Much-Hyped Nover Loses Via Unanimous Decision

Efrain Escudero and Ryan Bader were both underdogs coming into their fights on Saturday night (Escudero was a BIG underdog), but both managed to pull out impressive victories to secure "six-figure" contracts from the UFC.

In the main event of the night, Escudero frustrated the much-hyped Phillipe Nover to win via unanimous decision. Prior to the fight, Nover was called the "next" Anderson Silva or Georges St. Pierre due to his overwhelmed preliminary victories on the "Ultimate Fighter" 8. Unfortunately for Nover, Escudero came in with a perfect gameplan that involved constantly taking Nover off of his feet. Escudero used his wrestling skills to control the match, and Nover never got a chance to engage Efrain in any damaging stand-up. The much-hyped Nover looked lost at times, unsure of what to do. In the end, Escudero managed to avoid a late submission attempt by Nover to secure the contract.

In the other show finale match, Ryan Bader won the light heavyweight contest against Vinny Magalhaes. This match ended very quickly, as Bader landed a right hand in the first round that Magalhaes couldn't recover from. Magalhaes covered up while Bader landed a few more shots, and the ref eventually stopped the fight. Magalhaes never got a chance to take the fight to the ground, where he clearly had an advantage. A very disappointing performance from Magalhaes, who was also favored to win. Hats-off to Ryan Bader.

Anthony Johnson finished off Kevin Burns in one of the knock-outs of the year to win their fight. Johnson landed a high kick in the third round that knocked Burns out cold. Johnson was winning the fight anyways, but still managed to finish the fight with an exclamation point.

Wilson Gouveia destroyed Jason MacDonald in the other main card fight that didn't involve members of the eighth season of the "Ultimate Fighter". Gouveia landed a number of elbows that split MacDonald wide open, and the ref called the fight in the first round. It's too bad that Gouveia's inability to make weight tarnished his victory.

In the first main card fight of the night, Junie Browning used an impressive performance to stop Dave Kaplan. I can pretty much guarantee that Browning will end up with a UFC deal, so get used to seeing him.

A couple of the preliminary fights managed to make it on to the telecast. Eliot Marshall completely destroyed Jules Bruchez (I'm sorry, Bruchez may be a nice guy but he clearly is not even remotely competitive), while Krzysztof Soszynski nearly broke Shane Primm's arm in half with a kimura submission win in the second round.

Roli Delgado opened the night with a submission victory over John Polakowski in the second round of their fight.

Shane Nelson defeated George Roop via split decision, while Kyle Kingsbury lost via unanimous decision to Tom Lawlor.