Knockouts, submissions and surprises at UFC

Cheick Kongo's knockout win was one of the big suprises of the night. Photo: Josh Hedges.

This Sunday’s UFC on Versus show in Pennsylvania served up plenty of action and a few surprises. Not even Nate Marquardt’s last minute withdrawal due to failed medical exams that cost him his job set the show back.

In the main event, Cheick Kongo pulled a surprise knockout on Patrick Berry. Patrick came close to ending the action earlier with two knockdowns, but Kongo kept alive. Swimming against the tide, he landed the fight-ending strike that dropped his victim to the canvas unconscious in the first round.

Local fighter Charlie Brenneman filled in for Marquardt at the last minute against Rick Story and snapped the favorite’s six-fight winning streak. Brenneman landed solid takedowns throughout the three rounds and connected with solid strikes. Story, who in his last fight beat Thiago Pitbull, tried to launch a comeback in the third round, but he was unable to get enough pressure behind an inverted triangle and ended up losing.

Matt Brown was coming off three losses and another would surely cost him his job. However, he saw the better of the action against John Howard, showing better striking and Jiu-Jitsu over three rounds, winning the unanimous decision.

Now Matt Mitrione remains unbeaten in his five-fight career. His knockout over Christian Morecraft came in the second round without much difficult. In the prelims, Tyson Griffin was coming off three back-to-back losses but managed to pull out a unanimous decision win over Manny Gamburyan.

Also on the undercard, Charles do Bronx put the brakes on Nik Lentz’s 14-fight win streak. However, just before finishing with a rear-naked choke, Charles landed an illegal knee to Lentz’s face. That being the case, it could be that the Athletic Commission overturns the Jiu-Jitsu brown belt’s win.

Complete results:

Cheick Kongo defeated Patrick Barry via KO at 2:39 min of R1;
Charlie Brenneman defeated Rick Story via unanimous decision;
Matt Brown defeated John Howard via unanimous decision;
Matt Mitrione defeated Christian Morecraft via KO at 4:28 min of R2;
Tyson Griffin defeated Manny Gamburyan via unanimous decision;

Javier Vazquez defeated Joe Stevenson via unanimous decision;
Joe Lauzon finalizou Curt Warburton via kimura at 1:58 min of R1;
Rich Attonito defeated Daniel Roberts via unanimous decision;
Charles do Bronx Oliveira submitted Nik Lentz via rear-naked choke at 1:48 min of R2;
Ricardo Lamas defeated Matt Grice via TKO at 4:41 min of R1;
Michael Johnson defeated Edward Faaloloto TKO at 4:42 min of R1.