Anthony Njokuani. (Zuffa)

THE CANADIAN PRESS

LAS VEGAS -- Anthony (The Assassin) Njokuani spoiled Chris (The Polish Hammer) Horodecki's World Extreme Cagefighting debut Saturday night, stopping the Canadian lightweight via first-round TKO.

The end came after Horodecki tried a takedown and instead was tripped by Njokuani. Horodecki got up and then headed for the other side of the cage. Njokuani pursued him and felled him with a vicious right head kick.

The baby-faced 22-year-old from London, Ont., survived for a while on his back before referee Steve Mazzagatti stepped in at three minutes 33 seconds of the first round.

"He just turned his back, I saw the opening and I went for it. And then bam, on the button, baby," Njokuani said of the head kick.

In the main event at the Palms, lightweight Donald (Cowboy) Cerrone survived a pair of point deductions to choke out Ed Ratcliff at 3:47 of the third round.

Cerrone (11-2 with one no contest) has a good shot at meeting the winner of the January showdown between lightweight champion Jamie Varner and interim title-holder Ben Henderson.

Ratcliff (7-2) connected with some fast hands as the fight opened but the taller Cerrone, a dangerous kickboxer, began to score with knees and kicks. Ratcliff took two low knees in the round and referee Herb Dean deducted a point from Cerrone.

Cerrone's kicks and knees had Ratcliff backing up in the second round. But a third low blow forced another halt to the bout and Cerrone was penalized another point.

"The knees were unintentional," he said later.

A frustrated Cerrone stopped the knees but kept kicking. And at one stage he pointed to the middle of the cage, as if to tell Ratcliff to stop backing away. The bell saved Ratcliff from a guillotine choke.

Cerrone kept on coming in the third. Dean halted the fight to stand the fighters up again after a Cerrone takedown, ruling Cerrone had grabbed the fence.

Cerrone got Ratcliff down again, applied a body triangle and then locked in the rear naked choke.

Said Ratcliff: "I'm not making any excuses. He did what he was supposed to do."

Introduced at six foot two, Njokuani (13-2) had six inches in height and six in reach on Horodecki. And he came in on the strength of back-to-back knockout of the night bonuses.

Horodecki had fought just once since April 2008. A January fight with Dan Lauzon for Affliction fell through when a neck injury sidelined the Canadian. A rescheduled bout between the two in August evaporated when Affliction folded its fight promotions arm.

Horodecki's lone outing previously this year was a submission win over William Sriyapai on the "Fight Force: Ultimate Chaos" card in June.

Horodecki (13-2) made his name with an 8-1 run in the International Fight League.

Earlier, bantamweight Joseph Benavidez (11-1) knocked out submission specialist Rani Yahya at 1:35 of the first round, felling him with a looping right.

The five-foot-four Benavidez was coming off the first loss of his career, a decision to Dominick Cruz. Yahya (15-5) had won three straight in the WEC.

Bantamweight Scott Jorgensen won a decision over Japan's Takeya Mizugaki. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Jorgensen.

The five-foot-four Jorgensen (8-3) knocked Mizugaki down twice in the first round but the Japanese fighter survived both times. Jorgensen took him down three times in the second round, only to see Mizugaki get back up quickly.

Mizugaki (12-4-2) finished strongly, taking Jorgensen down twice in the third round but failed to capitalize.

The five-foot-seven Mizugaki turned heads in his WEC debut in April, losing a decision to Miguel Angel Torres but giving the then-champion all he could handle over five rounds.

Featherweight Brandon (The Viper) Visher (13-0) stopped Courtney Buck (6-2) via TKO at 4:45 of the first round in a battle of WEC newcomers. A turtled Buck (6-2) was taking punishment from above when he rolled onto his back, only to take four heavy blows to the chin that ended the all-action bout.

Lightweight Bart Palaszewski (32-13) won a split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28) over Anthony Pettis (7-1).

NOTES -- Former featherweight champion Mike Brown, who lost his title to Brazilian Jose Aldo last month, returns to action against Anthony Morrison at WEC 46 on Jan. 10.