At the top of the card was T.J. Dillashaw, who wrestled at Cal State Fullerton, which no longer has an intercollegiate mat program -- who scored a TKO victory at 35 seconds in the fourth round over Renan Barao in their bantamweight bout.
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With the win, Dillashaw keeps the title, and is now 12-2 overall in his mixed martial arts career (and 8-2 in UFC fights), while Barao falls to 33-3 overall, and 8-2 in UFC.
The four preliminary card matches shown on FOX each had at least one contestant who stepped onto a college wrestling mat prior to entering the Octagon.
In a light-heavyweight match-up of two former collegians, Tom Lawlor knocked out Gian Villante 27 seconds into the second round. Lawlor, who wrestled at University of Central Florida, scored the KO on Gillante, a former Hofstra University wrestler. Immediately before that match, in another bout featuring two ex-college matmen, Jim Miller -- who wrestled for one year at Virginia Tech -- scored a split decision over Danny Castillo, an NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) All-American at Menlo College of California. Judges scored the three-round lightweight bout 28-29, 29-28, and 30-27 for Miller.
The other two prelims broadcast on FOX had mixed results for one-time collegians. Kenny Robertson, a three-time NCAA Division I qualifier at Eastern Illinois University, was on the losing end of a split decision to Ben Saunders. Judges scored the welterweight fight 29-28, 28-29, and 29-28 for Saunders. On a brighter note, Bryan Caraway, an alum of the now-defunct intercollegiate wrestling program at Central Washington, earned a unanimous decision over Eddie Wineland, 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27, in a three-round bantamweight bout.
The early-evening prelims shown exclusively on UFC Fight Pass were not devoid of one-time college wrestlers. In one lightweight match, former Utah Valley University wrestler Ramsey Nijem came out on the losing end of a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) to Andrew Holbrook ... while, in another bout in the same weight class, Daron Cruickshank, an NCAA Division III qualifier for Olivet College, was the victim of a rear-naked choke submission at 1:27 of the first round in his match with James Krause.
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