Weekend Rundown: Unbeaten Cormier Routs Pride, UFC Vet

Daniel Cormier struck UFC and Pride Fighting Championships veteran Soa Palelei into first-round submission, as he retained his Xtreme MMA heavyweight crown in the XMMA 3 headliner on Friday at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre in Sydney, Australia.

A two-time Olympian and five-time national wrestling champion, Cormier grounded Palelei, moved to mount and dropped a stream of punches to force the tapout. The 31-year-old American Kickboxing Academy standout has finished his last five opponents inside the first round. Palelei, an eight-year veteran, entered the match on a two-fight winning streak and had never before lost in such decisive fashion.

Meanwhile, Cormier’s AKA stablemate, Mike Kyle, recorded his fourth win in as many appearances, as he stopped Stephen Oliver on first-round punches. Enjoying an unexpected personal renaissance, the 30-year-old Boise, Idaho, native has finished three of his last four foes. Kyle owns a June 2009 victory over reigning Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante.

Other winners at XMMA 3 included Sengoku Raiden Championship veteran Jim York (second-round technical knockout over Lucas Browne), the once-beaten Xavier Lucas (fifth-round knockout against Yuki Sasaki) and Australian kickboxer Peter Graham (first-round TKO over Yusuke Kawaguchi).

Drysdale Submits Second Victim at AFC 4

Robert Drysdale submitted Clay Davidson with a first-round armbar in the Armageddon Fighting Championships 4 “Revelation” main event on Saturday at the Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Davidson, a King of the Cage veteran, met his demise 2:54 into round one.

Drysdale -- the 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships absolute division winner and one of the most decorated grapplers to ever enter mixed martial arts -- has submitted his first two opponents as a professional in less than three minutes.

Meanwhile, Canadian middleweight Nick Hinchliffe won for the fourth time in five fights, as he notched a unanimous decision over the previously unbeaten Mike Hackert in the co-feature. All three judges sided with Hinchliffe by 29-28 counts.

Davis Chokes Evinger, Retains Raging Wolf Title

Alexis Davis needed less than 90 seconds to submit EliteXC veteran Tony Evinger and retain the Raging Wolf women’s flyweight championship at Raging Wolf 10 “Mayhem in the Mist 5” on Saturday at the Seneca Niagara Casino and Hotel in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The end came 1:25 into the first round.

A protégé of Dave Dayboll at the Dayboll Jiu-Jitsu and Fitness Academy in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, Davis has won nine of her 12 fights since her professional debut ended in a third-round TKO defeat to former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufmann.

Meanwhile, World Extreme Cagefighting and International Fight League veteran John Franchi took a split decision from Matt McCook in the co-feature. The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for Franchi, a Team Bombsquad representative who was pruned from the WEC roster following consecutive defeats to Cub Swanson and the world-ranked Manny Gamburyan.

Finally, UFC castaway Tom Egan put the brakes on his own two-fight skid, as he stopped Eric Attard on punches 3:36 into the second round of their welterweight matchup. The Irishman was released by the UFC following his first-round TKO loss to John Hathaway at UFC 93 in January 2009.

Quick Hits: Pride veteran Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons submitted William Dias with a first-round guillotine choke at Samurai Fight Combat 4 “Overload” on Saturday at the Curitiba Military Circle Gymnasium in Curitiba, Brazil. The well-traveled 37-year-old solicited the tapout from Dias 2:41 into round one. Landi-Jons has rattled off three consecutive wins since a gruesome leg injury threatened his career in February 2008 … Finland’s Juha-Pekka Vainikainen handed Anthony Durnell his first career defeat, as he choked the American unconscious with an opening-round guillotine choke in the Iron Fist 3 headliner on Saturday at the SDS Hall in Szczecin, Poland … A Sol Kwon submitted UFC veteran Ronald Jhun with a second-round guillotine choke at Heat 16 on Saturday at Zepp Osaka in Osaka, Japan. Jhun, who has lost 11 of his last 13 fights, succumbed to the choke 4:43 into round two.