THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — Five Canadians battled in the cage Saturday night on the blood-filled undercard of UFC 113 at the Bell Centre, but only Joe (El Dirte) Doerksen came out on top.
Five of the six preliminary bouts featured Canadians as the UFC touched down in Montreal for the third time in three years.
Winnipeg middleweight Doerksen (45-12) took a beating in the first round against (Filthy) Tom Lawlor (6-3 and one no contest), as the two unloaded stiff punches and uppercuts.
Bleeding from his left eye in the second round, Doerksen took Lawlor to the ground and applied a rear naked choke, forcing the American to tap out at 2:10 for the win.
Before the fight, Lawlor strutted into the arena first, wearing a U.S. flag and a top hat emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes. The James Brown rendition of Living in America — made famous on the Rocky IV soundtrack — blasted in the building.
But after it was over, "Canada, Canada, Canada" echoed in the bleachers.
The fight was on the undercard of the rematch between Brazilians Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida and Mauricio (Shogun) Rua for the light-heavyweight belt.
The other Canadians on the preliminary card weren’t as fortunate as Doerksen.
Marcus (The Irish Hand Grenade) Davis dropped two bombs on Jonathan (The Road Warrior) Goulet of Victoriaville, Que., finishing him off by TKO at 1:23 of the second round.
In the one-two combo, Davis (22-7) stunned Goulet (22-11) with a right hook to the head and then drove his fist into the Quebecer’s face, knocking him to the mat.
Goulet, 30, who became the first Canadian fighter to win a UFC tilt on home turf two years ago, hadn’t fought since Mike (Quick) Swick took just 33 seconds to knock him out in December 2008.
Welterweight Johny Hendricks (8-0) remained undefeated by winning a close decision over T.J. Grant of Dartmouth, N.S. (15-4).
Chants of "T.J., T.J., T.J." and "Let’s go, T.J." rained down on Grant, but it wasn’t enough to lift him over Hendricks in the tight battle.
In the opening round, Grant crumpled Hendricks with a direct kick between the legs, a shot that drew a collective "Ooooh" from the crowd when it was replayed on the big screen.
Grant’s foot connected again with Hendricks’ private parts in the third round, forcing the ref to pause the fight a second time while the aching Oklahoman regained his composure. The Canadian also lost a point for delivering the second low-blow.
Earlier, Joey (The Mexicutioner) Beltran won a blood-spattered, heavyweight slugfest with Edmonton’s Tim (The Thrashing Machine) Hague that went the distance and energized the Bell Centre crowd.
The six-foot-one, 240-pound Beltran (12-3) beat six-foot-four, 260-pound Hague (10-4) by unanimous decision. The 28-year-old Californian is now 2-0 in the UFC.
The pugilists landed heavy punches to each other’s faces in a three-round bout that looked more like a street brawl than mixed martial arts.
In the first undercard matchup, Edmonton’s Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald return to the UFC didn’t last beyond 2:42 of the first round.
MacDonald (22-13) fell awkwardly on his left leg when he took American John Salter (5-1) to the mat.
The 34-year-old MacDonald, a late addition to the card as an injury replacement, grabbed the fence and grimaced in pain as the referee stopped the fight.
It was a third-straight UFC loss for MacDonald, who was cut last year after consecutive defeats to Nate Quarry and Wilson Gouveia.
The two Canadians on the main card didn’t fare any better. Quebec City’s Patrick (The Predator) Cote lost by submission to Alan (The Talent) Belcher and lightweight Sam (Hands of Stone) Stout of London, Ont., lost a split decision to Jeremy Stephens, though Stout did earn a $65,000 fight-of-the-night bonus cheque for his troubles.
