Nightful of first-round finishes marred by no contest in main event

The main event of UFC Vegas 21 resulted in a no decision bringing an unsatisfactory end to a great night of fights with three first round finishes.

Inadvertent eye poke forces no decision in main event

It had been 603 days since welterweight contender Leon Edwards’ last fight while his opponent, Belal Muhammad, last fought a month ago.

There didn’t seem to be much ring rust from Edwards who nearly knocked out Muhammad in the first round with a head kick.

The head kick that produced a shin-on-skull collision caused a cut on the head of Muhammad.

However early in the second round, Edwards delivered an eye poke to his opponent. It was the second time during the fight.

Upon impact, Muhammad crumbled to the floor letting out a scream of agony.

Referee Herb Dean decided to rule the fight a no-contest after just 5:18 of fight time.

After the fight, No. 3-ranked Edwards (18-3, 1 NC) made his pitch for a title fight in his next outing.

Prior to this outcome, he had won eight straight fights with his last loss coming back in December 2015 against current champion Kamarus Usman.

Ranked No. 13 in the world, Muhammad (18-3, 1 NC) was competing in his first main event and had won four straight fights.

Spann rocks Cirkunov, closes it early

Coming into the weekend ranked 13th among light heavyweights, Ryan Spann scored a technical knockout win over No. 11 Misha Cirkunov.

Spann was coming off his first UFC loss in his last bout and admitted his corner preached “patience” in this fight.

He adhered to that message, maybe a little too much in his opinion.

However a hooking right hand dropped Cirkunov and Spann quickly hopped on him for the finish but decided to stand the fight up again.

Upon standing up, Spann dropped Cirkunov again with a left hand that landed to the side of the head.

Spann (19-6) was on a 8-fight win streak prior to his last loss and would like the winner of Anthony Smith and Jimmy Crute.

Cirkunov (15-6) has now lost four of his last six fights.

50K Ige goes boom like dynamite

After being criticized for not having punching power by his opponent, Dan Ige scored a one-punch knockout win at UFC Vegas 21.

Just 22 seconds into his fight with Gavin Tucker (13-2), Ige unleashed a straight right hand that dropped his opponent to his back.

It was the first outing for Ige (15-5) since his loss to Calvin Kattar.

He was doing so with a busy plate at home since his wife is 36 weeks pregnant.

Fight Night opens with knockout power of Semelsberger

Matthew Semelsberger put the world on notice at the start of the latest UFC Fight Night with his knockout power.

The former defensive back made quick work of Jason Witt (18-7) in the first 16 seconds of the first round.

Semelsberger (8-2) won a Performance of the Night bonus in his second UFC fight.

**Editor’s Note

Middleweight Eryk Anders had his fight with Darren Stewart ruled a no-contest due to an illegal blow.

Anders delivered a knee to a downed Stewart resulting in the fight being stopped in the first round.

For the second straight week, the promotion has had a fight called due to an illegal blow. Both of which came from knee strikes to downed opponents.

The first came in the bantamweight title fight between Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling which resulted in the latter becoming the new champion.