It was a comeback worth noting, as Brock Lesnar returned with resilience and a victory gained for the former two-time NCAA athlete. Lesnar defied majority of odds making Shane Carwin tap out in the second round via an arm-triangle choke.

It wasn’t done with ease though. The first round in fact saw Brock defending himself from Shane Carwin’s flurry of punches, just after rocking Lesnar with a big uppercut. It really didn’t seem to go well for the champion, but despite constant forearms, punches, and even a knee a to the chin which sent Lesnar down, Carwin could not finish it and was for the first time experiencing what round 2 was like. Which kinda saw him still breathing hard, looking fatigued from his insane fury of punches.
From that point, Brock could capitalise, he looked in fact a more better fighter than usual, even though again, it was through taking Carwin to the ground and launch his hippo-weight upon him, Lesnar would then land a couple of punches to the head and move into half guard, to then mount, to then locking on the arm-triangle choke. And though Shane Carwin moved it back to side control and looked in a safe position, Lesnar proved too much strength for the gassed out wrestler, thus forcing him to tap.
With that, Brock Lesnars MMA record moves up 5-1, while Shane Carwin suffers his first loss in the UFC, with his record now 12-1.

It was a good and very impressive night as well for Chris Leben, who in just 14 days after his last fight against Aaron Simpson, picked up another victory against Yoshihiro Akiyama. I guess Chris resisted the charm and sway of Sexyama himself…
First round saw effective movements happening from Akiyama, using Judo throws and then Judoka skills on ground, attempting an armbar at one point just after Leben tried one himself. He then near enough tried landing a triangle but both mean looked very slick so far in defending themselves. Round 2 saw a great feast of shots with both fighters landing clean hits to their chin. It seemed Leben was hurt the most from it and took to the ground, leaving Akiyama believing he could finish this off via TKO. Despite both hands down and looking out of it for awhile, Leben was more looking good as he’s taking. Eventually, Chris got to his feet, and whilst taking shots from Akiyama, Chris Leben got a couple of hard hits his own at the end of the round which left Akiyama hurt.
With both fighters fatigued, third round had to see off a winner, both fighters went for it and took it to the ground with Akiyama first attempting a submission, only for Leben to then punch his way out and attempt an armbar, which led a tense moment for the Judoka to escape from after. Both men eventually having a little scrap on the ground, but Leben was smart in his tactics and defense, trapping Akiyama’s leg to keep it in close guard, and clearly making himself the fresher fighter. Eventually Chris Leben goes for broke with one minute remaining, landing elbows before changing positions, leaving the black belt no choice but to tap out with 20 seconds left on the clock.
With this impressive victory, Chris Leben is now 21-6, Yoshihiro Akiyama is now 13-2-0, 2 NC.

Krzysztof Soszynski against Stephan Bonnar was considered an instant classic match-up. It was a must-win fighter for the season 1 TUF fighter Stephen after his last three fights had been all losses, including one again the Polish experiment himself (Soszynski) in UFC 110, with the fight ending due to cuts on Stephen. Instantly the fight felt like where it left off the last time they met. Soszynski unloaded with both fists to the face, knocking Bonnar off balance and giving Soszynski the slight edge. Managing to get back to his senses, Bonnar himself then unleashed a fury of punches of his own, also a hard knee and eventually a takedown on the Polish experiment. The American Psycho (Bonnar) kept the pressure on, the Soszynski also landing some punches, one which gave a cut above the left eye of Bonnars’.
It didn’t stop Stephen this time though, and round 2 started with him adding more pressure and landing a hard right hand. With a right knee to the head, Bonnar drops Soszynski to the mat and kept in control a chance to be victory via TKO. Eventually, despite the Polish experiment defending well, Bonnar was having none of it, moving to the back and landing some left hand punches, which left the referee Mario Yamasaki no choice but to halt the bout.
Bonnar gained the victory, and the humour (“I like winning ugly, and boy do I look ugly right now”) and his record is now 15-7. Krzysztof Soszynski is now 20-11-1.

In the other fights, Chris Lytle against Matt Brown ended with Brown now losing to Lytle 3 times, after submitting from a hybrid triangle/armbar maneuver in the second round. The fight started with Brown gunning in and throwing some kicks to the body whilst Lytle threw a counter punch of his own. Brown was in fact in more control as he almost caught his opponent in a finishing choke once the fight took to the ground. The near-submission served to wake up Lytle, who began landing with more effective blows once he rose from the canvas.
Round 2 saw Brown and Lytle traded punches for much of the opening minute of round two, pausing only when Chris “Lights Out” Lytle took the bout to the mat. There, Lytle closed out matters with a hybrid triangle/armbar, and got the winning result, forcing Brown to tap out at 2:02 of the second round.
With the win, Lytle is now 39-17-4; Brown falls to 13-9.

Another fight, another win, and another statement for lightweight contender George Sotiropoulos, who followed up his February victory over Joe Stevenson with an equally impressive three round unanimous decision over Kurt Pellegrino in the main card opener.

Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28 for Sotiropoulos.

The fighters met at the center of the Octagon and immediately began throwing punches at the bell, with Soitropoulos clearly landing the crisper blows. 1:20 into the bout, he dropped Pellegrino with a left hand and moved in for the kill, but Pellegrino cleared his head and got back to his feet. The Australian standout continued to dictate the action for the next minute, but his aggressive attack allowed Pellegrino to score a brief takedown. Immediately springing back up, Sotiropoulos began measuring his attack, which suited Pellegrino fine as he was able to get in more counters. The bout soon went back to the mat, and Sotriopoulos looked to lock in a submission. Pellegrino fought loose and ended the round in his opponent’s guard.

After some brief standup to begin the second frame, Sotiropoulos got the single leg takedown and again tried to work his submission game. Pellegrino stayed active from the bottom position, but Sotiropoulos did the same, delivering punches and elbows while controlling the location of the bout, whether it was on the mat or against the fence. With less than 40 seconds left, Pellegrino finally broke free, but wasn’t able to turn the tide before the bell.

After two minutes of striking kicked off the final round, Pellegrino appeared to play possum as he got Sotiropoulos to move in, leaving him susceptible to the takedown. Pellegrino used the opportunity to land ground strikes and try to find an opening to turn things around, but Sotiropoulos was cool from the bottom position as he tried to catch Pellegrino, and after a stalemate, the two fighters rose with less than a minute left, and though the New Jersey native dropped Sotiropoulos with a right knee to the head just before the bell, there would be no miracle finish in this one, as Sotiropoulos remained unbeaten in the Octagon.

With the win, Sotiropoulos improves to 13-2; Pellegrino falls to 21-5.