Great from start to finish

A live UFC fight card in the middle of the week doesn't come around very often, and don't expect them to become regular. But what a treat we were given on Wednesday night.

The first UFC on FUEL TV event, which aired on Sportsnet, was bookended by two of the most exciting rounds of MMA I've seen in a while. It began with the best candidate for a single-round Fight of the Night I might have ever seen, only to be trumped by what was almost one of the best comebacks in the UFC in quite some time.

Canadian veteran Ivan Menjivar, a native of El Salvador, helped make the UFC organizers look like geniuses for promoting his fight with John Albert to the main card in the final week leading up to the event, as they opened the telecast with a back-and-forth three minutes and 45 seconds of action that saw pretty much every element of MMA displayed in exquisite fashion.

Albert, who was coming off a stint on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter and a solid win in his UFC debut, showed great technique for a young guy and had Menjivar rocked on a couple occasions. The Montreal fighter was in desperate cover-up mode, nearly causing referee Jim Axtel to stop the fight.

But Menjivar, who had renowned trainers Greg Jackson of New Mexico and Tristar's Firas Zahabi in his corner, was blocking and moving around enough to allow Axtel -- not one of the UFC's longtime officials -- to let the fight continue. He managed to get to his feet, even as he ate some knees -- possibly even an illegal one while he still had his hand on the mat -- and landed a punch to stun Albert. Then he used his wrestling to take Albert's back and transition to some perfect grappling.

Menjivar secured both hooks while he pressed Albert's body to the ground, and as he sought a rear naked choke, he switched to ground and pound from the back to force Albert to defend with his arm, leaving the opening for Menjivar to slip his left arm around his neck and sink in the rear naked choke. Albert was forced to tap shortly afterward.

Twitter was immediately abuzz with reaction to the fight, with a lot of wows thrown out and a four-exclamation-mark "Awesome!!!!" from UFC president Dana White. And Menjivar celebrated with his patented back-flip.

It could have been a fantastic night for Albert, who was 31 of 55 (56 percent) in significant strikes. But Menjivar went 25 of 35 (71 per cent) and had the takedown that turned the fight in his favour.

Skipping forward to the much-anticipated headliner, it was looking like it was going to be a nice payday for Menjivar on both the submission and fight of the night fronts.

Then Jake Ellenberger and Diego Sanchez went to war.

Through the first two rounds, it became clear -- at least to those who didn't already know -- that Ellenberger was the more proficient striker. Prior to the fight, I picked Sanchez to win because I liked his focus and felt with his aggressiveness he was primed for an upset against the higher-ranked Ellenberger, who had the distractions and pressure of fighting in front of his home crowd in Omaha, Ne.

On paper I knew Ellenberger was better. And I've always felt that Sanchez lacked the technique to compete with the top contenders -- as we've seen in his past fights against Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn.

But he sure has heart. Ellenberger threw a lot more punches in the first two frames, but Sanchez was blocking a lot of them. Meanwhile, Sanchez continued to move forward, only to have Ellenberger dodge many of his strikes and counter, at one point busting up Sanchez's nose.

By the third round, it looked like Ellenberger was going to be able to cruise to victory. That's one thing you don't want to do in MMA, because Ellenberger began to fade, and left an opening for Sanchez, who took it.

Ellenberger got a late takedown but Sanchez did not give up despite the disadvantageous position and was able to slip out from under him and take his back. He then tried to do what Menjivar did nearly three hours earlier, only he had less than a minute to do it, was grappling with a sweatier opponent after 14 minutes of action and was up against the cage.

Sanchez tried many times to get the rear naked choke in place but couldn't quite do it as Ellenberger fended him off.

Sanchez lost the decision, but gained much admiration from fans and the brass.

Afterward, Sanchez exclaimed: "Was that enough of a dogfight for you?"

He also echoed what many fans were wondering, why weren't there two more rounds? "I thought all main events were supposed to be five rounds," he said. (I sincerely hope that he wasn't saying he didn't know until the end of the third round that the fight was over.)

But the policy of five-round main events has only been for numbered UFC events and shows on FOX. However, given the excitement of Wednesday's headliner -- which was rightfully awarded Fight of the Night -- White said he plans to make ALL main events five rounds going forward.

As for Ellenberger, it was a nice win in his home town and an important win for him in the UFC's welterweight picture. But he lost a gear late in the third round and that could be a concern in a five-round fight, which could be in his near future.

White essentially ruled out an immediate matchup against Condit, who will instead wait for Georges St-Pierre to be healthy. But with another win in the meantime -- I'd like to see him matched up against Rory MacDonald should the Canadian beat Che Mills in April -- and he'll have a title shot waiting.

The middle fights of the rare six-fight slate weren't too bad either, with a 43-second KO by Stipe Miocic -- forcing us to commit to memory how to pronounce the Croatian's name (STEEP-eh me-O-chitch) -- and another nice knockout by Stefan Struve. Overall, you couldn't ask for much more from a free night of fights.

Although next time, we may get two more exhilarating rounds.

James Brydon is the Managing Digital Editor and blogger for sportsnet.ca's UFC section.