Sacramento, Calif. – Aurora’s Nate Marquardt was defeated by defending middleweight champion Anderson Silva of Brazil with 10 seconds left in the first round of the main event Saturday night in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Also, Alvin Robinson of Denver lost in the first round of his lightweight fight with Kenny Florian. The fight was stopped with 30 seconds left in the round.
In other fights, Tito Ortiz fought Rashad Evans to a draw.
Were it not for a penalty in the second round for holding the fence, Ortiz would have won the nontitle light heavyweight division fight at Arco Arena.
Bleeding from a cut under his right eye, Ortiz, who’s trying to get back to the top of the division after losses to Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, got Evans in a tough lock in the second round and kept him against the chain-link cage fence for much of the third.
Sean Sherk successfully defended his UFC world lightweight title, using all 25 minutes of a grueling five-round bout to beat challenger Hermes Franca. Brazilian heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, a former champion in the Japan-based Pride Fighting Championships, won his UFC debut by the judges’ unanimous decision after a three-round battle with Heath Herring of Las Vegas.
In the preliminary matches, light heavyweight Stephan Bonnar won 2:14 into the first round by choking Mike Nickels of Denver from behind, forcing him to tap out. After going all three rounds of their fight, Jorge Gurgel won by the judges’ unanimous decision against rival Diego Saraiva.
USOC/PAN AMERICAN GAMES
USOC apologizes to Brazilians
In a joke that made Brazilians cringe and forced the U.S. Olympic Committee to apologize, a USOC worker scrawled “Welcome to the Congo!” on a board in the organization’s Rio de Janeiro media center for the Pan American Games.
Rio’s O Globo newspaper published a photo of the message on its front page Saturday, and ran a headline saying the joke was “full of prejudice.” The message was condemned in a nation extremely sensitive about being compared to less-developed countries, especially by Americans – often perceived as arrogant by Brazilians. The controversy occurred as American athletes arrived in Latin America’s largest country to compete in the event that starts Friday.
The USOC issued a “deep apology to the people of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro” in a statement Saturday, and said the worker who wrote the message is no longer a member of the U.S. delegation to the Games.
Gerhard Heiberg of Norway was re-elected to the powerful IOC executive board, defeating three other candidates in Guatemala City.
Heiberg received 49 votes, followed by Spanish member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. with 22, Algeria’s Mustapha Larfaoui with 15 and U.S. candidate Anita DeFrantz with six.
SOCCER
Uruguay, Brazil in Copa semifinals
Uruguay reached the Copa America semifinals by routing Venezuela 4-1 in San Cristobal, Venezuela.
Uruguay had advanced to the quarterfinals after scoring just one goal – the lowest of any team – in its first three matches. Uruguay will play Brazil, a 6-1 winner over Chile at Puerto La Cruz, in a semifinal matchup Tuesday.
FOOTNOTES
Salazar released from hospital
Alberto Salazar, 48, was released from a hospital, one week after the three-time New York City Marathon champion suffered a heart attack.
Officials at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore., declined to provide details of Sala- zar’s departure or his condition.
Wladimir Klitschko beat Raymond Brewster with a technical knockout after six rounds to defend his IBF and IBO heavyweight titles in Cologne, Germany.
Joachim Alcine captured the WBA super welterweight title from Travis Simms with a unanimous decision in Bridgeport, Conn.
Alana Beard scored 25 points, leading the Washington Mystics to a 77-73 win over the host Chicago Sky in the WNBA. In other action, Erin Buescher scored a career-high 27 points to lead the San Antonio Silver Stars to an 80-73 win over the visiting Seattle Storm.
