Both fighters came out trading leg kicks. A body kick by Burns was answered by a body kick-jab combination by Johnson. Burns shot for the double-leg takedown and landed in Burns’s closed guard. Burns climbed his legs up Johnson’s back but Johnson stood out of it and threw a few punches into Burns’s midsection until he moved into side control. Burns’s legs moved up again, this time securing a triangle choke. Johnson was able to slide out, however, back into Burns’s full guard. Referee Mario Yamasaki stood them up. Johnson landed a left body kick and jab-straight. Burns was flipped onto his back when Johnson caught a kick, but Yamasaki allowed him to stand back up.

Johnson and Burns again opened the round trading kicks. Johnson shot for the single leg, but although Burns defended, he got the takedown. Burns worked a kimura with Johnson in his half guard, but Johnson slipped out, ending up in full guard. They spent the rest of the round in this position, throwing short strikes to the body, and Johnson landing a few elbows into the face. Burns attempted another triangle choke and an armbar, and ate a hammerfist for his efforts.

Round three began with strikes, and ended soon after when Burns was felled by a left head kick, out cold. Johnson’s revenge for his TKO loss in July via eye-poke was completed at 0:28 of round three.

Following the broadcast the UFC announced the full lineup for the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir 13 December in Las Vegas.

Also on the card are a previously reported bout between middleweights “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (19-10) and Wilson Gouveia (11-5), and a rematch between Kevin Burns (7-1) and “Rumble” Anthony Johnson (5-2).

Rounding out the main card is a lightweight match-up between TUF 8 competitors Junie Allen Browning (2-0) and David Kaplan (0-0).

The remaining ten competitors will also fight:

“The Experiment” Krzysztof Soszynski (16-8-1) v Shane Primm (3-0)

Eliot Marshall (4-1) v Jules Bruchez (1-0)

Kyle Kingsbury (8-1) v Tom Lawlor (4-1)

Shane Nelson (9-2) v George Roop (8-1)

Rolando Delgado (5-3-1) v John Polakowski (2-1)

In the semi-finals, Nover defeated Roop via first-round kimura, Escudero submitted Browning with a D’arce choke in round two, Bader won a unanimous decision over Marshall, and Magalhaes armbarred Soszynski in the first round.

Johnson will look to avenge his loss to Burns via eye poke in July, which was severe enough to require surgery.

NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer stated, “Based on advice from the Nevada Attorney General’s office, the appeal was rejected due to lack of remedy.”

The 19 July welterweight bout was stopped in the third round by referee Steve Mazzagatti when Johnson was poked in the eye and he fell to the mat.

The TKO victory was awarded to Burns, despite a previous warning not to eye-poke.

Johnson has undergone surgery to repair a detached retina and has since fully recovered.

“The Truth” Brandon Vera (9-2) def. Reese Andy (7-3) via unanimous decision (30-27; 30-27; 29-28).

“The Answer” Frank Edgar (9-1) def. Hermes Franca (18-7) via unanimous decision (30-27; 30-27; 30-27).

Cain Velasquez (4-0) def.  Jake O’Brien (10-2) via TKO, 2:02 of round one.

“The Fire” Kevin Burns (7-2) def. “Rumble” Anthony Johnson (5-2) via TKO, 3:35 of round three.

“Doberman” CB Dollaway (7-1) def. Jesse Taylor (6-3) via submission (Peruvian necktie), 3:58 of round one.

Timothy Credeur (10-2) def. Cale Yarbrough (0-1) via TKO (punches), 1:54 of round one.

Rory Markham (16-4) def. Brodie Farber (13-4) via KO (head kick), 1:37 of round one.

Nate Loughran (9-0) def. Johnny Rees (10-1) via submission (triangle), 4:21 of round one.

“Bad” Brad Blackburn (15-9-1) def. James Giboo (11-3) via TKO (strikes), 2:29 of round two.

Shannon Gugerty (11-2) def. Dale Hartt (5-1) via submission (rear naked choke), 3:33 of round one.

Johnson KO’d former TUF finalist Tom Speer (9-3) in 51 seconds in April.

Johnson’s only loss is via rear naked choke to “No Love” Rich Clementi (32-12-1) at UFC 76 last September.

Burns won “Submission of the Night” with a triangle choke of “Jucao” Roan Carneiro (12-7) in round two of his Octagon debut earlier this month in London.

Hughes stalked Alves for a takedown at the first bell, settling for bottom position by pulling guard, but never finding the submission opportunity he thought he could force.

Again, Hughes took the Brazilian to the mat mid-way through the first and smothered the kickboxer; but, Alves utilized butterfly guard to neutralize Hughes’s offense.

The only damage done on the mat in round one was after the confident “Pitbull” bulldogged the veteran to the mat and hammered a crevice in Hughes’s nose with an elbow strike.

Hughes, like Gracie at UFC 60, was impotent. Alves wasn’t falling for the tried and true tricks, wasn’t physically overwhelmed by the stocky farm boy from rural Illinois, and wasn’t intimidated by the future Hall of Famer’s legacy.

