UFC Friday night Battle - Swick Wins

Date: 2008-05-11 16:12:04
Source: http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/7714144/Swic...
Submitted By: UFC Dump

Mike Swick's professional debut as a welterweight did not go according to plan — even in victory.

Swick, who had not fought in nearly 10 months, eked out a majority decision against Josh Burkman in the main event at UFC Fight Night 12 on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

The victory, Swick's sixth in seven bouts, improves the American Kickboxing Academy product to 11-2 (6-1 UFC). Burkman, meanwhile, slips to 9-5 (5-3 UFC) with his second loss in three fights.

After spending a substantial portion of their struggle in the clinch and against the cage, Burkman and Swick were greeted by boos from some fans, indifference from others. Their match slowed progressively over the course of three rounds. Two judges scored the bout 29-28 in Swick's favor; the third saw it even at 29-29.

"I was trying to defend his takedowns," said Swick, who apologized to fans afterwards. "I put a lot of emphasis on that. I should have flurried more on my feet."

Action between the two welterweights came in spotty bursts as Burkman rushed relentlessly into the clinch in an attempt to keep Swick on the defensive. Explosive early, Burkman controlled the flow of the fight in round one. He stifled his opponent in close quarters, battering his legs with knees, and landed a jarring left hook for good measure.

Swick found his groove in the second round, as he temporarily stunned Burkman with an early head kick. More important, he wore down Burkman with textbook takedown defense. The third round brought more of the same as a fatigued Burkman worked in vain to get the fight to the ground.

"He's a really strong guy," Swick said, "and it took everything I had to stop his takedowns."

In perhaps the evening's most anticipated bout, Patrick Cote followed through on his pre-fight vow to stand with Drew McFedries — a hard-hitting Iowan known for throwing punches with bad intentions.

Cote (12-4, 3-4 UFC) absorbed McFedries' heavy-handed strikes, countered when he could and waited for an opportune time to pounce. Less than two minutes in, the French-Canadian stung McFedries (6-3, 2-2 UFC) with a ringing right hook and followed with a left that folded the Miletich Fighting Systems protege like a lawn chair. Cote ended the fight with strikes on the ground as he forced the referee to intervene 1:44 into the first round.

An emerging threat within the UFC's middleweight ranks, Cote has reeled off four straight wins — the last three by first-round TKO.

"He was playing cocky a little bit because he thought I didn't have enough power," Cote said. "I saw he was rocked. When I see something, I go for it. I just hit the target right."

Elsewhere, Nate Diaz — the lightweight winner from season five of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality series — remained unbeaten inside the Octagon as he secured a first-round submission against Alvin Robinson (9-3, 1-2 UFC).

Diaz (8-2, 3-0 UFC) set the tone for the fight with an early slam, fought off Robinson's advances and ultimately caught the former Ring of Fire champion in a triangle choke 3:39 into round one.

"Got that finish in the first round — again," Diaz said. "I think it lets you know where I stand. I'm trying to get some contenders in here to fight."