UFC lightweight Jim Miller is back on the winning track.
Miller, who was coming off a loss to current No. 1 contender Benson Henderson last August, defeated Melvin Guillard on Friday night by rear naked choke in the first round of the main event of UFC on FX 1 in Nashville.
The 28-year-old American survived an early onslaught from the fiery striker Guillard in which he got rocked. But Miller, who has never been finished in 24 career fights, hung in and managed to leap and take his opponent’s back and lock his arms around his head. From there he took Guillard to the ground, sunk in the choke and forced a quick tap at the 2:04 mark to improve to 21-3.
Miller won submission of the night, which awarded him $45,000.
With the loss, Guillard (29-10-2) dropped his second straight in the UFC, both by rear naked choke in the first half of the opening frame — in October, he was surprisingly submitted by Joe Lauzon just 47 seconds into their tilt.
In the co-main event at the Bridgestone Arena, Josh Neer defeated Duane Ludwig in very similar fashion. Ludwig, who was fighting for the first time since the UFC announced it was crediting him with the fastest knockout in the organization’s history at six seconds, came out firing early and held a significant edge in the standup.
But after a takedown by Neer, Ludwig left his neck exposed as he tried to get up and Neer took it and applied a guillotine choke as he dropped them to their knees on the mat. Ludwig tried to escape but after realizing he wouldn’t be able to, he began to tap with his right arm only to fall asleep.
The referee noticed and after checking his arm and getting no reaction, he waved off the fight at the 3:04 mark. He then pulled Neer off and held the unconscious Ludwig up to avoid him falling flat on his face.
Ludwig had been acknowledged with having the unofficial fastest knockout after he stopped Jonathan Goulet in a 2006 bout. The referee waved it off at about the four-second mark, but the timekeeper entered the stoppage at 11 seconds. The UFC just recently credited him with a 6-second knockout, though the commission in Nevada where the fight took place has not changed the official record.
Earlier Friday, heavyweight Pat Barry shook off an early submission attempt to knock out Christian Morecraft with a barrage of strikes at 3:38 of the first round. Barry, who snapped a two-fight losing streak, celebrated by leaping onto the side of the cage. Their bout was given the nod for fight of the night.
In the final fight of the undercard, Jorge Rivera was a winner in his final professional fight, knocking out Eric Schafer at 1:31 of the second round. The 39-year-old Rivera, who said prior to the fight he would retire following the bout win or lose, went 4-2 in his last six bouts, with one split decision loss and another in which he took an illegal knee while grounded from his opponent Michael Bisping.
In the first preliminary fight, Canadian Nick (The Ninja of Love) Denis won his UFC debut in 22 seconds, earning knockout of the night by stopping Joseph Sandoval, who fell to 0-2 in the Octagon.
NOTES: The show was the UFC’s first featuring its secondary broadcast team of play-by-play man Jon Anik and former UFC fighter Kenny Florian, who will work events airing on FX and FUEL TV (cable channels owned by FOX, which this year began a network broadcast deal with the UFC) … The event was also the first to air on free TV in its entirety. The undercard aired on FUEL TV, while the main card was on FX in the U.S. All five hours of coverage were shown on Sportsnet ONE in Canada … Next Saturday, Jan. 28, the UFC will hold its first full card on FOX since officially starting the partnership. UFC on FOX 2 in Chicago, headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, will air on all Sportsnet regional channels starting at 8 p.m. ET in Canada.
