The UFC was back home in Las Vegas for its highly anticipated UFC 91. The biggest star on display was none other than Randy “The Natural” Couture. Fresh off a stint on the sidelines, he was looking to tame another giant, this time in the name of Brock Lesnar.

Joe Daddy and Kenflo were to sort out who would get a crack at BJ Penn’s belt and a former heavyweight challenger wanted to make sure that no one had forgotten about him.

Dustin Hazelett vs. Tamdan McCrory
In a welterweight battle of the nerds, it was “Mc Lovin” Dustin Hazelett who scored yet another “submission of the night” victory over McCrory via a slick armlock that was set up with some spectacular BJJ. Dustin is hoping to secure the most MMA style jiu jitsu subs in the UFC.

Nate Quarry vs. Demian Maia
BJJ specialist Maia continued on his winning way, making particularly quick work of Nate “Rock” Quarry. The TUF veteran wanted to keep the fight standing but couldn’t stop the Brazilian from pulling guard and swiftly taking his back. Nate defended gallantly for a while, before Demian sunk in the inevitable rear naked choke to claim his fourth victory inside the Octagon (nine overall) and continue his impressive tear through the middleweight division.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks
New comer Hendricks was over whelmed by a bulkier “Napao” in his UFC debut. Josh had been helping Randy Couture prepare for his title defense and with plenty of experience behind him, he was expected to push Gonzaga. The welcome from the Brazilian was not a nice one and lasted all of a minute, thanks firstly to a pair of hard knees to soften up Hendricks and then a hard straight right that dropped him. Gabriel took the fight by TKO. Gonzaga is one of the most well rounded fighters in the division, he has powerful hands and a quality ground game and when on song has champion written all over him.

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson
This was a lightweight contender eliminator with a chance at the belt the reward. Kenflo and Joe Daddy have both had title shots before and were hell bent on getting another to change the result. It wasn’t the battle most thought it would be, as Florian used his reach in the exchanges forcing Stevenson to shoot, which he did. Joe couldn’t impose his strength as Kenny got back to his feet quickly. Another takedown from Joe and another escape from Florian, then Kenflo got a takedown of his own. He slid to the full mount, Joe Daddy spun to avoid, giving Kenny his back. Florian didn’t need an invitation and secured a fight ending rear naked choke just over four minutes in. He then laid the smack talk down for BJ Penn and will wait to fight the Hawaiian hero some time in 2009.

Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar
The return of the king didn’t go according to the script, well not mine anyway. It was old versus new, big versus small, experience versus inexperience. The crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena supplied the perfect atmosphere for a clash of this scale. Love him or hate him you have to admit that former WWE star (and now UFC star) Brock Lesnar is quite a specimen. But Captain America had fought giants before and won. Unfortunately not this time…

Lesnar used his size well and Couture countered it well also. The first round could have been scored either way with both fighters getting takedowns, landing a few decent strikes and slipping out of potentially bad situations. The start of the second round saw a few brief exchanges. Lesnar caught Randy with a deadly elbow in close that visibly rocked the champion, Lesnar pounced, pushing
Couture to the fence, where he managed to regain his composure in the clinch.
Some hard strikes and knees followed, Brock had a cut above his right eye as a result of the exchanges. They stayed on their feet and continued to trade and clinch against the fence. Once back in the middle of the ring, Lesnar caught Randy with a right hand behind the ear, which sent “The Natural” to the canvas.
The giant pounced and unloaded an avalanche of hammer fists, to which Couture had no answers. Mario Yamazaki stopped the fight and a new Heavyweight champion was crowned.

Could this be the start of a new era? Only time will tell. Brock Lesnar will now sit back, relax and see who he will have to defend his belt against – the winner of Nogueira and Mir.

Click here to see the full fight results