FUnews "Fight" Journal..

Welterweight champion Matt Hughes stopped BJ Penn in the third round to retain his title at UFC 63 on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.


Hughes overcame being poked in the eye in the first round and nearly being forced to tap out due to a choke and armbar in round two to avenge his 2004 loss to Penn.

Penn (10-4-1) dominated the first two rounds and had Hughes (42-4) in deep trouble toward the end of the second stanza, but ran out of time to take out the champion. The exhausting submission attempt cost Penn. He came out flat-footed in round three, and Hughes seized control in the third round, pinning Penn in the center of the octagon and reigning down several unanswered blows to Penn's head. Referee John McCarthy stepped in at 3:53 of the third, resulting in a TKO win for Hughes.


Clear Lake native Mike Swick (10-1) moved a step closer to a shot at the UFC middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Canadian David Loiseau. Both mixed martial artists came into the fight with reputations as top-notch strikers and action fighters, but the three-round bout was fought at a mostly pedestrian pace. Swick (10-1) was the aggressor, but never appeared to have Loiseau in trouble. Loiseau, who was tentative until the third round, dropped to 14-6 with the loss.

LAS VEGAS -- This time Rocky Juarez got the bad news in the
ring instead of his dressing room.

The result was the same -- Marco Antonio Barrera was still the
WBC 130-pound champion.


Barrera boxed his way to a unanimous decision Saturday night,
pleasing no one but himself with a workmanlike performance to keep
his super featherweight title in a fight that drew boos from the
crowd for a lack of action.


The fight was a rematch of their first fight in May in Los
Angeles when Juarez left the ring thinking he had a draw, only to
find out in his dressing room that the scores had been added wrong
and that he had actually lost the decision.

There was no problem with the scoring in the second fight, with
all three judges favoring Barrera in a fight that ended the same
way it began -- with Barrera controlling the action and Juarez
chasing him around the ring trying to land a big left hook.


"I gave him a boxing lesson and that's exactly what I wanted to
do," Barrera said. "I learned never to fight on the level of my
opponent."

LOS ANGELES -- Samuel Peter thought he was going to stop James Toney.

"I had him hurt. I thought I was going to knock him out, but he's so smart," Peter said Saturday night after winning a split decision.

Peter wobbled Toney with overhand rights several times in the early rounds and went on to capture the 12-round heavyweight bout.


Peter, a 25-year-old Nigerian, seemed to lose steam on his punches after piling up the points, and the 38-year-old Toney began landing some combinations and effective counterpunches of his own. But it wasn't enough.

There were no knockdowns.

Despite losing a point for cuffing Toney on the ears with both hands during a clinch in the ninth round, Peter won by scores of 116-111 on the cards of judges Alejandro Rochin and Richard Flaherty. Judge Gale Van Hoy favored Toney 115-112.

"He never hurt me; I'm solid like a rock," Peter said. "My game plan was to go in there and stick the jab."

Toney was surprised by the judging.


"I didn't lose this fight. I took everything away from him," Toney said. "I'm not done with this punk."