fight night round 4

fight night round 4 LAS VEGAS - Roger (El Matador) Huerta rallied in the third round to choke out Clay (The Carpenter) Guida in a battle of UFC lightweights Saturday night.

The 24-year-old Huerta, a Sports Illustrated cover boy seen as one of the UFC's rising stars, almost failed to make it to the end of the second round under a barrage of Guida blows. But he showed his mettle by surviving the onslaught, and then taking control to win by TKO 51 seconds into the final round.

The victory raised Huerta's record to 22-1-1 mark, including 6-0 in the UFC. Seen as a rising star in mixed martial arts, the 155-pounder was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated earlier this year when the magazine turned its attention on MMA.

The experienced Guida, who turned 26 Saturday, fell to 22-6 (2-3 in the UFC) with yet another exciting fight under his belt.

"That guy is amazing, tough," an emotional Huerta said after the fight.

Guida took Huerta down twice in a see-saw, full-throttle first round. Guida continued to outwrestle and take Huerta down in the second but took absorbed some punishment from kicks and punches while standing up. Guida landed some powerful shots of his own later in the round and rocked him with a right. Huerta was lucky to finish the round, lying on his back and taking one blow after another when the round ended.

In the third, Huerta came out throwing and caught Guida with a knee to the head. A dazed Guida was never the same and Huerta quickly took his back, setting up the choke.

"I thought I had the first couple of rounds and he came back, He's got a lot of heart, that's what it takes," said Guida.

The Huerta-Guida fight marked the finale for veteran referee (Big) John McCarthy, who is leaving officiating to serve as an analyst for the Toronto-based Fight Network.

The mixed martial arts card, at The Palms, served as the finale to Season 6 of "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV series.

Welterweight Mac Danzig (18-4-1) emerged the winner of the show for 170-pounders, making it look easy as he choked out the bigger Tommy Speer (9-2) at 2:01 of the first round. Danzig earned a UFC contract, which he will use to campaign in the smaller lightweight class.

"You are the Ultimate Fighter," UFC president Dana White said in the ring.

Danzig took Speer down, got the mount position and eventually took his back, choking Speer out.

"It's either tap out or go to sleep there," said Danzig, who dedicated the win to his mother.

Speer, with cuts under both eyes, said he was glad he had made it this far.

"Mac, he deserved every bit of this. His experience showed."

Both Danzig and Speer were members of Matt Hughes' team on the TV show.

White, meanwhile, announced that Season 7 will be revamped with Season 1 winner Forrest Griffin serving as one of the coaches. He did not elaborate on the new format or identify the other coach.

Earlier, John (War Machine) Koppenhaver (6-1) rallied to stop Jared (J-Roc) Rollins (9-4) in an action-packed bout that saw both fighters leak blood all over the ring. Rollins, nursing a cut eye, showed off some nasty elbows from the bottom, carving opening Koppenhaver's head. But an exhausted Koppenhaver bounced back in the third round, somehow switching positions to get on top of Rollins and pound away until the fight was stopped at 2:01.

"He's my friend I didn't want to fight him tonight but I had to," Koppenhaver said in the ring afterwards.

Australian George Sotiropoulos (6-2) made short work of Billy Miles (2-2), winning via rear naked choke at 1:36 of the first round.

Ben Saunders (5-0-2) won a unanimous decision over Dan Barrera (1-1). He also won when they met on the sixth episode of the show, which featured 170-pound welterweights.

The six-foot-three Saunders spent much of his time on his back his time, blunting Barrera's attack with an effective guard. But he rocked Barrera with a kick to the head as the second round wore down and dominated Barrera in the third.

Elsewhere on the undercard, Jonathan Goulet of Victoriaville, Que., choked out Paul Georgieff at 4:42 of the first round. Goulet, a veteran UFC fighter, was not involved in the show.

Matt Arroyo submitted John Kolosci with a slick armbar at 4:42 of the first round, Troy Mandaloniz stopped Richie Hightower via TKO at 4:20 of the first round after hammering him to the canvas with a straight left, and Roman Mitichyan used an ankle lock to submit Dorian Price after just 23 seconds.

Fighters in the crowd included Hughes. Griffin, Quinton (Rampage) Jackson, Tito (The Huntington Beach Bad Boy) Ortiz and Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer