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T.J. Grant and Ryan Bader shine at UFC on Fox 6: preliminary card results

CHICAGO -- The UFC on Fox 6 preliminary card featured a first-round knockout, a first-round submission, and a decision that will be discussed for a long time.

T.J. Grant used elbows early in the bout to batter Matt Wiman's face, and then used them to finish the fight. From the standing position, Grant threw elbow after elbow to send Wiman to the canvas. He finished with a punch or two in a knockout so vicious that it left blood droplets on the camera. The bout was stopped at 4:51 in the first round.

Clay Guida took the decision in front of a raucous home crowd, but it was hardly clear cut. Hioki had much better striking in the first round, though Guida pulled out a takedown late. In the second, Guida had a big slam and controlled him for the majority of the round. Hioki tried for submissions, but wasn't close to submitting Guida. The third round followed the same script.

One judge saw the fight 29-28 for Hioki, but the other two saw it for Guida, 30-27 and 29-28. Guida grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and had a large backing at the United Center.

Ryan Bader rebounded from his loss to Lyoto Machida with a quick win over Vladimir Matyushenko. He caught Matyushenko in a guillotine choke in just 0:50, giving him the fastest submission in the history of the UFC light heavyweight division. This win puts Bader back in the 'W' column after getting knocked out by Machida in August.

Afterwards, Bader asked for a fight that could put him back near the top of his division.

“I’ve worked my way to being very close to getting a title shot before, then I got KO’d by Lyoto last time but everyone gets beat in the UFC. Not everyone bounces back. I was determined to bounce back. I’d like to fight someone ahead of me in the rankings. I was honored to fight Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson, guys I idolized coming up before I was in the UFC. I’d love to fight another legend in Shogun Rua. I think we’d have a great fight and to share the Octagon with him would be an honor.”

Pascal Krauss dominated Mike Stumpf on the way to a decision win. Krauss used kicks to keep Stumpf at bay, and the judges saw the fight 30-27 on all three cards.
Mike Russow, a police officer in Chicago, had a strong first round against Shawn Jordan. He teed off on the former LSU football player several times and even opened a cut on Jordan's face. But in the second round, it was all Jordan. He took Russow down, took his back and rained down shots until Herb Dean stopped the fight at 3:48 in the second.

Sean Spencer survived a nasty, nasty neck crank at the end of the second round, holding on until the horn sounded. But his submission defense didn't hold up in the second round. Natal first bent Spencer's arm back in a way that made you wonder how Spencer's arm could stay attached. Spencer survived that attempt, but couldn't stop the arm triangle. The fight was stopped at 2:13.

In the opening bout on Facebook, David Mitchell had much better striking than Simeon Thoresen and avoided submission attempts. Mitchell took the unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three cards.