The second round was short; the end poignant.

Hughes ducked for the takedown that’s served as a sure-shot for ten years; and, Alves flew the distance between him and Hughes, colliding into Hughes’s right jaw with his left knee.

One punch later and referee Herb Dean waved off the fight, and, officially, the Matt Hughes era.

Alves never doubted the outcome, but remained humble while pleading from the Octagon, “Mr. Dana White, I’ve been a good boy, please give me a title shot!”

“He got me, no doubt,” Hughes admitted.

For Hughes, there remains a grudge match with fourth-ranked “Terror” Matt Serra (9-5), then a lot of prayer and consultation with his family for the proudly Christian husband and father of two.

UFC 85′s co-main event featured a pair of UFC heavyweight title contenders, seventh-ranked“Vai Cavalo” Fabricio Werdum(11-3-1) and perennial Pinoy prospect “The Truth” Brandon Vera (8-2), ending in a controversy that’s much ado about nothing.

Werdum quite simply spanked “The Truth” from full mount to a first round TKO at 4:40.

“There was 15 seconds left [in round one]. Let me take my ass whupping and let’s go to a second round,” complained Vera.

But, that’s not the rule Octagon referees are instructed to enforce. Vera had made no attempt to improve his position or fight back while mounted by “Vai Cavalo” and he knows clamming-up and waiting for the round to end is not an “intelligent defense.”

After two exciting finishes, Werdum moved passed his boring Octagon debut versus fourth-ranked “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski(12-5) into the UFC top contender’s spot.

After being outsized for the second straight fight, Vera should seriously comtemplate a move to 205-pounds.

Take a cue from “The Count” Michael Bisping (16-1), who again ran roughshod over an opponent in his new weight class of 185-pounds.

Canadian “Dooms Day” Jason Day (17-6) withered under the pressure of the big lights in London and big fists of Britain’s Count of The Cage, Bisping, in a first-round TKO at 3:42.

“People think I have no wrestling, no ground game. Have a bit of faith!” Bisping said after taking Day to the mat twice before pounding him out.

Day was intended to serve a challenge on the ground to Bisping, who’ll now look for bigger match-ups in the middleweight division.

And, “Quick” Mike Swick (12-2) propelled himself into contender talk in his new weight class of 170-pounds after ending “Irish Hand Grenade” Marcus Davis‘s (14-4) eleven-fight win streak in a dominating UD.

Davis never overcame 6’1″ Swick’s height and reach advantage, neutralizing Davis’s powerful boxing combos.

When Swick took Davis to the mat, “Quick’s” dynamic assault sealed the 29-27 times three unanimous decision which left Davis with a deep crevice on his left cheek.

Middleweight Thales Leites (13-1) won a split decision on point deductions over Nathan Marquardt (26-8-2).

Leites floored Marquardt with a straight right in the first round, which was later avenged with a right uppercut from Marquardt that sent Leites to the fence.

Marquardt dominated the final two rounds with G’n'P that broke Leites’s nose in the second round.

However, Marquardt was deducted a point in the second round for an illegal knee to Leites’s head while Leites’s knees were still touching the mat.

In the third, referee Herb Dean deducted another point from Marquardt for an elbow to the back of the head after Dean repeatedly warned the former title challenger. Upon replay, the strike seemed to land on the side of Leites’s head, not the back.

One judged scored the fight 28-27 for Marquardt; but, the other two agreed with Fighters.com with the score of 28-27 for Leites.

In the events most exciting fight, “Handsome” Matt Wiman (10-3) upset lightweight prospect Thiago Tavares (13-2), leaving Tavares slumped at the cage after a barrage of Wiman punches knocked Tavares out at 1:57 of round two.

Xtreme Couture kickboxer “Hitman” Martin Kampmann (16-2) tapped middleweight veteran “El Conquistador” Jorge Rivera (15-7) in a guillotine choke at 2:44 of round one.

UFC debuting Kevin Burns (6-1) earned “Submission of the Night” with a triangle choke of American Top Team “Jucao” Roan Carneiro (12-7) at 2:53 of round two.

“Banha” Luis Arthur Cane (8-1) TKO’d “Punisher” Jason Lambert (23-8) at 2:07 of round one in a light heavyweight fight.

Brit welterweight Paul Taylor (9-3-1) won a split decision over Frenchman “Joker” Jess Liaudin (12-10).

Dutch heavyweight Antoni Hardonk (7-4) TKO’d Eddie Sanchez (8-2) at 4:15 of round two.

Burns is a late replacement for “Piranha” Ryo Chonan (14-8), whose injured rib forced him off next weekend’s card.

Burns, from Des Moines, has never fought to a decision.  He won his last two fights, at the Glory Fighting Championships, via submission.

The upcoming bout will be Carneiro’s fourth in the Octagon.  The American Top Team member dispatched his last opponent Tony DeSouza (10-4) with a second-round TKO at UFC 79.  His most recent loss was to Fighters.com’s second-ranked welterweight Jon Fitch (17-2).