UFC Fight Night 11 from the Armchair
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by JB82
There was a certain theme to the 11th installment of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's Fight Night: many of the competitors participated in past seasons of SpikeTV's Ultimate Fighter series, in which the winner receives a one-year guaranteed contract in the UFC. All this was tied into the premiere of the sixth UF series later on Wednesday night. On to the four matches of the evening:
Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell
Two middleweight division rivals, the first of whom won the fourth Ultimate Fighter competition, squared off in the first match of the night. While their first match in August 2005 ended in rather controversial fashion, this return match did not. Quarry, who was on the comeback trail after surgery to treat compressed discs in his spinal cord, leveled Sell (ten years his junior) with a knockout punch 44 seconds into the final round.
Nate Diaz vs. Junior Assunção
The second-most eventful bout of the evening pitted two lightweights: the most recent winner of the Ultimate Fighter, and a young Brazilian, Junior Assunção. After the match got off to a fast star, both men got into and out of submissions. Diaz finally got the upper hand, tapping out Assunção in the final minute of the first round.
Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin
The bad boy of the first-ever Ultimate Fighter and Martin, who came in with an 18-2 record, got into an intense bout which was in fits and starts early, but gradually increased as both took to the ground. Leben was given a one-point penalty for hanging on to the chain-link fence which seals off the Octagon in the first round, but it didn't matter one iota. Leben knocked out Martin with just over a minute to go in the final round, and put himself in the mix for the UFC Middleweight Championship. However, don't look for him at UFC 77 next month in Cincinnati. This match was as close to "going the distance" as all of the four matches got, BTW.
THE MAIN EVENT
Kenny Florian vs. Din Thomas
Spencer Fisher, who was last seen three months ago, was originally slated to face Thomas, but had to pull out due to a knee injury. So, the finalist in the first UF, Kenny Florian, took Fisher's spot. In the end, it was Thomas who suffered a knee injury as he was taken down and eventually submitted 20 seconds into the first round.
