Once regarded by many as one of the top lightweights in the world, former Pride FC lightweight champion and Japanese MMA legend Takanori Gomi met his match Wednesday night as he squared off with TUF vet Kenny Florian in the main event of UFC Fight Night 21.

Florian vs. Gomi

The event, held at the Bojangles Coliseum, marked the first time that the UFC has visited Charlotte, N.C., since UFC 5 in 1995. The event also marked Gomi’s UFC debut and his first fight in America since 2003.

Gomi and Florian exchanged on the feet for the majority of the main event, and Florian controlled the action. He utilized his four-inch reach advantage throughout the fight, landing stiff jabs from a distance, which took a toll on Gomi. Gomi shot for the takedown on the BJJ black belt in the first round, but was unable to get the fight to the ground or stay close enough to trade blows effectively.

In the last round Florian successfully took the fight to the ground, landed ground-and-pound, and used an arm triangle to pass to full mount. Florian used his BJJ to lock in a rear-naked choke as Gomi turned, forcing the tap at 2:52 into the third round. Florian outstriked Gomi 80-41, according to compustrike.com, and won “Submission of the Night” honors. Florian is expected to face Gray Maynard next in August, when the UFC visits his hometown of Boston, Massa.

In the co-main event, heavyweight Roy Nelson proved that his TUF win was no fluke and that he is ready for the UFC’s toughest competition by running through Stefan Struve in the first round. After a brief power outage the fight commenced, and Nelson didn’t let the reach advantage of the 6-foot-11-inch Struve become a factor in the fight.

Rivera vs. Quarry

Nelson pressed his opponent in the opening exchanges, closed the distance and landed an overhand right, which clipped Struve. He quickly followed up with another overhand right that dropped Struve. Nelson jumped on his opponent, landing ground-and-pound until the fight was stopped at 0:39 into the first round. Nelson outstriked Struve 9-2 in the match and won “Knockout of the Night” honors.

TUF vet and 12-fight UFC vet Jorge Rivera put on an impressive performance in a standup battle with fellow TUF vet and former UFC middleweight title challenger Nate Quarry in the second fight of the night. Rivera dominated the first round, dropping Quarry three times with strong rights, and nearly finished him.

Quarry got rocked with a left at the start of the second round and Rivera followed up with ground-and-pound, putting an end to the fight at 0:29 into the second round. The fight marked Rivera’s third consecutive UFC victory.

The first fight of the night featured an explosive lightweight battle between TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson and 8-fight UFC veteran Dennis Siver. The fighters traded back and forth on the feet for most of the fight. Pearson rocked his opponent several times in the fight and showed good takedown defense.

Pearson vs. Siver

Pearson utilized his superior standup to earn a unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the contest 30-27. The bout earned “Fight of the Night” honors. All fighters earning bonus honors earned $30,000.

A preliminary bout between Caol Uno and Gleison Tibau was also featured on the broadcast before the co-main event. Tibau overwhelmed Uno with punches in the contest, took his back, and pounded him out. The fight was stopped at 4:13 into the first round.

Overall, the Bojangles Coliseum had an attendance of 7,700 and a total gate of $590,685. The broadcast on Spike TV peaked at two million fans during the main event, according to mmapayout.com. The event was followed by the premier of the eleventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

The next UFC event, UFC 112, will feature a middleweight champion match between Anderson Silva and Demian Maia, and a lightweight championship match between B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar. The event will mark the UFC’s first trip to Abu Dhabi, UAE. Live pay-per-view coverage of the event will begin at 1 p.m. EST on Saturday, April 10. The event will be re-aired at the UFC’s normal event time of 10 p.m. EST via delay.

UFC Fight Night 21 Full

Fans flooded the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Saturday for the UFC’s first title fights of 2010 at UFC 111.

The main event between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Dan Hardy, built up by the return of UFC Primetime on Spike TV, was not as competitive as expected. St. Pierre performed to his strength, taking Hardy down with ease every chance he got, improving his position and landing ground-and-pound.

St. Pierre vs. Hardy

St. Pierre took away Hardy’s greatest chance of winning the fight by eliminating the stand up, and his gameplan worked effectively as Hardy was unable to do much damage over the five-round contest. St. Pierre was successful on all nine of his takedown attempts and attempted eight submissions throughout the fight according to compustrike.com, including a deep armbar and then a kimura, which were both close to ending the fight.

St. Pierre outstriked Hardy 130-22 and executed his gameplan to perfection. He retained his title via a unanimous decision victory: 50-45, 50-44, 50-43.

In the co-main event, undefeated heavyweight phenom Shane Carwin continued his domination of the UFC heavyweight roster by running through Frank Mir and earning the interim heavyweight championship. Carwin shot in on Mir and drove him to the fence, off of the opening exchange, where he landed strong knees and punches.

After a separation by the referee, Carwin pinned Mir back to the fence, where he landed a flurry of hooks and uppercuts, which dropped Mir. Carwin took his back and pounded him unconscious, ending the fight at 3:48 into the first round. Carwin outstriked Mir 68-3 in the contest and won “Knockout of the Night” honors.

