You know you're good when you question a seven second knockout. Todd Duffee walked across the Octagon and floored Tim Hague with a jab. Down went the big Canadian where he was greeted with eight more shots in five seconds. A left on the ground made Hague go limp, that's when referee Mario Yamasaki jumped in to give Duffee the knockout victory in UFC debut at 4:53 of the first round in the third fight of the night at UFC 102 in Portland. When asked about the seven second win, Duffee said, "I think it was six seconds." The knockout was a UFC record surpassing the previous mark of eight seconds set by James Irvin over Houston Alexander at Ultimate Fight Night 13 and Don Fyre over Thomas Ramirez at UFC 8. Duffee (6-0, 1-0 UFC), who looks like Brock Lesnar Jr., at a muscular 6-foot-4, 251 pounds obviously possesses massive power. The 23-year-old fights out of American Top Team in South Florida and now has six victories all by knockout. CHICAGO COP RUSSOW PUT THE SHACKLES ON MCCULLY If you can't wrestle don't step in the cage with Mike Russow. A former collegiate wrestler at Eastern Illinois, Russow took Justin McCully down at will. "The Insane One" didn't even challenge to get back to his feet. The only times McCully got up was when referee Herb Dean forced the fight back up. Russow threatened with a kimura at the end of each round but couldn't finish things. He still rolled to a unanimous decision (30-27 on all three cards) victory.
Randy Couture signed a six-fight contract extension early Saturday afternoon, so he’s clearly not going anywhere despite his 46 years and his loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in the main event of UFC 102 at the Rose Garden. And Nogueira, who seemed much older than his 33 years in December when he was walloped by Frank Mir, made a statement of his own. Nogueira was a little bit better than Couture in every aspect on Saturday, pounding out a unanimous decision in a rousing battle that was chosen as the show’s Fight of the Night. It was the second consecutive loss for Couture, but his age clearly wasn’t an issue. He was beaten on this night by a guy who was highly motivated to quiet his critics. “I never worked in my life for a fight like I did for this one,” Nogueira said. “I have a lot of respect for Randy. He’s been around for 12 years and fighting everyone and that’s why I trained a lot, so I could make a good show.” More From Kevin Iole Nogueira outlasts Couture in UFC 102 thriller Aug 30, 2009 Silva draws another unorthodox foe Aug 28, 2009 ADVERTISEMENTdocument.write(''); if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['mIO5BESO53c-']='&U=13em5guno%2fN%3dmIO5BESO53c-%2fC%3d742269.13565264.13685894.4402949%2fD%3dSKY%2fB%3d5831489%2fV%3d1'; Nogueira looked like a beginner in his loss to Mir at UFC 92. He suffered from a staph infection and spent seven days in the hospital less than a month before the fight. On the day he got out, he tore the meniscus in his left knee. The reason Nogueira is one of the most popular fighters in the history of mixed martial arts is that he’s the type of person who said nothing to anyone about his condition and came out and slugged with Mir as long as he was able to do so. “He’s a very game, very durable guy,” Couture said of Nogueira. “He has a great jab and he followed it with some pretty good right hands. I’m not terribly surprised he fought the way he did.” Nogueira knocked Couture down about two minutes into the fight and then spent about a half-minute with a choke, trying for the submission. It was a pattern that would repeat itself throughout the fight. The former UFC and PRIDE titleholder would get Couture in a compromising position, Couture would make a heroic escape to bring the crowd to its feet and then they’d go toe-to-toe for a while before the cycle started over. Nogueira had to fight the inclination to get frustrated when nothing he was doing would result in a finish. “I’d just try something else, a different submission, something different,” Nogueira said. “I knew he was prepared to have a good fight. