Vera halts Patt but Muñoz falls in UFC 96

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am Brandon Vera overpowered Michael Patt and scored a smashing second round stoppage in their light heavyweight duel in the Ultimate Fighting Championship 96 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio yesterday.

Displaying the free-swinging, wrecking ball style that once made him a force to reckon with in the octagon, the 31-year-old Vera dominated Patt with his unrelenting assault to force referee Yves Lavigne to step in and halt the fight with a minute and 27 seconds left in the second round.

It was the 10th win in 13 fights for the Norfolk, Virginia native who fought out of San Diego, California. Vera has dropped three of his last four bouts, including a split decision to Keith Jardine last year.

“I thought I could get by without training hard,” Vera told www.ufc.com. “But now I’m back. I’m going back to old school Muay Thai.”

But fellow Fil-Am fighter Mark Muñoz failed in his UFC debut, shown live at ABS-CBN’s cable channel BALLS yesterday morning, as he lost to fellow wrestler Matt Hamill in 3:53 of the opening round of the light heavy bout.

Expecting the battle to go down the mat, Muñoz got a surprise when he was knocked out with a flush right kick to the head that sent him down, forcing ref Dan Miragliotta to stop the fight.

Muñoz, who jumped from the UFC affiliate World Extreme Cagefighting organization, dropped to 5-1 while Hamill improved to 8-2.

But Vera made sure Filipino mixed martial arts fans had something to cheer about as he dished out his best performance since knocking out interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir three years ago. – Joey Villar