Light-heavyweight Alessio Sakara closed out the undercard of UFC Fight Night 15 with a highlight reel knockout over UFC newcomer Joe Vedepo.
Sakara, hyped by the UFC as a professional boxer, switched it up on Vedepo, knocking out the 25-year-old out of Iowa City with a right high kick in 87 seconds.
Sakara wanted the head kick from the get-go, but Vedepo tried twice to avoid Sakara's strikes with takedown attempts.
Moving down to middleweight, Wilson Gouveia scored a come-from-behind victory over hometown favorite Ryan Jensen with an armbar from halfguard at 2:04 of the second round. Jensen won the first round with a takedown and strikes, and scored another takedown in the second round right before he was submitted.
“The Ultimate Fighter 5” lightweight Joe Lauzon scored a double-leg takedown and finished with strikes on Kyle Bradley’s back to win at 1:34 of round 2. It was Lauzon’s first TKO victory since his stunning UFC debut over Jens Pulver at UFC 63 “Hughes vs. Penn” on Sept. 23, 2006.
Light-heavyweight Jason Brilz put Australian Brad Morris to the ground, passed to side mount and pounded his way towards a TKO victory at 2:54 of the second round.
Middleweight Mike Massenzio out of Paterson, NJ passed the guard of Drew McFedries to tap out the Miletich fighter with a kimura at 1:28 of the first round.
Dan Miller, the final middleweight IFL champion, won his UFC debut over Rob Kimmons, the final middleweight champion for Hall of Fame boxing referee Richard Steele’s short-lived IFO promotion. Miller climbed the back of a standing Kimmons and applied a rear-naked choke for the tap out at 1:27 of the first round.
