Miller has Guillard in no man's land

Fundamentals took out flash Friday night.

Melvin Guillard looked spectacular at times, but after three minutes of wowing the crowd, he was caught in another choke and had to tap to the very steady and tough Jim Miller.

Guillard, a dynamic striker, was lighting up Miller when he made a big mistake. He left his feet to attempt his fourth flying knee of the fight. Miller was waiting and dumped him to the ground where he eventually locked on a rear-naked choke to finish things at the 2:02 mark of the first round in the main event of the UFC on FX 1 card in Nashville.

"It always something I've been able to do and then from there it was just about securing the position," Miller told UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik. "I'm pretty confident that I am the most dangerous lightweight in the world. I'm willing to make you guys believe that."

The dominant victory puts Miller (21-3, 10-2 UFC) right back in the middle of the UFC lightweight title hunt. A second straight loss Friday and he would've tumbled down the rankings. Miller lost badly his last time out against Ben Henderson. He revealed this week that he was battling some medical issues entering that fight. That's all in the past now.

Neer wins over Ludwig (Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports)Josh Neer is 2-0 in his fourth stint with the UFC as he choked Duane Ludwig unconscious in the first round of their bout at UFC on FX 1 at Nashville on Friday.

After the two clinched for the beginning of the first round, Duane Ludwig came in with several strikes that wobbled Neer, but then Neer answered back with jabs of his own. This patter continued to repeat until Ludwig tried for a takedown. Neer put in a deep guillotine. Ludwig raised his hand to tap, but was out before he even had the chance to tap. The bout was stopped at 3:04 of the first round.

Neer is 33-10 after this win. He has been in and out of the UFC, but has two straight stoppage wins since rejoining the promotion in October. Ludwig has been on a two-fight win streak, and now is 21-12.

Easton drills Papazian with an overhand right

It may not be widely recognized as the deepest division in the world, but the bantamweights are starting to carve out quite a reputation in the UFC.

Mike Easton and Jared Papazian added to the cause by putting in some awesome work tonight on the UFC on FX 1 card in Nashville.

At the end of the fight, both fighters were still standing after throwing over 400 strikes at each other. Easton got the nod via majority decision, 30-27, 29-29 and 29-28, in a crowd-pleasing brawl that got better as the fight went along.

"He's a tough dude. He was the champ back in the division where he was at," Easton told UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik. "All we wanted to do was please the fans and we rapped. We the 35ers baby! Nothing but non-stop action. We love to fight."

Barry walks away from his victim (Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports)Pat Barry broke a two-fight losing skid with a first-round knockout of Christian Morecraft at UFC on FX 1 in Nashville on Friday. The path to Barry's knockout win was paved with a much better ground game from Barry.

As the fight started, Morecraft caught Barry's kick, took Barry down, and immediately tried for a rear naked choke. Morecraft wasn't in good position for the choke, and Barry defended it, then pushed Morecraft off of him. After they returned to their feet, Barry landed stiff jabs that damaged Morecraft's face. Morecraft got a takedown and briefly moved into full mount before getting an armbar.

Barry showed greatly improved submission defense, working his way out of the submission. When they returned to their feet, Barry threw a massive left hook and knocked Morecraft to the ground. He finished with three strikes on the ground before referee Herb Dean stepped in and stopped the fight at 3:38 in the first round.

This is the best Barry has looked in a year. He was on a two-fight losing streak, but this Barry finally had a ground game and submission defense.

"I'm sorry. That took me nine choked out experiences to make that happen," Barry said after the bout.

Rivera gets emotional during his farewell speech

He doesn't rank up there with the likes of Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, but Jorge Rivera certainly did his part as one of the building blocks for the UFC.

A long-time card filler since 2003, Rivera announced earlier in the day that he was retiring following his fight tonight. He seized the opportunity to shine in his final trip to the Octagon by wearing down and eventually punching out Eric Schafer at the 1:31 mark of the second round of the final fight on the FUEL TV portion of the UFC on FX 1 card.

"I want to thank Zuffa. I want to thank Dana White, the Fertitta brothers, Burt Watson, whose voice I'm going to miss dearly in the back," Rivera told UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik.

Rivera then turned his attention to thanking his family and training partners. That's when he got a bit emotional.

It was nice to see the near 40-year-old make it to the cage tonight for his 15th career fight with the promotion. He nearly retired back in 2009 after the tragic passing of his daughter Jessica.

Charlie Brennman won a decision over Daniel Roberts (Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports)

Charlie Brenneman and Khabib Nurmagomedov walked away from UFC on FX 1 winners. Brenneman took a decision, while Nurmagomedov had an impressive, late submission.

Brenneman grapples his way to a win

Charlie Brenneman took the win over Daniel Roberts with a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 decision.

Roberts started the first round strong with a bevy of punches, and Brenneman responded with a takedown. Roberts grabbed a guillotine, but wasn't in a good position to finish him off. Brenneman popped  his head out, and controlled Roberts. He moved into side control and maneuvered Roberts into a crucifix hold, landing several punches to Roberts' head along the way. Several appeared to hit the back of Roberts' head, but referee Herb Dean did not see the illegal strikes.

Schilling is seconds away from hitting the floor

Don't be fooled by records in MMA. It's all about quality of competition.

Pat Schilling learned that tonight in Nashville. The 5-0 fighter got steamrolled by Daniel Pineda. Pineda, a seven-loss fighter, stormed across the cage and walked through Schilling to post a victory in his UFC debut in just 97 seconds.

With 4:09 left in the round, Pineda (16-7, 1-0 UFC) got things rolling with a short left. He grabbed Schilling and scored an easy takedown. Just six seconds later, he mounted the stunned Schilling. Pineda unloaded with some big shots to Schilling's forehead, who turned to give his back with 3:53 left. Eventually Schilling stood up with Pineda on his back. That only made it easier to slap on the rear-naked choke. Referee Mario Yamasaki saved Schilling a few seconds later after it went back down to the ground.

Denis lands one of four massive elbows

Denis brutalizes Sandoval in 22-second win

Dana White released his first video blog for the card on FX today. One interesting scene includes the UFC president dealing with the withdrawal of Mark Munoz from the UFC on Fox 2 card. White is getting ready to release news of the new Chael Sonnen-Michael Bising fight and says the winner will get a title shot against the currently sidelined UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

White must know something Sonnen doesn't because the outspoken contender sounds pretty sure he'll never face Silva.

"I'm not going to fight Anderson either way. They can say whatever they want. Anderson is never going to do that fight," Sonnen told "The MMA Insiders" show last week on Las Vegas' ESPN1100/98.9 FM. "I hope he's healthy and has a good life, but I'm not buying into this mythical world that Anderson is going to some day sign a contract to fight me."

During today's UFC on Fox 2 conference call, Sonnen reiterated his theory and said Silva turned down the fight to their boss' face.