Mark Bocek from Woodbridge, Ontario (left) kicks Nik Lentz during UFC 140 in Toronto on Saturday December 10, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris YoungChris Young/The Canadian Press
Canadian lightweight Mark Bocek had his hands full with Nik (The Carny) Lentz but came away with a unanimous 30-27 decision on the undercard of UFC 140 Saturday night.
The jiu-jitsu black belt from Woodbridge, Ont., was on top of Lentz for most of the mixed martial arts fight but Lentz — suffering his first loss in eight UFC outings — was prickly from below.
At one point in the second round, Bocek (10-4) almost lost his shorts trying to wriggle out of a guillotine choke. Referee Herb Dean stood the fighters up soon after and then had to pull Lentz away so Bocek could pull his shorts up without being punched.
A bloody Bocek, who drew plenty of crowd support, raised his hands in victory at the end of the fight. Lentz (23-4-2 with one no contest) wagged his finger in disagreement.
The main event featured light-heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones against former title-holder Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida. Jones is bidding to become the first 205-pound champion since Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell to make back-to-back successful title defences.
Jones, 24, has already had a banner year — with three wins including dethroning Mauricio (Shogun) Rua and beating former champ Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and up-and-comer Ryan (Darth) Bader.
The show was the second for the UFC in Toronto and did not quite generate the buzz of the first. The first, UFC 129, drew a UFC-record 55,724 to the Rogers Centre in April to see Georges St-Pierre defend his title.
Lightweight Mitch (Danger Zone) Clarke, the first Saskatchewan-born fighter to crack the UFC, suffered his first loss in a battle of UFC debutantes to open the card.
John Cholish (8-1), who trains under Renzo Gracie, wore Clarke (9-1) down and then showed off his grappling skills, transitioning from a kimura to mount before pounding away until the fight was stopped at 4:36 of the second round.
The fight matched a commodities broker (Cholish) against a former environmental protection officer (Clarke). Cholish calls cage-fighting "a fun hobby."
Welterweight Jake (Hitman) Hecht rallied to stop Rich (The Raging Bull) Attonito by TKO at 1:10 of the second round. Defending a takedown, Hecht (11-2) stunned Attonito (10-5) with an elbow to the head and then used ground and pound to finish him off.