UFC Live: Beat-up Sanchez edges Kampmann

THE CANADIAN PRESS

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Welterweight Diego (The Dream) Sanchez looked the loser but emerged the winner by decision over Martin (The Hitman) Kampmann in a bloody main event of a UFC Live card Thursday night.

Both fighters were cut and Sanchez’s face was a mask of blood by the time the mixed martial arts fight ended. The judges scored it 29-28 for Sanchez, leaving Kampmann to walk away in disgust.

“I thought I won the fight,” Kampmann said to cheers from the crowds.

“Look at his face. I mean I got a little cut too. But I definitely feel I won the fight. He was throwing a lot of flurries but most of it wasn’t landing. I feel I was landing way more of the cleaner shots.”

Both of Sanchez’s eyes were almost closed, framed by cuts, and there was an ugly swelling under his left eye.

Sanchez (25-4) walked to the cage at the KFC Yum! Center with a scowl to the sounds of “La Bamba.” He looked more doughy than scary, however, next to the sleek, technical Kampmann (17-5).

And the Las Vegas-based Dane dropped him with a short right two minutes into the fight. Soon Sanchez was bleeding from the mouth, his face showing the effects of Kampmann’s punches and knees.

Sanchez, whose takedown attempts proved fruitless, was a bloody mess by the end of the first round.

Sanchez was unable to take Kampmann down in the second but managed to connect several times in a barrage of blows later in the round, hurting Kampmann and cutting him open in several places around the right eye.

As has happened in the past, Kampmann got himself in trouble when he allowed the fight to turn into a slugfest at the fence.

In the third, Kampmann had success counter-punching as Sanchez rushed him. Sanchez finally succeeded on a takedown midway through the round, only to see Kampmann get up almost immediately.

Kampmann appeared to hurt his right hand late in the fight, shaking it several times.

“I think I broke my hand,” he said.

Kampmann was coming off a loss to welterweight contender Jake Shields while Sanchez, who has changed his nickname from The Nightmare to The Dream, had rallied from two straight losses with a decision over Paulo Thiago.

In the co main-event, middleweight Mark (The Filipino Wrecking Machine) Munoz made short work of C.B. (The Doberman) Dollaway.

Dollaway (12-4) took Munoz down early but, when the fight returned to the feet, Munoz (10-2) cracked him with a big right and then put him down with an uppercut. Referee Mario Yamasaki stepped in after just 54 seconds.

Dollaway, who had won his last three fights, protested the stoppage but he appeared to be defenceless on his back as Munoz hit him twice with hammer-fists.

Earlier, middleweight Chris (The All-American) Weidman used his wrestling skills to win his UFC debut via unanimous 30-27 decision over Italian veteran Alessio (Legionarius) Sakara.

Sakara (19-8 with one no contest) resisted Weidman’s takedown attempts in the first round and attacked with combinations and kicks.

But it got ugly early in the second when Weidman (5-0) got him down and opened up a gash over the eye with elbow strikes. Sakara, his face covered with blood, got up and was dumped again but the Italian finished the round hammering away at Weidman’s body.

Weidman, a former two-time all-American wrestler who accepted the fight on two weeks notice, took Sakara down in the third and soon the tattooed Italian was gushing blood again. Sakara, a former pro boxer, had won his last three UFC fights.

Former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles choked out Damacio (The Angel of Death) Page at 3:30 of the first round, putting him to sleep.

Bowles (9-1) survived Page’s early onslaught, then knocked him down and finished him with a guillotine choke. Bowles also submitted Page (12-6) via guillotine when they fought in the WEC in August 2008.

It was Bowles’ first fight since losing his title to Dominick Cruz on a doctor’s stoppage (broken hand) last March.

French light-heavyweight Cyrille (The Snake) Diabate (18-7-3) used his Muay Thai superiority to batter former WEC champion Steve (The Robot) Cantwell en route to a unanimous 30-27, 30-25, 30-26 decision.

The six-foot-six Diabate (18-17-3) had four inches in height and six inches in reach on Cantwell and he used that advantage early to pepper Cantwell (7-4) with kicks and punches.

Cantwell, who needed to get the fight to the ground, did so just once in the first round and he was exhausted, battered and his face busted up by the time the second ended. Cantwell had been sidelined by injury since September 2009.

Diabate blamed his ability to finish Cantwell on poor cardio caused by too much travel with his Snake fight team.

Former WEC lightweight Danny (Last Call) Castillo (11-3) rode a strong third round to win a unanimous 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 decision over veteran Joe (Daddy) Stevenson(36-13).

Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac brutally stopped Todd (Bulldog) Brown at 5:00 of the first round.

Pokrajac (23-8) softened Brown up with a head kick then dropped him with a right and then a knee to the head just before the bell. Brown (15-3 with one no contest) could not continue.

Pokrajac then used his post-fight interview to politely request a matchup with former champion Tito (The Huntington Beach Bad Boy) Ortiz.

Lightweight Shane Roller survived a rough first round to knock out Thiago Tavares with a big right that sent him flying backwards at 1:28 of the second.

“Hello UFC,” said Roller, a former WEC fighter.

Tavares (19-4-1) almost put Roller (10-3) away in the first round at the fence and had dominated the fight up until Roller tagged him