Fabricio Werdum's nasty KO of Mark Hunt just tip of iceberg on historic UFC card

MEXICO CITY – Just about everything that could go wrong with the UFC's debut in Latin America did go wrong.

Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, the reason the fight was held in the country's most populous city to begin with, had to pull out three weeks before his title defense against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 with a knee injury.

Two other promotions, Bellator and the World Series of Fighting, put free shows on television with compelling bouts that aired opposite the UFC's pay-per-view offering.

And the arena staff at Mexico City Arena was confused and disorganized in all manner of ways, creating havoc where there should have been none.

Despite everything that went wrong, however, this turned into one of the UFC's most memorable nights.

Werdum won the interim heavyweight title by surviving a brutal onslaught of power punches from late replacement Mark Hunt, catching the "Super Samoan" with a perfect knee on the butt of the chin.

A few punches on the ground later and referee Herb Dean was peeling Werdum off Hunt and UFC president Dana White was putting the title belt around the Brazilian's waist.

This night was far more than about the main event, however. The main card had all first-round finishes and just over 16 minutes of fighting until the Werdum-Hunt bout went all the way to 2:27 of the second round of the scheduled five-rounder.

Top-to-bottom, the card was filled with sensational fights. The UFC might have uncovered a major future star in Yair Rodriguez, who defeated Leonardo Morales to win the featherweight bracket of the first season of TUF Latin America.

Rodriguez is a terrific athlete who has a variety of moves, reminiscent in many ways of UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.

Jessica Eye and Leslie Smith put on an entertaining fight early in the show that ended when a right hand by Eye nearly ripped Smith's left ear off. Doctors had to stop the fight in the second round, much to Smith's consternation.

Amazingly, though, doctors were able to sew it back together in the locker room and Smith didn't need to go to the hospital.

"When I connected and saw her ear blow up, that became my main target," Eye said. "I was going to keep hitting it until they stopped the fight or it fell off."

After finding a potential star on the preliminary card, the UFC likely got another one on the main card. Unbeaten Kelvin Gastelum stamped himself as a legitimate contender in the welterweight division by outclassing Jake Ellenberger in every facet of the game.

Gastelum finished it by catching Ellenberger with a rear naked choke at the end of a scramble and forcing the tap in the waning seconds of the first round.

He's now 11-0 and looks every bit a top-10 contender that he undoubtedly will be when the new UFC rankings come out.

And Ricardo Lamas upset Dennis Bermudez's title hopes in the hot featherweight division, knocking him down with a jab and finishing him with a guillotine choke.

Lamas, who has won six of his last seven, is once again in the mix of contenders to challenge Jose Aldo after such a decisive victory over such a quality opponent.

On and on it went, great fight after great fight and terrific exchanges up and down the card.

To top it off, the sellout crowd of 21,000 was as good as the fights, roaring loudly at every turn and helping make it a memorable night.

If every crowd is like that massive, boisterous throng that roared itself hoarse, the UFC will make plenty more trips to Mexico no matter the issues it may encounter.

The big news, of course, was that Werdum won the title and will meet Velasquez sometime next year once Velasquez's knee heals. White said earlier in the week that he might strip Velasquez if he doesn't fight by March, but judging by the crowd's reaction and the significance of a Velasquez-Werdum title fight in Mexico, that's highly unlikely to happen.

It's been widely reported how the UFC nearly cut Hunt several years ago, but it actually did cut Werdum after he was knocked out by Junior dos Santos.

But he rebuilt himself into a legitimate contender over the years. Going into the fight, he was mostly known for a 2010 victory over the legendary Fedor Emelianenko, but he said Saturday's victory surpassed that.

"Winning a belt like this is a dream," Werdum said. "It's a dream come true and a lot of work, not months, it's years. I have two [victories], two wins that are history. The win over Fedor was very special, but today was the most special day of my life."

It was a special night for a lot of people. It's been a down year for the UFC, with a slew of major injuries contributing to declining pay-per-view sales and fan and media unrest.

There weren't a lot of huge names on Saturday's card, but all delivered big-time action to make it arguably the best night of the year for the UFC.