But, “The Dog” bit early!  Schiavo dropped Eklund with a big right hand early in round one and landed another in the second round as Eklund closed the distance to take the fight to the mat.

Eklund shook both punches off.  After the direct hit in the second-round, Eklund pulled Schivao to the mat and took his back; but, Schiavo swept to top position and ended the round landing periodic shots from the top position.

“I came into the fight too relaxed,” Eklund admitted.  “I was kind of a slow starter.  I felt he was going at me really hard and I just felt, ‘I’m going to let him go.  In the second round, he going to get tired.’”

Eklund wasted no time taking Schiavo back to the mat to begin round three; and, Schiavo, confident from the encounter in the second round, rolled to his stomach.  But, Eklund leashed his arm around “The Dog’s” neck and forced the tap.

The “W” is Eklund’s first in the Octagon, while Schiavo has come up short in both of his UFC fights.

“I twisted my ankle in the first round,” Eklund compained after the fight.  “I twisted it quite early.  I don’t know who…I mean, how.”

“Count” Michael Bisping (16-1) 185 pounds v “Crippler” Chris Leben (18-4) 186 pounds

“I’m glad you guys let me into your country,” main event fighter Leben said at Thursday’s press conference.  “I was a little worried on the plane.”

Leben was originally scheduled to fight Bisping in London 7 June, but opted to put to rest legal issues in Oregon stemming from an earlier DUI arrest to ensure a legal UK visa.

But, the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of Brit Bisping, who told the press, “I am on a quest.  Losing this fight for me is not an option.”

Leben, wearing tight cornrows, chided his opponent, saying, “It seems to me that, when Michael Bisping fights, self-preservation is top on his list.”

A brawl would certainly benefit Leben.  Bisping’s stand-up style is a bit more circle-and-poke, while Leben is happy to plant and throw bombs.

“We’re going to be lettin’em fly!  We’re going to be having fun doin’ it,” Leben promised, which usually means they’ll knock their heads together shooting for takedowns at the opening bell.

But, let’s hope not.

Eighth-ranked “Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine (13-4-1) 205 pounds v “The Truth” Brandon Vera (9-2) 203 pounds

At the pre-fight press conference Thursday, a very serious Vera turned to Jardine and challenged, “We’re going to be together for 15 minutes in the Octagon and I hope, I hope we get to find out a lot about each other before one of us goes to sleep.”

Jardine agreed, and quipped, “He’s got a real pretty style; and, me, I got a real awkward, real mean style.  So, it’s kind of going to be kind of like a beauty and the beast type thing.”

Jardine is coming off a 36-second knockout loss to seventh-ranked “Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva (32-81) in May; and, Vera made a disappointing debut at 205-pounds in a unanimous decision “W” over Reese Andy (7-2) in July.

Vera, a former heavyweight, summed up the meaning of the fight: “Me and Keith are both at a point in our career right now where we get either to take one huge step forward or end up taking two or three steps back.”

“Irish Hand Grenade” Marcus Davis (14-4) 169 pounds vs. “Tellys” Paul Kelly (7-0) 169 pounds

Davis will try to come back strong from a loss to “Quick” Mike Swick (12-2) in June versus Kelly, who Davis called “a brawler.”

Davis put down the weights for this fight in favor of getting back to his boxing background.

“I’m going to make-up for it in technique and speed.  Being able to fight off angles and stuff like that.  It might look like I’m right in front of him, but I’m actually not going to be right in front of him,” Davis said.

Kelly, of Wolfslair Academy, revealed, “You never know where it’s going to be.  It’s MMA.  You know?  I can’t guarantee I’m going to put Marcus on the mat.  We’ve worked on what we think he’s going to do.”

Ninth-ranked “African Assassin” Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (5-2) 205 pounds v “Banha” Luis Arthur Cane (8-1) 206 pounds

“Lights Out” Chris Lytle (25-16-5) 170 pounds v “Relentless” Paul Taylor (9-3-1) 170 pounds

Akihiro Gono (28-12-7) 171 pounds v “Outlaw” Dan Hardy (19-6) 169 pounds

Shane Carwin (9-0) 264 pounds v “Old Skool” Neil Wain (4-0) 254 pounds

David Bielkheden (12-6) 156 pounds v “Joker” Jess Liaudin (12-10) 155 pounds

Terry Etim (10-2) 155 pounds v “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout (13-4-1) 155 pounds
 
David Baron (16-2) 155 pounds v Jim Miller (11-1) 155 pounds

“Dog” Samy Schiavo (10-5) 156 pounds v Per Eklund (13-3-1) 156 pounds

Swedish lightweight Per Ecklund (13-3-1) will face France’s Samy Schiavo (10-5), and in another 155-pound match-up, Canadian “Hands of Stone” Sam Stout (13-4-1) will take on Liverpudlian Terry Etim (10-2).

Ecklund’s last fight was in January when he lost a unanimous decision to Stout.

Schiavo was TKO’d at his Octagon debut in April by “Carpenter” Clay Guida (23-9), snapping his six-fight win streak.

Stout lost his last fight, a split decision that went to Rich Clementi (32-12-1) in April.

Etim also lost his last fight to Clementi, by unanimous decision in May.

The former title challenger from Sityodtong, Florian, dominated the quirky computer tech.

“KenFlo” opened a gash on the back of Lauzon’s head with elbows from his full guard in the first round, but was warned by referee Herb Dean for striking behind the head.

It was a call Dean missed while refereeing a lightweight fight between “Cleat” Rich Crunkilton (16-2) and Sergio Gomez (7-2) at last week’s Las Vegas WEC event.

