Frankie Edgar defended his UFC lightweight title on Saturday night in Boston by defeating B.J. Penn via unanimous decision for the second straight fight. Edgar scored takedowns early and often on Penn who fought to get the fight back to a standing position and was met with several peppering punches from the fast champion. Edgar was able to stick-and-move around Penn and escape submission attempts in the later rounds to complete another dominant performance.
Randy “The Natural” Couture gave heavyweight boxing champ James Toney no time to throw punches and quickly took him to the mat. Couture controlled Toney on the mat, landing several punches before securing an arm-triangle choke to force the submission. Couture will now return to the UFC 205 lbs. division while Toney’s MMA future is unclear.
Gray Maynard earned a lightweight championship shot by soundly defeating Kenny Florian in a 3 round decision. Maynard utilized his wrestling ability to keep Florian on the ground and pelt him with punches from the top.
Nate Diaz scored an impressive win after beating up Marcus Davis and choking him out in the third round.Davis’ eye was cut in the second round and valiantly fought through the second and most of the third while his face continued to swell. Demian Maia demonstrated his incredible Brazilian-jiu-jitsu skills to control his opponent on the mat and land some ground and pound while looking for submissions. Maia was unable to secure anything to finish the fight but took the unanimous decision win.
Dana White announced $60, 000 bonuses to Joe Lauzon for submission of the night and fight of the night to Nate Diaz and Marcus Davis. No knockout of the night bonus was awarded due to no fights ending via knockout. Dana White announced former NBA executive Mark Fisher as the new executive vice-president of UFC Asia. Fisher was born in Concord, Massachusetts and worked with the NBA for 12 years, helping with the basketball league’s growth in China.
Main Card Results
Frankie Edgar def. B.J. Penn via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to retain UFC lightweight championship
Randy Couture def. James Toney via submission (arm-triangle choke) after 3:19 in Round 1
Demian Maia def. Mario Miranda via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Gray Maynard def. Kenny Florian (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Nate Diaz def. Marcus Davis via technical-submission (guillotine choke) after 4:02 in Round 3
Preliminary Card Results
Joe Lauzon def. Gabe Ruediger via submission (arm-bar) after 2:01 in Round 1
Nik Lentz def. Andre Winner via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Dan Miller def. John Salter via submission (anaconda choke) after 1:53 in Round 2
Greg Soto def. Nick Osipczak via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Mike Pierce def. Amilcar Alves via submission (cross-body arm-bar) after 3:11 in Round 3
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