On Friday, January 20th at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN, the UFC made their UFC on FX debut with a card headlined by Melvin Guillard taking on Jim Miller. A total of ten fights were shown between the four main-card fights on FX and the three-hour six-fight preliminary action on FUEL TV. Eighty percent of the fights had a finish last night and the other two delivered high paced action.

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The first fight of the night between Nick Denis and Joseph Sandoval got the ball rolling in the fast finishes and made distinct calling for the Knockout of the Night award. Denis needed just 22 seconds to finish off his opponent. The two clinched in the center of the octagon and Denis unloaded five standing elbows to the side of Sandoval’s head sending him unconscious and to the canvas.

The last fight of the preliminary card between Jorge Rivera and Eric Schafer had a lot riding on it. Rivera had stated that win or lose he was going to retire after this fight. The first round Schafer controlled the action scoring takedown after takedown. He nearly finished the fight with an omoplata but time was running out. In the second Schafer went for a single leg takedown, this Rivera was ready. While trying to escape from the takedown attempt, he opted to turn around and unloaded a barrage of strikes to Schafer. Schafer tried to defend, but Rivera was relentless in his attack forcing Herb Dean to stop the action.

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Pat Barry returned to his winning ways and looked to throw his name into the hat for Knockout of the Night against Christian Morecraft. Early on Morecraft looked to submit Barry and nearly did with an armbar. But Barry escaped and returned to his feet. A short while later Barry landed a massive left hook that put Morecraft on bambi-legs. Barry followed the attack up and seven heavy punches later Morecraft was out cold.

It was a tough decision but Denis’s standing elbow strikes earned him a cool $45,000 bonus for knockout of the night.

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Submissions came fast and they came frequent with five fights ending with a submission. Daniel Pineda quickly took Pat Schilling down and got the mount. He nearly finished the fight with punches, but Schilling gave up his back and worked to stand up. Pineda held on and locked in a rear naked choke to end the fight in just over a minute.

Fabricio Camoes took on Tommy Hayden next and both fighters wanted to take the other to the canvas. It looked like Hayden was going to be the better of the two after putting Camoes on his back and worked from side control. But Camoes used the opportunity to grab an armbar that was very deep. Hayden escaped the submission, but had lost his position and this time Camoes got to work from the top position. A swarm of attacks and Camoes took Hayden’s back and adjusted till he got the tap from a rear naked choke.

Khabib Nurmagomedov was dominating the striking against Kamal Shalorus through out the first two rounds. In the third he worked for a takedown and was threatened by a guillotine choke by Shalorus. Once he escaped, he used punches and hammerfists to pass to mount. Shalorus gave up his back and that was all Nurmagomedov needed to finish the fight with a rear naked choke.

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In our prediction of Duane “Bang” Ludwig and Josh Neer, we thought it was going to be an action packed stand-up battle with Neer winning a unanimous decision. That was hardly the case. Ludwig was landing shot after shot, but Neer was determined to continue to move forward and fight a close game. Neer held onto one of Ludwig’s legs and then swept the other leg out from under him to get the fight to the ground. A short scramble and Neer locked in a very tight guillotine. Ludwig tried to tap, but fell unconscious before he could.

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Our own Kyle Conroy predicted that Jim Miller would win his fight against Melvin Guillard by rear naked choke in the second round. He was close. Miller won it in the first round. Guillard looked to land knees and punches, but Miller caught a knee and used it to score the takedown. Miller quickly passed to mount and while Guillard was escaping took Guillard’s back. Miller worked for a rear naked choke, at first it wasn’t under GUillard’s chin, but it eventually found its way there and also Guillard tapping.

With so many great submissions to pick from, one wondered which one would earn the Submission of the Night bonus. In the end, UFC officials opted to go with Jim Miller’s rear naked choke as the one worthy of an extra $45,000.

While Charlie Brenneman versus Daniel Robert and Mike Easton vs Jared Papazian were exciting fights that went the distance, it was Pat Barry’s first round knockout over Christian Morecraft that earned the fight of the night and both fighters an extra $45,000.

Charlie Brenneman Christian Morecraft Daniel Pineda Daniel Robert Duane "Bang" Ludwig Eric "Red" Schafer Fabricio Camoes Jared Papazian Jim Miller Jorge Rivera Joseph Sandoval Josh Neer Kamal Shalorus Khabib Nurmagomedov Melvin Guillard Mike Easton Nick Denis Pat Barry Pat Schilling Tommy Hayden UFC on FX 1