UFC 106 results: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira KOs Luis Arthur Cane in UFC debut, Sadollah beats Baroni

"Little Nog" made his UFC debut a very impressive one (photo: Sherdog.com)

If you missed the preliminary bouts on Spike TV, go back and take a quick look at the results, because there were some very good fights with exciting finishes. Once those were in the books, it was time to get into the meat of this card, which had some great fights on it. 

Amir Sadollah defeats Phil Baroni by unanimous decision: At this point, Amir Sadollah was already really desperate for a win. After having his UFC debut delayed more than a year by injury, he promptly lost by TKO to Johny Hendricks. Baroni is a former welterweight contender, but hasn't been a factor in any organization for several years. In fact, I was pretty shocked when I heard the UFC had signed him to another contract. I guess they have to keep a few guys around for the "Ultimate Fighter" alumni to beat up on, though. On paper, it seemed like an easy win for Sadollah, provided he could avoid getting caught on the chin before he got a chance to employ his game plan. As always, Baroni came out punching hard and putting the pressure on, but Amir kept his composure and started working his clinch against the cage. He was landing combinations and elbows and began taking the fight over. By the end of the second round, Baroni looked completely out of gas. Amir continued punishing Baroni's mid-section and legs through the third round and won a well-deserved unanimous decision. 

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira defeats Luis Arthur Cane by TKO: I assumed that Nogueira would try to take this to the ground immediately, but his striking abilities shouldn't be overlooked. He's got a boxing background and is known as a better striker than his twin brother, Antonio Rodrigo. I felt that Cane had the power advantage in this fight, so much so that I predicted he would win by TKO. Boy was I wrong! Nogueira didn't look like he had any intention of going to the ground. He jumped all over Cane from the beginning, rocked him once, then dropped him and finished him with strikes on the ground. It was an incredibly impressive UFC debut and should propel Nogueira upward in the light heavyweight rankings. 

Paulo Thiago defeats Jacob Volkmann by unanimous decision: Considering the punching power we've seen from Thiago in the past, plus his Jiu Jitsu credentials, I expected him to walk away with this fight. Volkmann came into the fight undefeated, but all of his experience came in much smaller promotions. It was a pretty tight first round for the most part. Thiago had Volkmann mounted at one point, but didn't do any real damage until literally the last second of the round. He hit Volkmann with a right that dropped him and probably would have ended the fight if it wasn't for the bell. Thiago kept his foot on the gas to start the second, but Volkmann came right back and took him down. Thiago ended up on top and landed some hard shots, but Volkmann deserves a lot of credit for making it through the second round after the shot he took in the first. Thiago dropped him with another right in the third, but Volkmann went cockroach and just wouldn't go away. Thiago tried just about everything, but Volkmann stuck to his own game plan and kept trying for submissions until the end. He got beat up pretty bad in the process, but showed a ton of heart in his UFC debut. 

Coming up next are the co-main events. Josh Koscheck will face Anthony Johnson in a welterweight match, while Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz will square off for the second time.