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Perhaps depleted by another failed weight cut, Alves was never in the fight. Fitch delivered three takedowns in the first round, four more in the second and another in the third. In his first appearance in more than a year, Alves failed in his attempt to avenge a 2006 defeat to the Fort Wayne, Ind., native, who smothered him with his oppressive top game.Overheard in the corner telling his trainers Alves was "weak in the clinch," Fitch absorbed almost no damage, as he went the distance for the eighth consecutive time and secured a second crack at the UFO welterweight crown.

Guida fell behind early, as dos Anjos peppered him with punches and inside leg kicks. However, Guida did connect to dos Anjos' jaw during an exchange, which likely led to his eventual submission.Guida turned the tide in Round 2, as he secured his first takedown, controlled the last half of the round from top position and neutralized dos Anjos with ground-and-pound. In between rounds, concern over the injury became evident in dos Anjos' corner.Backed by the Jackson's Mixed Martial Arts team in Albuquerque, N.M., Guida again took down dos Anjos in the third round. He moved to half guard and applied pressure to the Brazilian's neck and head, forcing the tapout.

Nelson needed every ounce of his fortitude to survive the first five minutes. "The Ultimate Fighter" Season 10 winner went down twice to uppercuts from dos Santos and appeared close to being finished more than once. He did not go away, however, and pressed the Brazilian deeper into the fight. Dos Santos turned his attention to Nelson's body late in the match and gradually wore down the portly heavyweight with strikes. Even so, Nelson won the admiration of dos Santos in defeat, his first inside the Octagon.

Silva's best offense in the fight came in the 4th round when he came out and stunned the challenger with a barrage of strikes and took top position after a failed takedown attempt by Sonnen. But Sonnen quickly reversed the position and put Silva on his back and continued to pound Silva with strikes for the rest of the round. It had looked like all hope had been lost for 'The Spider' to retain his championship.

Matt Hughes (45-7) showed that he still has some relevance left in the welterweight division by defeating Renzo Gracie protege Ricardo Almeida (12-4). Hughes managed to drop Almeida with a left hook halfway through the first round. With Almeida down, Hughes quickly capitalized and put Almeida in a front head lock anaconda choke. Almeida passed out from the choke, giving Hughes the win at 3:15 into the first round. Its Hughes 4th win over a member of the Gracie team and he proved that he can still win big fights against welterweight contenders.

Not sure who UFC would put Hughes in with next time, maybe Dennis Hallman (42-13-2) who has two submission wins over Hughes and defeated Ben Saunders on the prelims of this same card.Finally, Clay Guida (27-11) picked up a 3rd round submission win over Rafael dos Anjos (14-5). Guida had broken dos Anjos jaw earlier in the fight apparently and dos Anjos continued to fight through the pain, until Guida took him down and pushed his shoulder into dos Anjos jaw forcing the Brazilian to submit to due to the pain. Up until then it was quite an entertaining fight that appeared to have dos Anjos winning by out striking Guida.