Mike Chiappetta • E-mail

The two Massachusetts natives had to go 2,000 miles to decide who was king of the neighborhood, and when it was over, Kenny Florian won the matchup of lightweight contenders in the main event of UFC Fight Night, defeating Joe Lauzon via TKO at 3:28 of the second round.

After an exciting first round, Florian took control in the second, taking Lauzon down and gaining full mount. Florian dropped down a series of punches but Lauzon surprisingly was able to buck him off and into side control, but Florian regained the dominant position and rained down punches for a full minute until referee Herb Dean called a stop to the action.

The win puts Florian in possible contention for the No. 1 spot after B.J. Penn and Sean Sherk next month.

"I'm not going to let anyone break my will in here," Florian said after the fight. "That's what I want to do, take their heart. I want to cut through the layers and find a hole. I was able to take Joe down and we knew there'd be a weakness in Joe there."

Though Lauzon lost, he certainly showed he has the tools to compete at a high level. The first round featured a frantic series of exchanges that had the crowd buzzing.

Florian looked like an animal early. Lauzon took him down but Florian landed a series of elbows that opened a cut on the back of Lauzon's head and caused the ref to warn him. Florian then connected on a kick to the ribs that caused Lauzon to wince before Florian got the takedown and landed offense. But Lauzon took the fight right to his opponent, trying a pair of heel hooks that could have ended matters early. Florian fell back on his black belt pedigree and was able to withstand and then escape the holds, and at the end of the round, had Lauzon in trouble with late ground-and-pound.

Video   Florian prevails in "scrappy" fight April 3: Kenny Florian gives props to Joe Lauzon, saying, "he was a warrior." NBC Sports

Should Florian become the No. 1 contender, he has a history with Sean Sherk, as they previously fought in a lightweight title match in October 2006. Since then, Florian has retooled his diet and training programs en route to winning four straight fights (three by submission before Wednesday night's TKO). While he's never fought Penn, the Hawaii native is a training partner of Lauzon's and stands to gain from what Florian's opponent learned in the cage.

Wednesday was a lightweight showcase, with seven of the 12 fights taking place in that division.

In another exciting 155-pound match, past TUF winner Nate Diaz gutted out an impressive submission win over Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Kurt Pellegrino.

Pellegrino had a great first round, manhandling Diaz and bloodying him with a series of punches and elbows from the dominant crucifix position, but Diaz showed his toughness by lasting out the round.

Pellegrino dominated the early part of the second round, but the tide turned when he went for a takedown and ended up landing in a guillotine. Diaz quickly transitioned to a triangle, locked it in, and and actually put his hands up to celebrate and flexed for the crowd before Pellegrino tapped.

In a fight between two unbeatens, Gray Maynard defeated Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision. Maynard clearly appeared to be the bigger and stronger man, and used his advantage to score takedowns in a battle of former collegiate wrestlers.

The standup battle was relatively even. Edgar was the more accurate puncher but Maynard wielded the power. But the tide shifted on wrestling. While Edgar struggled to bring the fight to the ground, Maynard scored several takedowns in each round. Despite the fact that Edgar defended well on the ground, the dominance in one area stood out and likely gave Maynard the nod from the judges.

Maynard particularly stood out in the last round as he wrested control with a slew of takedowns as Edgar tired.

There were two light-heavyweight bouts on the card.

Video   Fastest UFC KO ever! April 3: James Irvin gives Houston Alexander a dose of his own medicine, knocking him out in a record 8 seconds. NBC Sports

In the first, James Irvin knocked out Houston Alexander in eight seconds, tying a UFC record for fastest knockout. He shares the mark with Don Frye, who KO'd Thomas Ramirez in the same time at UFC 8. Irvin landed his first shot, a superman punch that put Alexander down, then connected on two shots as the referee moved in to put a stop to the action.

In the other, Matt Hamill defeated Tim Boetsch via second-round TKO. Hamill continues to progress and only used one takedown in the fight, relying on his standup to overpower Boetsch, who looked gassed in the second round before succumbing to a barrage against the cage.

This was Hamill's first fight since last September's controversial split-decision loss to Michael Bisping at UFC 75. At the time, an immediate rematch was expected but Hamill had to have knee surgery and it was scrapped.

Thiago Alves stretched his winning streak to five straight with a second-round TKO over Karo Parisyan. Alves rocked Parisyan with a knee in the clinch, and Parisyan crumpled to the mat. Alves followed with four unanswered shots before the referee stopped the fight.

The TKO loss was the first time Parisyan has been stopped. In 2001, he lost a fight to Sean Sherk via TKO but only because his corner threw in the towel. Parisyan was just 18 at the time.

In tonight's moment of irony that I can't help mentioning, Joe Rogan interviewed two of the officers involved in Spike's new "DEA" reality show. This is a family friendly website, so if you don't get it, try Google.

Full results
Anthony Johnson def. Tommy Speer via KO, Round 1
George Sotiropolous def. Roman Mitichyan via TKO, Round 2
Clay Guida def. Samy Schiavo via TKO, Round 1
Manny Gamburyan def. Jeff Cox via guillotine submission, Round 1
Marcus Aurelio def. Ryan Roberts via armbar submission, Round 1
Josh Neer def. Din Thomas via unanimous decision
James Irvin def. Houston Alexander via KO, Round 1
Nate Diaz def. Kurt Pellegrino via triangle submission, Round 2
Matt Hamill def. Tim Boetsch via KO, Round 2
Thiago Alves def. Karo Parisyan via TKO, Round 2
Gray Maynard def. Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision
Kenny Florian def. Joe Lauzon via TKO, Round 2

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