New Jersey native and crowd favorite Kurt Pellegrino earned “Submission of the Night” honors by beating second-degree BJJ black belt Fabricio Camoes at his own game. Pellegrino defended the takedown successfully and outstriked the Brazilian 59-15 in the bout. He locked in a rear-naked choke and got the tap from Camoes at 4:20 into the second round.

Carwin vs. Mir

After a failed CT scan due to a brain irregularity, just 2 days prior to the event, Thiago Alves was forced out of a scheduled rematch with Jon Fitch. Ben Saunder’s match with Jake Ellenberger was scratched from the card and Saunders was rescheduled to face Fitch in the second main card fight.

Fitch wanted nothing to do with the standup of the muay thai expert, and rather worked to take down Saunders from the clinch through most of the fight. Fitch took Saunders down several times, controlled the fight, and landed some good ground-and-pound in the final two minutes. After three rounds, all three judges scored the bout 30-27 in favor of Fitch.

In the first match of the evening New Jersey native Jim Miller faced Mark Bocek in a back and forth battle. Bocek continuously went for the takedown and succeeded in getting the fight to the ground four times. However, Miller landed effective strikes from his back and attempted submissions, including a guillotine and then a kimura, which almost ended the fight in the first round.

Bocek controlled the second round and even mounted Miller. The fighters exchanged on the feet for most of the third round and Miller ended the fight by taking Bocek’s back. Miller outstriked Bocek 53-36 and won a close unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the contest 29-28.

Miller vs. Bocek

A light-heavyweight bout between Rodney Wallace and Jared Hamman earned “Fight of the Night” honors. Hamman won the fight via unanimous decision and it was featured last on the pay-per-view broadcast. All fighters earning bonus honors received $65,000.

Rousimar Palhares received a disciplinary suspension of 90 days after winning a preliminary card fight against Tomasz Drwal. Palhares ended the fight 0:45 into the first round via heel hook, but failed to release the submission until being forced off of Drwal by the referee.

UFC 111 marked the first time that a UFC pay-per-view was aired live in HD on the big screen. The event was available in 300 select movie theaters across the country. Two preliminary fights were broadcast live on Spike and drew 1.2 million viewers, according to MMApayout.com

Overall, the Prudential Center had an attendance of 17,000 and a total gate of $4 million. The next UFC event, Ultimate Fight Night 21, will feature a main event between Kenny Florian and UFC newcomer Takanori Gomi. The event will be held at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., and will air live on Spike Wednesday, March 31, at 8 p.m. EST. The event will be followed by the premier of the eleventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” on Spike at 10 p.m. EST.

UFC 111 – Spike TV Prelim Fights

UFC 111 PPV Pt. 1

UFC 111 PPV Pt. 2

Photo Courtesy of Dave Mandel of Sherdog.com

Broomfield, Colo. was the very first home of UFC on Versus, as the series capped off an incredible event of knockouts, long bouts and, of course, bone-crunching submissions.

As expected, the headliner, Vera vs. Jones was an interesting one, in which the young light heavyweight, Jon Jones took care of the experienced kickboxer, Brandon Vera within the first round. From the start, Jones took control with a leg-trip takedown, which was followed by some heavy punches. Vera’s efforts to keep Jones away were futile, as Jones succeeded in another takedown.

While Jones was throwing elbows in Vera’s guard, Vera hit an illegal upkick to the jaw, which lost him a point. That point wouldn’t matter; however, as Jones delivered a vicious elbow to Vera, and ended that match via TKO with punches at 3:19 in the first round. Jones was awarded one of three Knockouts of the Night, and an extra $50,000. Jones still has never been technically beaten, as he was disqualified in his last fight for an illegal elbow shot.

The other two Knockouts of the Night were given to Junior dos Santos in his defeat over Gabriel Gonzaga at 3:53 of Round 1, and to a Preliminary Card matchup between United States fighter John Howard, who took on fellow American Daniel Roberts in welterweight action. The fight was originally scheduled to be Howard vs. Anthony Johnson. Johnson could not compete due to a training injury.

Roberts took Howard on in his UFC debut, but his inexperience proved to be his weakness, as Howard threw the knockout punch at 2:01 of the first round. This fight was Roberts’ first recorded MMA loss, putting him at 9-1. Howard moves on to a 4-0 UFC record, and a 14-4 MMA record.

Clay Guida, Courtesy of MMAWeekly

Another Preliminary Card matchup that won honors was Clay Guida (26-11) vs. Shannon Gugerty (12-5), which won Submission of the Night. This puts Gugerty at a small slump since his submission loss to Terry Etim at UFC 105. Lightweights Gugerty and Guida lasted two rounds before Guida locked on an arm-triangle choke at 3:40 and got the tap from Gugerty.

The Fight of the Night honor was not rewarded at this event.

The final two Main Card bouts were between Italian middleweight Alessio Sakara (8-1) and American James Irvin (14-6), and France heavyweight Cheick Kongo (22-6) and American Paul Buentello (27-11).