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to fight Randy. When I got his back, he escaped. When I got the triangle, he escaped. He threw some very tough elbows. I knew it was a tough fight and I was prepared for that.” Couture is going to have a lot of them ahead of him. UFC president Dana White pretty much gave him carte blanche to fight where he wanted – at light heavyweight or heavyweight. Couture has had three stints as heavyweight champion and two as the light heavyweight champion. Despite the defeat, he proved he can still compete at a high level at heavyweight, but he has some physical advantages at 205 pounds that might make sense for him to drop to that weight class. “He can do whatever he wants to do,” White said. Couture’s contract, which is for six fights or 28 months, will take him within six months of his 49th birthday, if he fulfills it. He may not be the fighter he was at his peak, but he’s still not far off of it. “I didn’t have any illusions I won the fight, but I knew it was a damn good fight,” Couture said. “Going out and doing what you trained to do is what it’s all about. Of course you’d like to win, but if you do what you trained to do, you can’t ask for more than that. “As far as staying at heavyweight or going to light heavyweight, I’m interested in interesting fights,” he said. “There are a lot of guys in both divisions who would be interesting fights for me. We’ll see what the Grand Poobah over here wants to do.” If White had his preference, Couture would drop to 205 pounds, where potential fights against the likes of middleweight champion Anderson Silva and light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida could be made. Nobody was ready to commit to anything just minutes after a fast-paced, back-and-forth battle. Couture’s performance on Saturday keeps another ace in White’s deck and sets the stage for a few more big fights. A fight against Silva would do big business at the box office and on pay-per-view, but White casually dropped Lesnar’s name as well. “There are a lot of logical opponents for him,” White said. “There’s a lot of young blood in our heavyweight division and there could be some fun fights for Randy there if that’s what he wants to do. The point is, he looked great. Even in losing, he looked good.” Nogueira looked great in winning and Couture look good in losing. For a promoter, it doesn’t get any better. And it doesn’t get much better for a fight fan, either. Two of the game’s greats are going to be around a while longer. There’s nothing to complain about there.
Antonio Nogueira vs. Dorian Grey: A solid Nogueira steps to the scale. He was 246 pounds for the Mir fight; 231 pounds here. Randy Couture, 220 for Brock Lesnar, is the same weight but looks better. He steps down and immediately sips the blood of a baby to replenish. 7:19 p.m. ET: Thiago Silva is 205, Keith Jardine the same. Silva puts on his sunglasses for the staredown. 7:17 p.m. ET: Demian Maia on stage: Royce Gracie 2009. 185 even. Nate Marquardt a seriously muscled 185. 7:16 p.m. ET: Krzysztof Soszynski coming in. Mr. Mxyzptlk weighs in at 205 even. Brandon Vera in the Speedos. 205. 7:14 p.m. ET: Jake Rosholt to the scale. 185 pounds. What distracting hairstyle will Chris Leben adopt tonight? Oh. He's looking normal. 185. 7:12 p.m. ET: Aaron Simpson enters. "Let's go, Herman!" someone yells. The life of a prelim fighter. 185 even. Ed Herman follows. 185.5. 7:11 p.m. ET: Anime-haired Chris Tuchscherer steps on: 258 pounds. Gabriel Gonzaga gets a good reaction. He's got his mouthpiece in. The man is ready for anything. 259 pounds. 7:08 p.m. ET:Police officer Mike Russow gets on the scale with a t-shirt on. That's always a little weird. Maybe he didn't manscape. 260 even. Justin McCully waves to a receptive (i.e. non-booing) crowd. A little imaginary lat syndrome happening. 238. 7:06 p.m. ET: Todd Duffee strolls up the stairs. Barrel-chested fellow. 251 pounds. Tim Hague: 263.5 with gum. 7:04 p.m. ET: Mark Munoz enters. The "Filipino Wrecking Machine" is sort of -- strange, no? Do we call Jardine the "Caucasian Dean of Mean"? Munoz is 185.5. Nick Catone sucking it in a little bit. 185.5. 7:02 p.m. ET: Evan Dunham doffs the shoes, socks, shirts, etc. He's 155 on the nose. Mini Clive Owen, Marcus Aurelio, approaches the stage. They're working the scale hard. 156.
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