UFC Live on Versus 6 Results & Photos

BY JOSE SANCHEZ, PHOTOS BY JOHN C. ZIELINSKI

Although initial sales were lack luster even if touted as the first live UFC title fight on free television, both sides of the aisle came together to forget budget battles and deficits and the bad economy during UFC Live 6 in Washington, DC, on October 1, at the Verizon Center.

By the time champion Dominick Cruz and Demetrious Johnson sauntered into the cage for Saturday’s headline bantamweight title fight, the house was full. With fancy footwork, Cruz dominated Demetrious Johnson despite Johnson’s ability to set the pace during the five rounds. Cruising to a unanimous decision, Cruz remained unbeaten at 135 and a 10-fight winning streak as he crossed Mighty Mouse. Johnson, however, showed that it takes two to tango and forced Cruz to adapt throughout the bout.

In the co-featured fight of the night and the most lopsided height disparity in UFC history, the heavyweight division’s shortest fighter, Pat Barry, took on its tallest, Stefan Struve, who tapped uni-Barry with a triangle choke at 3:22 of Round 2. Struve won Submission of the Night. “I was eventually able to get him, and once I locked it in I wasn’t letting it go. When he slammed me, I was able to put my arm down to catch myself and sink the submission in deeper,” Struve told Joe Rogan after the fight. Each Fight-Night award winner received $65,000, which tied the record for largest Fight Night award ever given after a cable television event UFC Live 5 last August in Milwaukee.

The long-awaited brutal three-round rematch pitted Mac Danzig against Matt Wiman, who won Fight of the Night award. Danzig, Season 6 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter”, returned to the cage for the first time since a December Knockout of the Night win over Joe Stevenson in Montreal. He was scheduled to face Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 131, but pulled out with an injury. After some great grappling between the two, Wiman won by unanimous decision from all three judges, 29-28.

Anthony Johnson garnered Knock Out of the Night finishing Charlie Brenneman at 2:49 of Round 1, with a high kick to the face. Referee Mario Yamasaki stepped in to stop the fight as Brenneman sat up. The stoppage was one two controversial calls from the Yamasaki Brothers. The evening’s other questionable stoppage became the talk of the town after three-time NCAA All-American Shane Roller lost due to arm bar submission to T.J. Grant, who made his UFC lightweight debut after many bouts as a welterweight. Referee Fernando Yamasaki stopped the fight without seeing Roller tap.

After a two-year break from fighting because of a broken elbow and several surgeries, district favorite and native Mike “The Hulk” Easton, who hails from another part of DC across the river in Anacostia, made his winning UFC debut on the undercard. Product of Master Lloyd Irving – jiu-jitsu black belt and world-renowned martial arts coach (and real estate mogul), 27-year old Easton bludgeoned Byron Bloodworth by TKO (referee stoppage) at 4:52 of Round 2 with four consecutive left-hand blows to newcomer Bloodworth’s head.

Yves Edwards made his octagon return with a TKO victory over Rafaello Oliveira, and Josh Neerdefeated Keith Wisniewski by TKO in the second round as well. In this historic first UFC event in DC, the Brothers Yamasaki of Rockville, Maryland, refereed together for the first time on the same night!

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