Denny Burkholder

Alessio Sakara is on his way to the Octagon to fight Chris "The Crippler" Leben.

Round 1: They come out swinging. I know, shocker. Both guys are landing the majority of their shots square on the chin. Leben is at least mixing in some leg and body kicks. Leben finally nails Sakara with a pair of lefts that put Sakara on the mat. Sakara looks to pull guard as Leben rushes in with furious left hands. One of them flattens Sakara out momentarily, and since he's not blocking anything, referee Herb Dean steps in for the TKO stoppage.


Winner: Chris Leben defeated Alessio Sakara via TKO due to strikes at 3:16 of Round 1.

Sakara actually protested the stoppage and wasn't completely knocked out, but when you're getting tagged like that and knocked down, and still not blocking, you make it really hard for the referee to keep giving you leeway. Pretty action-packed fight while it lasted.