FAYETTEVILLE, NC, December 10 –After two lackluster wins at welterweight, Mike Swick was looking to make a statement in his third bout at 170 pounds Wednesday night. He did, scoring a devastating 33 second stoppage of Jonathan Goulet in the co-featured bout on the UFC Fight for The Troops card at the Crown Coliseum.
Swick (13-2) almost ran out of his corner to start the fight, and after the two combatants quickly circled each other for a bit, they engaged, with Swick hurting and dropping Goulet (22-10, 1 NC) with a short right hand. Goulet tried to get his bearings back as he grabbed his opponent’s leg, but Swick just let loose with a barrage of punches that brought in referee Dan Miragliotta to call a stop to the fight.
Steve Cantwell, the last man to hold the WEC light heavyweight title, made a smooth transition into life in the UFC, impressively submitting fellow debutant Razaak Al-Hassan in the first round of an exciting and competitive 205-pound contest.
Al-Hassan came out fast, throwing range-finding jabs and hard kicks. Cantwell calmly stood in the pocket, and his return shots had more steam on them. After the initial burst of action, the pace settled down a bit, but both fighters were still throwing with bad intentions. Midway through the round, Cantwell connected with a jarring kick and punch and followed up with a takedown. Soon moving into side control and then the mount, Cantwell locked up Al-Hassan’s arm. The Iowan refused to tap and tried to escape, but referee Mario Yamasaki intervened and halted the bout at the 4:04 mark after seeing Al-Hassan’s arm badly hyper-extended.
Cantwell lifts his slate to 7-1 with the win; Al-Hassan suffers his first loss as a pro, falling to 7-1.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Tim Credeur continued to show improvement in his striking game as he halted previously unbeaten Nate Loughran after two rounds of their middleweight match.
The two ground aces traded punches and kicks in the opening minute of the bout before locking up, with Credeur pushing Loughran into the fence. After a brief scrap, the two broke and resumed long-range striking, with each fighter having his moments before Credeur pulled away late.
The fight went to the mat early in the second, but a stalemate drew a re-start from referee Dan Miragliotta. The change of scenery benefited Credeur, who continued to land with punches, especially his overhand right. Loughran started to show more wear on his face, and only the bell seemed to keep him from hitting the canvas.
That was apparently enough for Loughran’s corner, who didn’t let their man out for the third round.
Credeur ups his record to 12-4 with the win; Loughran falls to 9-1.
Lightweight prospect Jim Miller made the best of his last-minute replacement gig against Matt Wiman, drilling out a three round unanimous decision win that broke the Texan’s four fight winning streak.
Scores were 30-27 twice and 30-26 for Miller, who replaced the injured Frankie Edgar on a week’s notice.
Miller tested out his standup early on against Wiman and was effective before he switched gears and sunk in a tight guillotine choke. Wiman soon fought his way loose, but Miller kept the pressure on with a ground and pound attack that bloodied his opponent on the bridge of the nose. Wiman worked free, and the two stood, with the southpaw Miller again firing off effective strikes to finish off the round.
Wiman took the fight to the New Jersey native in the second round and was able to land a couple of hard shots that were matched by Miller moments later. By the second minute, Miller was starting to tee off with ease on Wiman, who gamely hung in there against the fence. With a little over three minutes remaining, the two hit the mat, and Miller continued firing away and piling up points until the round ended.
Sensing the fight slipping away, Wiman came out fast for the final frame and tagged Miller a number of times until Miller was able to grab hold of his foe and take him to the mat. The same sequence was replayed a few seconds later, but this time Miller was able to keep Wiman down on the canvas for the rest of the bout as he fired off ground strikes and looked for submissions.
With the win, Miller improves to 13-1; Wiman falls to 10-4.
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