The Ultimate Fighting Championship came to Mexico City Arena in Mexico City, Mexico tonight for UFC 180: “Werdum vs Hunt.” The card featured a UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship matchup between top title contenders Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum and Mark “Super Samoan” Hunt.

In other action tonight, Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger took on Kelvin Gastelum in the welterweight co-feature. Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas battled Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez in a featherweight bout with potential title implications. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for the UFC 180 card.

UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship

Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum vs Mark “Super Samoan” Hunt

Round 1:
Hunt dropped Werdum with a right hand early on, but allowed him to stand. He landed a one-two that backed Werdum up and Werdum countered with a spinning hook kick. Hunt stuffed a takedown and muscled Werdum to the mat. He landed short punches and elbows and stood back up. Werdum followed and landed kicks, but Hunt stunned him with a right hook and an uppercut. He hurt Werdum again with a left hook, but Werdum landed a head kick just as the bell sounded. 10-9 Hunt.

Round 2:
Hunt knocked Werdum down again in the second round and threw him down to the canvas seconds later when Werdum threw another spinning hook kick. Hunt stuffed a takedown, but Werdum floored him with a flying knee. He dove in with a barrage of punches on the ground and the fight was stopped.

Winner: Fabricio Werdum by TKO (Flying Knee & Punches) at 2:27 of round two. He improves to 19-5-1 and becomes the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion.

Kelvin Gastelum vs Jake “The Juggernaut” Ellenberger

Round 1:
Ellenberger opened the action with a left hook and Gastelum answered with a kick-punch combo. A solid two-punch combination scored for Ellenberger and he countered a Superman punch with a right cross. Gastelum took him down and threw a series of glancing elbows. Ellenberger scrambled up and ate a body kick. Gastelum pressed forward with punches and clinched. Ellenberger took his back and suplexed him, but Gastelum scrambled and took Ellenberger’s back. He locked on a rear-naked choke and Ellenberger immediately tapped out.

Winner: Kelvin Gastelum by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 4:46 of round one. He improves to 10-0-0.

Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas vs Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez

Round 1:
Lamas looked for takedowns early on and landed a knee in the clinch, but Bermudez stayed on his feet until he slipped while throwing a kick. Lamas secured a front headlock as Bermudez fought back to his feet. Both men landed hard right hooks and Bermudez followed with a leg kick. Lamas dropped him with a stiff jab and locked on a guillotine choke. He rolled into mount while maintaining the choke and Bermudez was forced to submit.

Winner: Ricardo Lamas by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 3:18 of round one. He improves to 15-3-0.

Augusto “Dodger” Montano vs Chris “Stump” Heatherly

Round 1:
Heatherly took Montano down in the opening seconds, but he was unable to mount much offence from the top and Montano battled back to his feet. He avoided a takedown and a wild hook from Heatherly, and both men landed uppercuts in close. Montano hurt Heatherly with knees to the body and head, but Heatherly fought on and fired back with looping hooks. He followed with an uppercut after faking a shot. Heatherly pulled guard and Montano landed punches. He looked for an Anaconda choke and blasted Heatherly with hammerfists. The fighters stood and Montano unloaded with knees until the bout was stopped.

Winner: Augusto Montano by TKO (Knees) at 4:50 of round one. He improves to 14-1-0.

Hector “El Toro” Urbina vs Edgar Garcia

Round 1:
Garcia caught a kick from Urbina early on and took him down to the mat. He moved to Urbina’s back and tried for a rear-naked choke, but Urbina escaped into top position. He looked for a guillotine choke and switched to an Anaconda choke, but Garcia escaped and stood up. Urbina locked on another guillotine and used it to push Garcia backwards to the ground against the base of the cage. Garcia had nowhere to go and tapped out.

Winner: Hector Urbina by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 3:38 of round one. He improves to 17-8-1.

(Undercard results and play-by-play on Page Two.)