By Thomas Gerbasi

 

LAS VEGAS, November 19 – With extreme prejudice, UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and his welterweight counterpart Matt Hughes both dispatched of their opponents in the first round tonight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, effectively stating their case as two of mixed martial arts’ best, pound for pound.

 

In the UFC 56 – Full Force main event, Franklin defended his title for the first time with a single round knockout of Nate Quarry, and in the non-title co-feature, welterweight king Matt Hughes submitted Joe Riggs in the opening stanza.

 

Franklin-Quarry ended the night on a high note, as both fighters took the opportunity to test their substantial standup games.

 

After a respectful handshake at the center of the Octagon, Franklin and Quarry got down to business. Both jabbed and circled, with the first serious action coming when Quarry missed a high kick and fell to the mat. He quickly recovered and rose to his feet, opting to stand with the champ.

 

Bad move.

 

Franklin stalked and picked his shots, hurting Quarry 1:30 in with a straight right to the jaw. Seconds later a right left hurt “Rock” even worse, apparently breaking his nose as he fell to the canvas.

 

Quarry gamely rose and stood in the pocket, but he was on rubbery legs, and when Franklin stepped in with a beautiful straight left on the point of the chin, Quarry was knocked out before he hit the floor, prompting an immediate stoppage by referee John McCarthy at the 2:34 mark of the opening stanza.

 

“I wanted to come out and put on a good performance and I hope you’re all entertained,” said Franklin.

 

Unquestionably.

 

Matt Hughes didn’t need five rounds to beat Joe Riggs in the UFC 56 co-feature; he didn’t even need three. It only took the UFC welterweight champion 3:28 to finish off Joe Riggs in their non-title bout, rendered as such after “Diesel” was unable to make weight for his first title challenge.

 

“That’s my bread and butter,” said Hughes of the kimura lock that forced Riggs to tap out.

 

After a feeling out process in the bout’s early moments, Riggs was taken down to the mat by Hughes a minute and a half in, and it might as well have been over then, as the Miletich Fighting Systems strongman took over and never let Riggs get untracked. Once the kimura was locked in, it was just a matter of time, and with the tap out, the Hughes train kept on rolling.

 

Rising star Georges St. Pierre continued his amazing run at 170 pounds, scoring a decisive second round stoppage of former title challenger Sean Sherk in a highly anticipated contest.

 

From the opening bell the fight was all St. Pierre, as the explosive Canadian controlled not only the standup game, as expected, but the ground action as well, avoiding Sherk’s takedown attempts and scoring impressive takedowns of his own. And once “Rush” had Sherk on the ground, it was bombs away.

 

“My plan was to mix it up with him,” said St. Pierre, who called for a title rematch against Hughes after the bout.

 

The end came at 2:53 of the second, shortly after St. Pierre took Sherk down and started raining down strikes on the Minnesota native. Sherk’s nose took most of the abuse, and as the blood flowed, referee Herb Dean had seen enough, and he wisely halted the bout.

 

In the pay-per-view opener, Jeremy Horn dropped from light heavyweight to middleweight and had a tough battle in his 185-pound return, eking out an unpopular three round unanimous decision over tough Trevor Prangley.

 

All three judges scored it 29-28 for Horn.

 

“It was a razor-thin and I thought it was going to go to him because judges usually score for the guy on top, but I was working harder from the bottom,” said Horn. “I think the fight was a good fight but I think that the judges need to educate themselves about MMA.”

 

Prangley worked his hands well early, perhaps trying to match the success of Chuck Liddell against Horn. One minute in, Prangley rocked Horn with a right hand and then pinned the veteran against the fence. After a break by Mario Yamasaki, both again decided to work their standup games. Prangley then attempted a takedown but he was briefly caught in a guillotine choke. After escaping, Horn again went for the submission, this time an armbar. Again Prangley escaped only to almost get caught again just before the round ended.

 

The bombs were flying early in the second, with both fighters throwing with bad intentions. As they grappled against the fence, Horn started to punish Prangley, but the rugged South African hung tough. In the latter stages of the round the action slowed, with the fight alternating from clinches against the fence to muddy ground action.

 

Prangley showed some impressive variety in his striking and forced Horn to the fence briefly in the final round. Horn fired back, but soon Prangley had him on the mat. After brief lulls on the ground, the two were stood up by twice by Yamasaki, only to have the bouts hit the mat courtesy of Prangley.

 

Saturday’s swing bout saw Gabriel Gonzaga score a final minute TKO of Kevin Jordan in a heavyweight bout that was repeatedly booed for lack of action.

 

Jordan started the bout off strong, nailing Gonzaga with a right hand, but “Napao” recovered and took his foe down to the mat, where he controlled the action and quickly moved into the mount position. Jordan gamely escaped and got back to his feet, where he tried to work his superior hands, but they hit the mat again shortly after.

 

In the second, both fighters remained standing and the crowd started to get restless with the lackadaisical pace, and with 1:30 left in the round, referee Herb Dean admonished both fighters, it was to no avail though, as both fighters continued to circle each other for the remainder of the second round and most of the third.

 

But with under 30 seconds to go, Gonzaga suddenly pounced, landing a solid right to the chin, Jordan hit the canvas and ‘Napao’ jumped on him with strikes. Seconds later Dean jumped in and halted the bout at the 4:39 mark of the third and final round.

 

“When I had the chance, I let go,” said Gonzaga.

 

“The Karate Kid”, Jeff Newton, showed that he had a bit of a ground game in his light heavyweight preliminary bout with Sam Hoger, but Hoger’s superior skills on the mat shone through as he escaped some scary moments in the opening round to finish off Newton with a rear naked choke at 2:05 of round two.

 

“I’m a non-athlete showing an athlete how to do it,” said Hoger, referring to a pre-fight interview jab delivered by Newton, who almost won the bout via submission when he locked in an arm bar on “The Alaskan Assassin”.

 

American Top Team’s Thiago Alves evened his UFC record at 1-1 as he scored a first round stoppage of Russia’s Ansar Chalangov in a welterweight bout.

 

“It was the best win of my career,” said Alves. “I knew it was going to be a hard fight, but I knew I was going to win.”

 

In the welterweight opener, Nick Thompson pounded out a three round unanimous decision over Keith Wisniewski. Scores were 30-27 across the board in a fight that was more competitive than the scores would indicate. In the end though, Thompson’s faster hands and better ground work proved to be too much for the gutsy Wisniewski.

 

“You always have to prepare to go three rounds,” said Thompson, “and when you smell blood you have to finish it. I think if I had more fights in the UFC, that’s a fight I would’ve finished. He’s only the second or third guy I’ve fought at this level.”