yet again that though he may not be the prettiest fighter around, he certainly gets the job done when needed. His opponent, Wilson Gouveia (Pictures), made things a bit tough for the Albuquerque resident and forced Jardine to fight through pain, blood and sapped energy in order to pull out the closer than expected decision victory.
Jardine wound up winning via tallies of 29-28 on all three official scorecards, a decision that was certainly just once the dust settled from their encounter.
Most expected Jardine to walk right through the little-known Gouveia but the Florida fighter hung tough from start to finish. It’s tough to say exactly where these two warriors will go next, but it seems as though Jardine, especially after getting jobbed by the judges when he fought Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) in his last outing (at least in the eyes of many), might be in line to face one of the UFC’s bigger stars in the very near future.
Dark Bouts
Mike Nickels squared off against Wes Combs (Pictures) in what was the evening's first bout and Nickels made the most out of his official UFC debut. Combs pressed the action early but soon it was Nickels who seized control of the action.
Nickels, infested with body ink, eventually scored a slick takedown and once the battle hit the canvas, the end was just around the corner for Combs. Combs could not slither away from the constricting Nickels and after a minute or so on the mat, Nickels had taken Combs' back. It wasn't long before Combs was entrapped within a relatively deep rear-naked choke and Combs, not really trying to break free of the submission, had no choice but to tapout. The official time of the submission came at 3:10 into the opening round and the tapout was a precursor of things to come.
Matt Hamill, Tito Ortiz (Pictures)'s golden child from the series, was simply too much for the young — and green — Jesse Forbes to handle. Hamill trounced Forbes from start to finish and wound scoring an impressive ground-and-pound stoppage win. Jesse couldn't do much of anything to thwart Hamill's attacks, whether it was while on their feet or on the ground.
The much stronger Hamill made it look relatively easy as he forced a referee stoppage at the 4:47 mark of the first round. It's still way too early to gauge how good Hamill is and how far he can go, but it's safe to assume that maybe Forbes is still too young and inexperienced. Time will tell on both men.
Team Dagger's Solomon Hutcherson was surprisingly knocked out in the first round at the hands (pun viciously intended) of late-replacement Luigi Fioravanti (Pictures).
Hutcherson was originally supposed to face Mike Stein but when Stein had to withdraw, he was matched against Fioravanti. Solomon looked a little sloppy in the moments preceding his knockout and it was his sloppiness that paved the way for him being removed from consciousness.
Solomon missed a loopy right hook and walked right into a tight counter left hand, a punch that deposited him onto his knees in a quasi splits position. Fioravanti landed two more right hands as the referee was stopping the bout, signaling the end at 4:15 of the opening round.
Popular Canuck Kalib Starnes (Pictures) made quick work of Danny Abbadi, forcing him to tapout at the 2:56 mark of the first round courtesy of a rear-naked choke. Abbadi was outclassed from the outset and it seemed as though he basically gave the submission to Starnes, who was more than happy to apply the pressure to his opponent's throat.
Starnes pummeled Abbadi with some solid ground-and-pound, a series of punishment that led to the submission. Starnes should be a force to be reckoned with in the coming years within the UFC's ranks.
In the final off-TV bout of the evening, Rory Singer survived a vicious onslaught from rugged Brit Ross Pointon and applied a quick triangle to win.
Singer was felled with a loopy overhand right, but Pointon was a bit overzealous in his pursuit of a knockout and fell victim to a perfectly executed triangle. The end came quickly — just 44 seconds into the fight — and just like that, Singer was victorious.