Brazilian Demian Maia (9-0) won in quick fashion via rear naked choke when "Rock" Nathan Quarry (10-3) tapped at 2:13 of the first round at UFC 91 in Las Vegas Saturday night. The fight opened with a left punch followed by a combination from Maia. Maia's first shot was stuffed by Quarry, but, after some scrambling, Maia wrestled Quarry to the mat and took top position.  Maia effortlessly advanced to the full mount and took Quarry;s back.  Maia wrapped a tight body triangle and continued to soften Quarry, steadily pounding on his head with punches. Quarry  panicked under the punches, giving Maia the opportunity to slide his arm tightly underneath Quarry's chin.  Maia sank the rear naked choke, forcing Quarry to tap almost immediately. The "W" was Maia's fourth in the Octagon, all by submisison. ...

The UFC on Saturday officially added a bout between “Rock” Nathan Quarry (10-2) and Demian Maia (8-0), and Matthew Riddle (1-0) versus Ryan Thomas (9-2) to the UFC 91 card, 15 November in Las Vegas. Quarry stalked Kalib Starnes (8-3) to a unanimous decision victory in April. Maia submitted “Athlete” Jason McDonald (21-10) with a third-round rear naked choke in August. Riddle won his professional debut by unanimous decision over Dante Rivera (10-3) at the TUF 7 finale in June.  He trains at Arizona Combat Sports. Thomas took a fight with “Berserk” Ben Saunders (6-0-2) in August on short notice and lost via second-round armbar.  He attends Eastern Illinois University where he is studying Elementary Education. ...

Fighters.com's Welterweight Champion "Rush" Georges St. Pierre (17-2) defended his title in a five-round unanimous decision over top contender Jon Fitch (17-3) Saturday night in Minneapolis by scores of 50-44 twice and 50-43. The win facilitates an apparent New Year's Eve champion-versus-champion rematch between St. Pierre and Fighters.com's Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn (13-4-1), who was invited into the Octagon after the main event to challenge St. Pierre, saying, "I want to put this fight together." St. Pierre accepted Penn's challenge, proclaiming, "I'm a proud champion." In the co-main event, Brock Lesnar (2-1) dominated a three-round unanimous decision over Fighters.com's eighth-ranked heavyweight “Texas Crazy Horse” Heath Herring (28-14) by scores of 30-26 three times. "I fell off the horse," Lesnar told the 15,082 spectator hometown crowd referring to his Octagon debut loss to former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir (11-3), "but, tonight I got on that stallion and rode it out of town, baby! Wooo!" Fighters.com's seventh-ranked lightweight "KenFlo" Kenny Florian (10-3) won a blow-out unanimous decision over "El Matador" Roger Huerta (20-2-1) by 30-27 on all three judges' score cards in a UFC top contender bout. ...

This week, middleweight Canadian "The Athlete" Jason MacDonald (20-9) confirmed a bout with Demian Maia (7-0) at UFC 87 on 9 August in Minneapolis. MacDonald is excited about fighting Maia, saying, "I’ve got a lot of respect for what he’s done in the jiu-jitsu world.  But, I think we’ve seen time and time again that good mixed martial artists have been able to defeat high-level jiu-jitsu guys." MacDonald added, "[Maia] is still fairly new to the MMA side of things so I’m hoping to go out there and put on a strong mixed martial arts fight." Maia, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, has made a strong showing so far in MMA with his perfect professional record. Both fighters won their last fights, both at UFC 83 in Montreal. MacDonald's second-round TKO of Joe Doerksen (39-12) was the "Knockout of the Night", while Maia won "Submission of the Night" with his triangle-choke victory over "Short Fuse" Ed Herman (14-6). This match is one of several recently confirmed on the card: Hermes Franca (18-6) versus “The Answer” Frank Edgar (8-1); Cheick Kongo (11-4-1) versus Dan Evensen (10-2); Chris Wilson (13-4) versus Steve Bruno (11-3); and "Berserk" Ben Saunders (5-0-2) versus Jared Rollins (6-4). ...