After the stand-up, Lauzon clinched for a takedown and stepped over Florians body in half-guard for a knee bar that turned into a Achilles lock that Florian yanked free from.

Lauzon snatched an ankle again and reclined into a heel hook that Florian was again able to wriggle free from to end the round.

The frantic mat work and elevation exhausted “J-Lau” for the second round and Florian was able to score a takedown into full mount that Lauzon never bucked free from.

Florian poured on a cocktail of elbows, straights, and hammerfists from the mount, but Lauzon defended.  Dean called an end to the fight after it was clear Lauzon was to spent to transition out of the bad spot.

In a grueling war game between undefeated wrestlers, “The Bully” Gray Maynard (5-0) won a decisive unanimous decision over “The Answer” Frank Edgar (8-1).

Maynard set the pace in the first round by stuffing Edgar’s takedown attempts and deciding when he’d take the inevitable wrestling match to the mat.

Edgar made it a scrap in the second round with crisp 1-2 combos that scored, but Maynard continued to stuff “The Answer’s” shot and score his own powerful takedowns, though neither fighter did much more than molest the other on the mat.

Edgar was gassed by round three and the bigger “Bully” slammed Edgar three times to convince all three judges he was dominant.

Earlier in the night, “Rumble” Anthony Johnson (5-1) pummeled TUF finalist Tom Speer (9-3) over 51 seconds, knocking home the stoppage “W” with a clean straight right that slumped Speer against the cage.

“I’m crunk right now, I’m real crunk,” said Johnson after the fight.

Johnson began the end with a left kick to Speer’s head as the wrestler attempted to shoot, followed by a knee that backed Speer to the cage.   Speer was out on his feet when he absorbed the death blow.

In a welterweight clash, “The Pitbull” Thiago Alves (14-3) crumpled “The Heat” Karo Parisyan (18-5) with a left knee strike to Parisyan’s head in the second round as Parisyan sought the clinch.

At 34-seconds of the round, referee Steve Mazzagatti dove across the downed fighter as he defended Alves’s follow-up pounding.

“The referee did a good job,” Alves claimed after Parisyan disputed the stoppage.  “He was out!”

Parisyan had won round one with deft, one-off striking versus the American Top Team trained kickboxer, who appeared wary of Parisyan’s takedowns. 

In his UFC debut last February, “The Barbarian” Tim Boetsch (7-2) surprised David Heath (7-3) with an onslaught ending in a first-round Boetsch TKO.

Tonight, “The Hammer” Matt Hamill (4-1) weathered Boetsch’s first round avalanche of strikes to reveal “The Barbarian” couldn’t continue his barrage passed the first five minutes.

Hamill began the fight with a powerful double-leg takedown, but couldn’t capitalize before the referee stood the fighters.

Boetsch proved effective with a repeating knee strike that split Hamill’s lip like a ripe peach, splashing blood across Hamill’s chest.

In round two, Boetsch heaved heavily from his corner.  He shot for a single-leg takedown and held Hamill’s leg as the champion wrestler hovered over him hammering punches.  Boetsch rolled into guard, but had nothing left as “The Hammer” finished him at 1:25 with undefended plugs to Boetsch’s face.

Fast-rising Nathan Diaz (9-2) submitted Kurt Pellegrino (11-4) in an air-tight leg triangle choke in the second round of their undercard match, flashing double middle fingers in the air as Pellegrino tapped helplessly.

Diaz was cut on his right eyelid by Pellegrino punches in a first round controlled on the mat by Pellegrino.

Pellegrino dumped Diaz at will and hammered punches and elbows inside Diaz’s full- and half-guard.  Pellegrino passed to side control and pinned Diaz’s arms, hammering Diaz’s unprotected face to open the cut.

But, durable Diaz escaped a lost first round.

The second round continued as the first, with Diaz getting dumped to the mat by Pellegrino.  This time, Diaz ran his guard up Pellegrino’s back and submitted the lightweight in a leg triangle at 3:06 of the round.

“He shouldn’t have pinned me down like that,” Diaz scolded Pellegrino after the hard-won “W”. 

In the televised card’s first fight, “The Assassin” Houston Alexander (8-3) got touched by “The Sandman” James Irvin (14-4) in the first exchange of their light heavyweight match.

Alexander was beaten to the punch by a right Superman punch from Irvin as Alexander launched his own right cross.

Alexander fell to the mat and Irvin followed with a right exclamation point to Alexander’s noggin as referee Steve Mazzagatti dove to Alexander’s rescue at :08 of the fight, tying a UFC record for quickest KO.

“I was still conscious,” Alexander repeated after the stoppage.

Amidst boos, Irvin challenged, “We can do it again right now.  If you want to go out into the parking lot, we can do it right now.”

 In untelevised fights, “The Dentist” Josh Neer (24-6-1) won a unanimous decision over “Dinyero” Din Thomas (20-8), who was returning from a knee injury in his last outing.

 ”Maximus” Marcus Aurelio (16-5) submitted lightweight Ryan Roberts (8-3) 16 seconds into the fight.

“Pitbull” Manvel Gamburyan (8-2) submitted Jeffrey Cox (9-5) in guillotine choke at 1:41 of the first round.

“The Carpenter” Clay Guida (23-9) TKO’d lightweight Samy Schiavo (10-5) at 4:15 of round one.

Finally, welterweight George Sotiropoulos (9-2) TKO’d Roman Mitichyan (5-2) 2:24 into round two.