The intriguing UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2, featuring Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn, Randy Couture vs. James Toney and Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard kicked things off with a five-fight undercard. Two of those fights were scheduled for live broadcast on Spike TV, as part of a final “hard sell” for the UFC event.
Set for the special were Andre Winner vs. Nik Lentz and Joe Lauzon vs. Gabe Ruediger.
Who won? Results follow:
Nik Lentz b. Andre Winner via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
*Notes: This was not the kind of fight UFC would hope makes a Spike TV pre-show; it was utterly boring. Lentz’s wrestling was too much for Winner, but save for the end of the fight, it is not as if he ever put Winner in serious danger. The fight mostly involved Lentz forcing Winner into the cage, experiencing little success bringing Winner down to the mat (and even less when it came to keeping him there), but applying enough pressure to keep Winner from backing up and doing damage on the feet.
Joe Lauzon b. Gabe Ruediger via submission (armbar) at 2:01 of Round One
*Notes: A dominant performance for Lauzon. Lauzon had no trouble getting Ruediger to the mount, and once he got him there, his wrestling and ground-and-pound overwhelmed Ruediger. Ruediger moved enough to avoid taking too much initial damage, but once Lauzon got comfortable, he had no trouble grabbing an arm for a fight-ending submission. Gabe just had no answer here.