from sherdog.com:
Diego Sanchez debuted at 155 pounds with a win Saturday at the O2 in London.
The former welterweight contender looked good as a lightweight en route to earning a unanimous decision over Joe Stevenson in the UFC 95 main event.
The fight played out mostly on the feet, where Sanchez, 27, had the better, more versatile attack. He punched in combinations, going upstairs and down, and also mixed in kicks and knees. Stevenson landed some strikes as well, but he generally seemed a step behind.
Sanchez's best combination came in the first. Out of his southpaw stance, he threw a left to the body and followed with a right uppercut. Stevenson was hurt but recovered quickly.
In the second round, Stevenson, 26, of Victorville, Calif., tried to wrap up a guillotine, but Sanchez slammed him and escaped. The third period was close but couldn't have made up the difference for Stevenson even if he had a slight edge.
The final tallies were 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28. Afterward, Sanchez said he'd stay at 155 for the time being.
"I made the weigh-cut fine," he said. "I weighed 172 today -- that's what I fought welterweight at, was 172. It's permanent for now. When I'm in my 30s, maybe I'll go up."
In the welterweight opener, Paulo Thiago stunned Octagon veteran Josh Koscheck with punches for a TKO at 3:29 of the first round.
The bout was Thiago's first in the UFC. A 28-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, he looked shaky on his feet but made up for it. Koscheck clocked him with an overhand right early and stalked him around the cage. When Koscheck stepped in with a jab midway through the period, though, Thiago countered with a right uppercut and a left hook. Koscheck dropped, and referee Marc Goddard stopped the fight.
Nate Marquardt moved a step closer to another middleweight title shot by stopping Wilson Gouveia at 3:10 of the third round.
Marquardt, 29, fighting out of Denver, mixed kicks to Gouveia's legs with punches to his body early. Gouveia flurried at times, but the way he plodded forward left him open to takedowns and right hands. Those rights kept prompting Gouveia to duck -- a mistake Marquardt capitalized on again and again with knees.
The end came after Marquardt connected with a straight right and a jumping knee. Gouveia reeled back into the cage, and Marquardt cut loose on him with punches, kicks, knees and a spinning backfist. Finally the abuse sat Gouveia down, and the bout was called.
Marquardt said his performance "definitely" warranted a fight with Anderson Silva, who stopped him in the first round when they met in July 2007.
"It's not going to be a rematch because the Nate you saw tonight is not the Nate that fought for the title," Marquardt said.
Demian Maia also staked his claim for a title shot by scoring his fifth submission victory in as many UFC bouts. He tapped Chael Sonnen with a triangle choke 2:37 into the first round of their middleweight bout.
Sonnen had stifled Maia's bottom game early. After standing up, however, Maia threw the former U.S. Olympic Greco team alternate with a lateral drop and quickly moved into a triangle mount on the ground. Maia, 31, of Sao Paul, Brazil, then rolled to his back and locked up the choke for the win.
"I think now I deserve the title shot," Maia said. "That's what I want to do: I want to show jiu-jitsu to the world and show the people that you can win the title without hurting your opponent."
Nottingham, England's Dan Hardy delivered a quick knockout for the U.K. fans. Rory Markham, 26, from the Miletich camp in Bettendorf, Iowa, tried to take off Hardy's head with an overhand right.
The punch left Markham wide-open to a counter, and Hardy didn't hesitate to launch a left hook from his hip that floored him. Referee Kevin Mulhall stopped the bout at 1:09 after some additional strikes on the ground.
The win improved Hardy to 21-6 with one no contest. In defeat, Markham fell to 16-5.
The undercard:
Junior dos Santos was no one-hit wonder.
In his first appearance since he stunned the world-ranked Fabricio Werdum four months ago, dos Santos spoiled the Octagon debut of Stefan Struve with a first-round technical knockout at UFC 95 "Sanchez vs. Stevenson" on Saturday at the O2 Arena in London. The end came 53 seconds into the opening frame in what amounted to little more than a light workout for the Brazilian.
The 25-year-old dos Santos (8-1) wobbled the 6-foot-11 Dutchman with a left hand and then put him down with a right. Referee Dan Miragliotta was quick to intervene, and though Struve (16-3) protested, he was clearly rocked by the blows. The 21-year-old Cage Gladiators heavyweight champion had won five in a row, all by submission, but his momentum grinded to a halt when dos Santos' fists found their mark.
A training partner of former Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight titleholder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, dos Santos will carry a three-fight winning streak into his next match.
In other preliminary action, England's own Terry Etim posted his second win in as many fights, as he stopped Palace Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Brian Cobb on second-round strikes. The defeat snapped Cobb's nine-fight winning streak.
Etim (12-2), a one-time Cage Gladiators champion, had the arena in his corner and appeared to capture a competitive first round, as he attacked the former collegiate wrestler with low kicks. Cobb (15-5) scored with takedowns but failed to capitalize, as Etim avoided damage on the ground.
The 23-year-old Englishman roared out of the gate in round two and dropped Cobb with a head kick. Ten seconds into the period, the fight was over, much to the delight of the pro-Etim crowd.
Mike Ciesnolevicz had a quick Octagon debut.Meanwhile, Evan Dunham staked his claim to UFC soil with an emphatic technical knockout victory against Sweden's Per Eklund.
Rocked by an early right hand, Dunham recovered, re-established himself standing and landed a devastating left hook that dazed and floored his experienced opponent. Based out of Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, the unbeaten Dunham (8-0) buried Eklund with ground strikes, forcing the stoppage 2:13 into the opening frame.
Dunham has finished his past six opponents. None of the wins were more significant than his TKO against Eklund (14-4-1), an accomplished European fighter who cut his teeth inside the Shooto, M-1 and Bodog-Fight circuits.
In a heavyweight duel between two UFC newcomers, International Fight League veteran Mike Ciesnolevicz made a memorable first impression, as he submitted the 6-foot-6, 263-pound Neil Grove with a first-round heel hook.
The 29-year-old Ciesnolevicz (17-3, 1 NC), the latest Miletich Fighting Systems student to reach the UFC, shot for an early takedown, and while his efforts were initially turned away, he managed to get the much bigger man on the ground. Once there, he had Grove's number.
After Grove (7-2) took top position, Ciesnolevicz went to work on his legs and coaxed the tapout from the Ultimate Challenge UK heavyweight champion 1:03 into round one. He has rattled off four consecutive victories.
Finally, Paul Kelly wrecked Troy Mandaloniz in a lopsided welterweight affair.
Based out of the same Wolfslair Academy that produced middleweight contender Michael Bisping, Kelly (8-1) battered the overmatched Mandaloniz from top position. He opened cuts above both of the Hawaiian's eyes with punches and elbows, and by the time the fight was over, Mandaloniz (3-2) was a mess. Judges awarded Kelly a unanimous decision by scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-28.
The 24-year-old Kelly rebounded nicely from his first professional defeat and reaffirmed his standing as a prospect worth watching in the UFC's meat grinder of a welterweight division.
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