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Thousands Attend Action-Packed UFC Event At Consol Energy Center

/ CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Thousands of fight fans were in attendance for UFC's return to Pittsburgh Sunday night, an event punctuated by stars delivering sudden, thrilling finishes.

The top three matches on the card all ended in the first round. In the main event, Donald Cerrone won the clash of "Cowboys" with a submission win via triangle choke over Alex Oliveira.

In a bout between middleweight contenders, 13th ranked Derek Brunson battered 15th ranked Roan Carneiro until the referee finally stepped in to end the onslaught at 2:38 of the first round.

"I got him to the ground and landed a few punches and saw that he was stunned so I went for the finish," said Brunson.

No one delivered quite like Cody Garbrandt. The native of Uhrichsville, Ohio (approximately 85 miles west of Pittsburgh) was treated like a hometown hero in the city where he started his MMA career. The intensity of the fans at Consol Energy Center fueled the undefeated Garbrandt, who came out swinging for the fences. His sudden strike put down Augusto Mendes, and the referee ended the fight at 4:18 of the first round.

"The atmosphere was great and I fed off the fans. It was a crazy, hectic week, but I knew my fans were expecting me to perform and that's exactly what I did. I was physically and mentally preparing to fight on Feb. 21 in my hometown and nothing was going to keep me from doing that," Garbrandt said at the end of the night.

There were memorable moments from other matches. Several fights ended in spectacular fashion.

Chris Camozzi stopped Joe Riggs via TKO at 0:26 of the first round. Camozzi delivered a series of knee strikes that reportedly broke Riggs' forearm as he tried to protect his head from the series of blows.

Olawale Bamgbose delivered a scintilating knockout kick to the head of Daniel Sarafian at 1:00 of the first round of their fight.

Sean Strickland defeated Alex Garcia via TKO at 4:25 of the third round. A late flurry by Strickland ended with a straight shot that floored Garcia.

The prelims on UFC Fight Pass included two matches in the women's bantamweight division. Kelly Faszholz was bloodied by Lauren Murphy during the first round of their fight. Murphy was vicious as she rained down strikes on Faszholz' face and head. Despite the punishment, Faszholz nearly went the distance, before Murphy won via TKO at 4:55 of the third round.

That was followed by the fight of the night, as recognized by UFC. Eleventh-ranked Marion Reneau, whose last match was a loss to the current UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm, found herself on the losing end again. This time it was a controversial split decision defeat at the hands of Ashlee Evans-Smith. What made the result even more puzzling was the fact that one of the judges incorrectly added his scorecard. It didn't affect the outcome, but it did add to the frustration some fans felt.

As for Evans-Smith, she and her corner crew were all smiles after the fight. Reneau was crestfallen and confused.

"I don't see what the judges saw. I don't know how I lost that fight," she said.

The attendance for Sunday night's event according to UFC was 7,330. That's close to the total nearly five years ago when UFC held its first event in Pittsburgh.

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First published on February 22, 2016 / 10:24 AM EST

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