A sloppy beginning led to a sloppy end for Irvin, as Sakara took advantage of the new middleweight’s mistakes. After what appeared to be a shot to the eye, the fight was paused to allow Irvin to recover. After a few minutes of review, it was determined that the punch involved no poking, and Irvin could not continue. Sakara was named victorious due to TKO at 3:01 of the first round.

Kongo-Buentello was quite the different style matchup, as it went three rounds until a victor was named. In the first round, not a lot of damage was done to either fighter, although Kongo had much of the control. After what looked to be a pinky injury to Buentello, the fight is paused and then resumes, allowing Kongo to take out his frustrations with a hard takedown and furious punches. Kongo wins the first round.

Much of the same in the second round, as Buentello got destroyed in all facets of the game. Finally, Kongo gets the tap from Buentello in the third round (1:16) after a quick takedown, headlock and elbows to the knee.

Overall, the 1st Bank Center had an attendance of 6,443 and a total gate of $568,125. The next UFC event will be headlined by Georges St. Pierre and Dan Hardy at UFC 111 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. That will be this Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10:00 p.m., eastern time on Pay-Per-View.

Rising star Cain Velasquez defeated the legendary Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in dominating fashion in the main event of UFC 110 on Saturday to secure a spot as a top contender for the UFC heavyweight title.

Velasquez v. Nogueira

The two ground specialists exchanged in a brief standup battle in the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.  Velasquez landed a combo, which sent Nogueira to the canvas and he quickly followed up with vicious ground and pound that left Nogueria unconscious.  Referee Herb Dean called for a knockout stoppage, putting an end to the contest at 2:20 in the first round.

“We’ll see what happens with Mir and Carwin – see who wins that – and if the guys come out unscathed, they’ll fight for the title,” said UFC president Dana White at the post-fight press conference.  ”If not, then Cain Velasquez will get that spot.”

Velasquez’s performance earned him “Knockout of the Night” honors along with a $50,000 bonus.

The co-main event featured another legendary brazilian fighter and Pride FC champion in Wanderlei Silva, who squared off against Michael Bisping.  The contest saw both fighters standing and exchanging for the majority of the fight.

Bisping took Silva down several times in the first and second rounds, but was unable to keep him down once on the ground.  Silva caught him in a tight arm-in guillotine off of a Bisping takedown attempt with about 15 seconds left in the second round, but was unable to force a tap.

Silva v. Bisping

Bisping landed two fouls which briefly stopped the action in the middle of the third round: first a kick to the cup of Silva and then a finger to the eye.  Silva took the offensive, coming out swinging for the fences in the last two minutes of the fight.  Silva rushed Bisping and landed a right hook to drop him just before the final bell.

Silva was awarded a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the contest 29-28 in his favor.

Bisping disagreed with the official decision. “It’s a close fight, but personally, I thought I won rounds one and two,” he said during the post-fight conference.  He also stated that he would love a rematch with Silva in the future.

Australian native George Sotiropoulos defeated Joe Stevenson by unanimous decision in a thrilling and extremely technical match.  Sotiropoulos controlled the fight on the feet, dropping Stevenson in the second and put him in several dangerous situations on the ground utilizing his superior submission game.

All three judges scored the contest 30-27 in a dominant victory for Sotiropoulos.  The match was named the “Fight of the Night” and earned both fighters a $50,000 bonus.

The Ultimate Fighter season eight winner Ryan Bader took down and controlled Keith Jardine on the ground in the first round of the second main-card fight.  Jardine controlled the second round with strong punches and leg kicks and was able to stuff the takedown attempts of Bader.

Bader landed a right hand that hurt Jardine in the third and quickly followed up with a flying knee to the body and a left hook, which dropped Jardine to the canvas.  Referee Josh Rosenthal called for a knockout stoppage, putting an end to the fight at 2:10 of the third round.

Cro Cop v. Perosh

In the first main card fight Croatian legend and Pride FC champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic faced overmatched Australian native Anthony Perosh.  Cro Cop was originally scheduled to face former IFL champion Ben Rothwell who was forced to withdraw just days before the event due to illness.  Perosh took the fight on two days notice.

Cro Cop controlled the fight, landing devastating strikes in the standup and denying Perosh’s numerous takedown attempts.  Perosh continually went for the takedown only to end up in Cro Cops sprawl and to receive brutal ground and pound.

Cro Cop landed a powerful elbow from inside the guard, opening up a cut above Perosh’s eye with about a minute left in the second round.  Cro Cop was awarded a TKO (cut) victory at the end of the second round after a dominant performance.

The “Submission of the Night” along with a $50,000 bonus was awarded to Chris Lytle who countered a takedown from Brian Foster to lock in a kneebar, putting an end to the preliminary card bout at 1:41 of the first round.

UFC 110 marked the organizations first trip to Australia and proved extremely successful for the UFC.  The event saw the second-fastest ticket sell-out in the 16-year history of the UFC.  Dana White announced his intentions to return, to Melbourne, Australia for an event in 2011, during the post-fight press conference.

UFC 110 – FULL