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.

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.

Clips of a reunion special filmed recently at the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas will air throughout the marathon.

TUF 1 cast members involved in the reunion are Fighters.com’s Light Heavyweight Champion and current UFC champion Forrest Griffin (16-4), Chris Leben (18-4), “American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar (11-4), Josh Koscheck (11-2), “Rock” Nathan Quarry (10-2), “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (10-3), “Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (19-2), Bobby Southworth (9-5), and “Quick” Mike Swick (12-2).

The reunion special will be hosted by Joe Rogan, and UFC President Dana White will also be on hand to discuss the impact the show has had on the UFC and on the sport of mixed martial arts.

Starnes’s match-up versus “Rock” Nathan Quarry (10-2) should’ve never been broadcast to begin with.

At the risk of sounding like a Monday morning QB, I was confused why it was on the televised portion of the card before the event.  (Easy to say now, huh?)

Though Quarry looked much-improved in his February KO of “Drago” Pete Sell (7-4), Starnes got picked apart last October by “The Talent” Alan Belcher (12-5).

In an e-mail sent by Starnes to Fighters.com this morning, he contends, “I was then injured in the bout [with Belcher] and received a huge gash on my forehead, which caused the doctor to halt the bout prematurely.”

Starnes is wrong.  The doctor stoppage in October was entirely warranted because Starnes didn’t do enough in the one round with Belcher to convince anyone further punishment may result in a Starnes victory.  Why let a fighter bleed out in the Octagon when there’s no evidence he’s in there to win?

Why then match the same fighter versus a man who proved he’s on a mission in his previous fight?

At least three other 83 match-ups should’ve made the broadcast over Quarry v Starnes even before the fights were fought.

The all-Canada rematch between “The Athlete” Jason MacDonald (20-9) and “El Dirte” Joe Doerksen (39-12) was bound to be a war.

“No Love” Rich Clementi (31-12-1) and “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout (13-4-1) were on surges totaling six straight wins between them before Saturday when Clementi preserved his streak with a unanimous decision.

Both “Road Warrior” Jonathan Goulet (22-9) and Kuniyoshi Hironaka (11-5) are tough bastards.  Goulet hadn’t won or lost in the judges hands in nine straight.

The results Saturday night prove my admittedly late assertion.

All three “…of the Night” bonuses were awarded to fighters on the untelevised undercard, Goulet and Hironaka winning “Fight of the Night” and MacDonald pocketing 75 grand for “Knockout of the Night”.

Starnes claims, “Dana White…made comments after the fight insinuating that I would have been better served allowing myself to be knocked out.”

You’ve got to wonder if slumping Starnes was matched versus better-than-ever Quarry to serve a highlight reel KO to the broadcast audience?

Starnes called Quarry, “…a real monster in the ring, I think that they should keep him in a cave somewhere and feed him raw meat!”

Even if that’s true, Starnes’s performance was embarrassing.  If you don’t want to be in the Octagon, don’t take the fight.

To be fair, I know fighters like Starnes have slim bank accounts and it’s not easy to turn down a guaranteed purse.  And, Starnes maintains he had broken his right foot early in the match and was doing all he could to work his jab.

All in all, the whole incident is a non-event.  A B-level fighter asks to be released from his contract after a pitiful performance.  Big deal.

However, even if I don’t particularly care to see Starnes fight again anywhere, it’s hard for me to blame anyone who steps in the Octagon.

Blame the UFC for a poor match-up that should’ve never been seen by anyone paying $44.95 for the PPV.

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).