Canada welcomed in the UFC Saturday night in Montréal; and, the UFC welcomed back in Canada as "Rush" Georges St. Pierre (16-2) avenged his loss to "The Terror" Matt Serra (9-5) by second-round TKO to capture sole possession of the UFC welterweight title before his countrymen and fellow Quebecois. Former UFC Middleweight Champion and Fighters.com's second-ranked 185-pounder "Ace" Rich Franklin (23-3) also found the land of maple leaf friendly in a second-round TKO of "The Serial Killer" Travis Lutter (9-5). TUF Champions "The Count" Michael Bisping (15-1) and Mac Danzig (18-4-1) debuted in new weight classes with stoppages. Les habitants "The Athlete" Jason MacDonald (20-9), "Dooms" Jason Day (17-5), and Jonathan Goulet (22-9) also had success for the home team, while "The Rock" Nathan Quarry (10-2), Demian Maia (7-0), "No Love" Rich Clementi (31-12-1), and Cain Velasquez (3-0) scored wins as visitors to the true north, strong and free. Though seven of the 11 duels on 83's lineup featured St. Pierre's fellow countrymen, this French-Canadian bon soirwas entirely the Quebecois phenom's. He entered the Octagon blazing a crimson gi with the strength of 22,000 at the Centre Bell. Serra had played a clever villain during the event's promotional tour, but had no quips for "Rush" as St. Pierre packed him into the mat upon stuffing Serra's initial shot. St. Pierre mauled "The Terror" with short, sharp elbows as Serra pedaled through guards, all passed by St. Pierre. Serra finally crawled up the cage to his feet. In the center of the cage, St. Pierre blasted Serra with a Superman punch, setting up a double-leg takedown near the end of round one. Serra, a mouse puffing beneath his right eye, emptied his tank about 90 seconds into round two as "Rush" tagged "The Terror" with five snapping jabs before planting him back onto the mat with a double-leg takedown. St. Pierre's G'n'P onslaught poured on, driving Serra into turtle guard. A series of unanswered rib-rattling knees persuaded referee Steve Mazzagatti to end the fight at 4:45. "I tired him out," explained the best 170-pound fighter in the world. Serra countered, "I ended up coming up short, no pun intended." Welterweights Goulet and Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) both pocketed 75 grand for battling the "Fight of the Night" in the card's opening bout. Goulet got the worst of it in the punch-up's first round. Attempting to press his striking advantage, Goulet got tagged with a short Hironaka left hook. The Japanese fighter fell the Canadian and followed with a mix of fists and elbows to close the round. "He tried to finish me," Goulet admitted after the fight, "but he got too excited. I was careful because of my experience." The two fighters traded evenly to open the second before Hironaka was stunned with a punch that backed him to the cage. Goulet stalked with a flurry that dropped his opponent for a TKO at 2:07. In the co-main event, Franklin also rebounded from a lost first round in which Lutter took the former champ to the mat and worked his jiu-jitsu juju. Franklin was nearly tapped in an armbar before he countered in a nifty maneuver that rolled him into Lutter's full guard. Lutter had worn himself weary by the second round and got caught with head kick as he shot for single-leg takedown. Franklin hammered "The Serial Killer" and motioned for the referee to stand him up. "Ace" picked Lutter apart on their feet with a combination of slick boxing and knees until the referree stopped the fight at 3:01 Danzig predicted to Fighters.com that Mark Bocek (5-2) is susceptible to a knee and the debuting 155-pounder delivered three big knees to set Bocek up for a rear naked choke submission at 3:48 of the third round. "I paced myself, and I needed that; because, if I didn't pace myself I wouldn't have been able to do what I did in the last round," Danzig said. His fellow TUF Champion Bisping debuted at 185-pounds with a dominant TKO "W" over "Chainsaw" Charles McCarthy (10-5), who was unable to continue due to an arm injury after round one. "Charles couldn't get up," "The Count" expalined after the fight. Middleweight Quarry chased down a timid Kalib Starnes (8-3-1), who probably ran himself out of the UFC, for a unanimous decision. Middleweight MacDonald added $75,000 to his bank balance with a "(T)KO of the Night" versus Joe Doerksen (39-12) at 54 seconds of the second round. Middleweight Maia also earned 75 grand for "Submission of the Night", a triangle choke of "Short Fuse" Ed Herman (14-5) at 2:27 of round two. Middleweight Day made a successful UFC debut with a 3:58 TKO of "The Talent" Alan Belcher (12-5). Lightweight Clementi ruined Canadian "Hands of Stone" Sam Stout's (13-4-1) homecoming with a split decision victory. Finally, touted heavyweight Velasquez only spent 2:10 in his Octagon debut before TKOing Brad Morris (9-3). ...

Saturday the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced the debuts of heavies Cain Velasquez (2-0) and Brad Morris (8-2), sharing the bright Octagon lights at UFC 83 19 April in Montréal. Today the UFC added the final bout to the undercard, announcing Ed Herman (14-5) and Demian Maia (6-0) will meet at middleweight. Velasquez is an American Kickboxing Academy pupil and two-time All-American wrestler from Arizona State University. He's blown through both his opponents by first round stoppage. Aussie Brad Morris is surfing a three-fight wave, including a BodogFight "W" over UFC vet "Hurricane" Kristof Midoux (6-10). Most fans recognize "Short Fuse" Ed Herman from fumbling TUF season three to "Da Spyder" Kendall Grove (8-5). Like Morris, Team Quest's Herman rides into Montréal atop a three-fight streak, all won by stoppage. Undefeated Brazilian Demian Maia tops Herman with six straight, all ending early except for a unanimous decision over "Ximu" Gustavo Machado (13-7-1). ...