Canadian underdogs Malott and Jasudavicius sweep UFC main events

Joaquin Buckley said before his fight Saturday that he planned on hurting Mike Mallot.

OK, if it’s possible to hurt someone’s knee with your jaw, then sure, maybe he hurt him.

But they had to wake Buckley up to tell him because he was flat cold by the 2:32 mark of the second round after a stunning finish at UFC Fight Night in Rogers Place.

It was as vicious a KO as you are ever going to see. With Buckley ducking in after a throwing a punch, Malott caught him square on the jaw with a knee, sending his opponent’s mouthpiece flying across the octagon. A brutal right hand while Buckley was on his hands and knees closed the show.

Even veteran combat sports reporters were taken aback by how jarring it was.

“For Mike to be the main event in his home country, that’s the way you want get it done,” said UFC President Dana White. “You couldn’t do it any better than that.”

Buckley did a lot of talking before the fight, but you sense the moment might be getting to him when he froze up in a televised interview after Friday’s ceremonial weigh in, not saying a word when the reporter asked him three questions about the fight.

He wasn’t in a position to be talking after it, either.

“I saw his mouthguard go flying out and he fell face first,” said Malott. “So I thought, ‘OK, I’m pretty sure this is a wrap,’ and I threw one more.”

Ironically, Buckley was considered the superior striker and it was assumed that Malott would try and take the fight to the ground where he could use his wrestling. Turns out he was better on the feet, too.

With his brother Jeff of the Anaheim Ducks celebrating with some of his teammates at a watch party back in California and the crowd at Rogers Place in a state of shock, Malott, draped in a Canadian flag, raised his arms to the air and soaked in the biggest moment of his fighting life.

“I’m on top of the world right now,” he said, adding he saves his talking for the cage. “I might be soft-spoken, but I’m (effing) hard-hitting.”

The win extended the 13th-ranked welterweight’s win streak to five-straight while handing Buckley, who brought a bodybuilders physique into the cage, a third-straight UFC defeat.

• In the co-main event, Jasmine Jasudavicius of St. Catharines continued her march up the UFC rankings Saturday with might have been the biggest win of her career.

The sixth-ranked flyweight scored a unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) decision over fourth-ranked Erin Blanchfield, controlling things from start to finish in a performance that might just move her in line for a title shot.

“Absolutely, she looked great tonight,” said White. “Tonight was a big night for her. Co-main event and she delivers in her home country.”

Jasudavicius, who walked out to the Edmonton Oilers win song, La Bamba, ground Blanchfield into trouble by the middle of the first round. She took the fight to the mat, put the New Jersey product in a body lock and came close to choking her out. She did the same thing in the second, winning a grappling battle and again spending most of the round with Blanchfield in a body lock.

Blanchfield, knowing she was down 2-0, launched a desperate attempt to get a third-round KO to steal the fight, but it was too little too late.

“It was a great for me to get in there and prove how great of a grappler I am,” said Jasudavicius. “I’m the best women’s grappler in the division. I’ll even say in the world.

“I thought it was possible to be that dominant. I know I can be the best in the world.”

With a UFC card headed for Toronto in January, this might set up the title shot she’s been waiting for. Jasduvicius fighting for a title on Canadian soil pretty much writes itself.

“It puts me in a good position, the division is really open,” she said. “I’m here for a purpiose; I’m trying to become the best in the world. And we (champion Natalia Silva) have some history so it would be a really epic story.”

It was a compelling night of fights all night with only one going the distance. Fight fans like finishes and this card was wall to wall with them.

“Twelve out of 13 fights were finishes and half of those were the underdogs, that never happens in combat sports,” said White. “Everybody delivered.”

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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