Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

For years, Matt Hughes was the standard by which all other UFC welterweights were measured. Despite a gameplan as simple as his country farm-boy roots, few could stop Hughes’ constant takedowns or defend his ground game.

Now, it appears, however, that Hughes’ days in the octagon are nearing an end. For the third time in four matches, the two-time champion fell to a bigger, stronger fighter, this time suffering a second-round TKO at the hands of rising Brazilian star Thiago Alves.

“He's a good fighter, he got me, no doubt about it,” Hughes said shortly after the fight before 15,327 fans at London's 02 Arena.

Hughes (43-7) took the fight on short notice after the event was plagued by injuries to several stars. Alves, meanwhile, knew that a win over a legend could launch his career to the next level.

After a fairly even first round, Alves (15-3) landed a flying knee in the second that caught Hughes square on the jaw. Hughes collapsed awkwardly to the ground with his knee trapped underneath him as Alves rushed in and crushed him with a punch from the top before the referee moved in to stop the fight.

"I want to thank Matt Hughes for taking the fight. I'm a big fan, and he's a legend,” Alves said. “I'm really happy."

Alves went on to ask UFC President Dana White for a shot at the title, but that might have to wait. Alves might have hurt himself with the organization’s management when he failed to make weight for the fight, checking in at 174 at Friday's weigh-ins. He attributed the problem to a sprained ankle that left him unable to do proper cardio during his weight-cutting process. It hasn’t been his only difficulty with weight-cutting however. In December 2006, he tested positive for a banned diuretic after his win over Tony DeSouza.

While Alves has his best days directly in the future, the legendary Hughes is clearly beginning to wind down his career. But not before settling one grudge.

“Matt Serra needs to come up with a gameplan right now, I'll tell you that,” he said. “My wife wants it, I want it, and I know the fans want it, too."

UK native Michael Bisping continued his climb up the middleweight ranks with a first-round destruction of Jason Day.

Both fighters competed just six weeks ago at UFC 83 in Montreal, and came back on short notice. Bisping (16-1) was originally scheduled to fight Chris Leben, but the latter had to back out of the match after a probation violation put him in jail during what would have been his training camp. Day stepped in to replace him, but on this night was no match for the crowd favorite.

Bisping took Day down early and hurt the Canadian while ducking in and out of his guard with heavy punches from the top. After Day finally scrambled back to his feet, Bisping took him right back down and worked to full mount. Day (17-6) gave up his back and instead of looking for the submission, Bisping pounded on his opponent from the side, connecting on a series of vicious shots before the referee stopped the fight for a TKO win.

In a key heavyweight tilt, Fabricio Werdum reeled off a second straight solid win, scoring a first-round TKO over Brandon Vera.

Werdum, mostly known for his world-class grappling, managed to score a trip takedown against Vera with a minute to go and eventually passed his opponent’s guard into full mount. Werdum rained down punches in bunches until referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in and called a stop to the action.

Vera immediately protested, voicing his anger at the stoppage before Werdum even got off him. However, there was still 20 seconds left and Vera had been unable to do anything to buck Werdum off of him.

"There was only 15 seconds left," Vera said. "Let me take my beating and come back for the next round."

After back-to-back victories over Gabriel Gonzaga and now Vera, the win could put Werdum next in line for a title shot after Frank Mir and champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira square off later this year.

In a middleweight bout, Thales Leites defeated former No. 1 contender Nate Marquardt via split decision in an action-packed match.

Marquardt was penalized a point for two separate infractions in the match, once for kneeing Leites to the face while he was still down, and once for what ref Herb Dean saw to be an illegal elbow to the back of the head (replays showed the blows landed on the side of the head). After the first penalty, Leites looked in trouble as Marquardt took him down and utilized ground-and-pound, but Leites hung on and managed to last the round. The fight was largely a back and forth battle with Leites edging Marquardt in the first but Marquardt scoring a series of takedowns in the last two rounds, but being undone by the point deductions.

By the end of the fight, Leites' face was bloodied and bruised while Marquardt's was relatively unmarked, but Leites earned the decision.

"I've done that before and had other guys do it to me, and I've never even really been warned for it before," Marquardt said.

In a welterweight matchup of forrmer Ultimate Fighter cast members, Mike Swick earned his second straight win, ending Marcus Davis’ 11-fight win streak with a three-round unanimous decision. Swick controlled the action from the outside with kicks, utilizing an big reach advantage. He also took Davis down several times and battered the veteran’s face with elbows, opening several cuts on his face. Swick was penalized a point for holding on to the fence to stop takedowns in the third, putting the outcome in jeopardy, but he seized control with a takedown after the restart and dominated the rest of the round.

In the undercard, middleweight Martin Kampmann returned from a 15-month layoff following a knee injury to submit Jorge Rivera via guillotine choke. 

Kampmann blew out his knee in May 2007, an injury that eventually required two separate surgeries to properly fix. The 24-year-old Dane is considered a top prospect and has won nine straight dating back to March 2005.

Also, Luiz Cane rebounded from a disqualification loss to defeat UFC veteran Jason Lambert with a first-round TKO.

Full UFC 85 results
Thiago Alves def. Matt Hughes via TKO, Rd. 2
Michael Bisping def. Jason Day via TKO, Rd. 1
Mike Swick def. Marcus Davis via unanimous decision
Thales Leites def. Nate Marquardt via split decision
Fabricio Werdum def. Brandon Vera via TKO, Rd. 1
Martin Kampmann def. Jorge Rivera via guillotine submission, Rd. 1
Matt Wiman def. Thiago Tavares via KO, Rd. 1
Kevin Burns def. Roan Carneiro via triangle submission, Rd. 2
Luiz Cane def. Jason Lambert via TKO, Rd. 1
Paul Taylor def. Jess Liaudin via split decision
Antoni Hardonk def. Eddie Sanchez via TKO, Rd. 2

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