LAS VEGAS - Middleweight Mark (The Filipino Wrecking Machine) Munoz pounded out Ryan Jensen to win via tapout due to strikes at 2:30 of the first round on the undercard of UFC 108 on Saturday night.
Jensen (15-5) started confidently but Munoz, a former NCAA wrestling champion at Oklahoma State, showed some heavy hands in finishing Jensen on the ground. Jensen turned face down in a bid to escape the onslaught but eventually tapped out after some two dozen unanswered blows.
"I've got pretty good ground and pound," said Munoz (7-1).
Jensen is now 1-4 in the UFC but has faced some good opposition in Munoz, Wilson Gouveia, Demian Maia and Thales Leites. His lone win is over Steve Steinbess.
The mixed martial arts fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was on the undercard of the light-heavyweight main event featuring former champion Rashad Evans and Brazilian Thiago Silva.The New Years card, normally one of the blockbusters on the UFC calendar, was plagued with injuries, causing one change after another.
Earlier, welterweight Jake Ellenberger stopped Mike (Quicksand) Pyle by TKO 22 seconds into the second round for his first UFC win. Pyle was prickly off the bottom in the first round but seemed hurt by a flurry of body shots as the round ended. It took him a while to get off the canvas and stagger to his corner.
Ellenberger (22-5) went back to the body with a knee early in the second and then knocked Pyle (18-7-1) down with a right early in the second, pounding away until Montreal referee Yves Lavigne stepped in.
Ellenberger turned heads in his UFC debut September, losing a split decision but giving Carlos Condit all he could handle. He celebrated his win with a cartwheel in the cage.
Lightweight Rafaello (Tractor) Oliveira (10-2) used takedowns and his superior ground game to win a unanimous decision over UFC newcomer John (Guns) Gunderson.
Gunderson (22-7) had no answers for Oliveira in a less than spectacular curtain-raiser on the card.
"How long did it take you to get here ... Don't let it slip away," Canadian coach Shawn Tompkins told Gunderson after the second round, also reminding him of his family.
Oliveira, a New Jersey-based Brazilian, mounted Gunderson several times, took his back repeatedly and consistently had better position on the ground but could not finish him off. Gunderson fought off a kimura as the final bell rang.
The main event was slated to feature heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, a fight pushed back from UFC 106 in November. But Lesnar's health did not improve and Carwin needed knee surgery. Heavyweights Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cain Velasquez were drafted as the new main event, until Nogueira fell victim to a serious staph infection.
Other fighters to fall off the card were Steve Cantwell, Carlos Condit, Gabriel Gonzaga, Tyson Griffin, Rory Markham, and Sean Sherk.
