Vaughan Lee beaten on UFC debut

Birmingham's Vaughan Lee suffered a disappointing defeat in his debut contest for the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the city's LG Arena.

The 28-year old lost a tight split decision to American Chris 'Kamikaze' Cariaso in front of more than 10,000 fans at the company's latest mixed martial arts pay-per-view blockbuster UFC 138.

The Brummie bantamweight, who had won 11 of his previous 17 MMA contests fighting for other companies, won the first round, driving his opponent to the mat on two occasions and landing some well placed punches on the ground.

But the second session belonged to Cariaso, who landed several crisp punches and then returned the favour by taking Lee to the floor.

Lee, who trains at the Ultimate Training Centre in Erdington, defended well as the Californian tried to finish the bout with a series of vicious elbow strikes and punches on the mat.

But he was unable to find his way back to his feet, and the same deficiency put paid to his hopes of victory in the final stanza.

Lee drew gasps from the crowd as he landed a spinning back fist on his rival, but Cariaso took the blow admirably and then took him to the floor yet again, where he rained down further elbows and punches.

Lee weathered the storm, also surviving a choke attempt, but his efforts failed to persuade the judges. Two scored the contest 29-28 to the American while Lee took the remaining scorecard by the same tally.

Another frustrated Midlands fighter in attendance was Cannock's Paul 'Relentless' Taylor, who had been due to fight at the LG Arena until a freak car accident sidelined him earlier this week.

The 31-year-old lightweight, who trains with Lee, would have been fighting Anthony Njokuani on Saturday's card.

Taylor, who has won 11 of his 17 career bouts, revealed his frustration at being unable to compete in front of his West Midlands fans.

He said: "I was stuck at some traffic lights and I just got hit from behind. I suffered whiplash and I had pins and needles in my fingers.

"I really wanted to compete here and there are quite a lot of disappointed fans who wanted to see me fight.

"I don't know how long I will be out for yet. How long is a piece of string? I had my last fight in Las Vegas in February and I'm itching to get back."

Taylor's latest injury set back follows his recovery from a broken foot, which forced him to pull out of a bout in August.

But six other Brits took to the octagon during the event, which broke LG Arena box office records with a live gate of £1.5million, with varying degrees of success.

Gloucester welterweight Che Mills enjoyed a perfect UFC debut as knocked out Californian Chris Cope in just 40 seconds of the first round with a brutal knee strike to the head.

The victory also earned him a $70,000 prize for the knockout of the night.

But London Muay Thai specialist Jason Young lost via unanimous decision to Japanese Judo star Michihiro Omigawa at featherweight.

Sunderland heavyweight Philip De Fries beat Liverpool's Rob Broughton by the same scoreline in an all-English clash, while London welterweight John 'the One' McGuire survived a spectacular early knockdown to convincingly defeat American Justin Edwards, also on points.

Liverpool's popular lightweight Terry Etim won a $70,000 submission-of-the-night bonus by beating Hawaiian US Navy veteran Edward Faaloloto with a guillotine choke, after just 17 seconds of the first round.

But London bantamweight Brad Pickett was defeated by first round submission, albeit in a contest that won fight-of-the-night honours, by a choke from Brazilian Renan Barao.

In the main event, which was the first scheduled five round non-title match in UFC history, Mark 'The Filipino Wrecking Machine' Munoz defeated Hawaii-born Chris 'The Crippler' Leben.

His corner withdrew him at the end of the second round with a severe cut above his left eye.

All other contests were scheduled over three rounds.

By Matthew Viney