His front kick chopped Lawler's front leg and nailed Lawler with vicious body shots.

Lawler started to limp noticeably and he retreated toward the Octagon as he was just one strike being knocked out. Manhoef began his final assault with another nasty front kick that forced Lawler to lift his leg to avoid another kick.   

Manhoef had his hands down as he moved forward and out of nowhere; Lawler nailed Manhoef with a right hook that sent him down.  In boxing and MMA, the knockout is the ultimate equalizer.

Regardless of what happens in a fight, you are never out of a fight. Lawler was losing and on the verge of being knock out himself out but this punch saved the fight for Lawler.

AN IMPRESSIVE DEBUT

Former NFL great Herschel Walker challenged Greg Nagy in a heavyweight match. Walker looked cool as Nagy nervously moved around and merely waited for his opportunity.  

His jab hurt Nagy and he went for a takedown after getting hit with Walker's front kick that stung his front leg. He defended the takedown and took control of the ground action in the first round.  

The question going into the second round was -- Does age catch up with Herschel Walker?  At 47, even the great Walker is not immune to ravages of age.

In the second round, Walker dominated the action as he did in the first as he avoided another attempt of a takedown and he dominated the action on the ground as Nagy avoided submission.  

His flexibility allowed him to survive Walker's ground attack and his inexperience showed on occasion as he could not end the fight against an overwhelmed opponent.  

In the third round, Walker stopped his opponent as he forced Nagy to the ground and simply pounded him on the ground.

Walker has always been one of those great athletes, a former Heisman trophy winner, an USFL and NFL star, a member of the American bobsledding Olympic team and now he has added MMA to his credit.  

A black belt in Tai Kwan Do, Walker simply overwhelmed his opponent but not by simply his athletic skills but mixed martial skills. He was the main attraction as there was curiosity at what can a 47 year old do?  

Herschel won and won by using good techniques. There will be questions of how far could a 47 year-old athlete can go in any sport, but Walker showed that he took the sport for real.

OTHER BOUTS

Chris Cyborg defended her welterweight title against Marloes Coenen. The opening minutes saw action as both grappled in between punches before Cyborg threw Coenen down to the ground. He attempted to get out before Cyborg dropped a right hand to Coenen while the Dutch MMA star was down on the ground.  

At the 2:00 mark, Coenen got off the ground and landed a straight right but it did little to Cyborg who nailed Coenen with several sharp rights of her own. She threw the straighter punches but Cyborg countered with volley of punches in an attempt to overwhelm her opponent.  

In the second round, Cyborg continued to take control of the fight as her strength and power proved decisive in the second round as she forced Coenen on the ground consistently.  

Coenen's best strategy was to heel kicks off the ground but this only kept Cyborg off for but a minimal time before Cyborg either got on top off her or open up with jack hammer rights.

Coenen could not take Cyborg down and the third round was the same as the first round as Cyborg strength prevented her being taken down. With 2:00 left, Coenen nailed Cyborg with kick of the ground, followed with a right that did little to inhibit Cyborg who simply struck back.  

She tried for one more take down but Cyborg defended the take down and simply put Coenen down before ending the fight with several jack hammer punches. Cyborg was simply too strong for her opponent, who was coming up from lightweight.  

Nick Diaz fought Marius Zaromskis for the Strikeforce Welterweight champion and Zaromskis attacked with a flying kick that missed Diaz who countered with straight left.  

He nailed Diaz with quick combination before getting nailed by a Diaz left. He trapped Zaromskis on the Octagon while nailing his opponent with knee shots to the leg.

Diaz attacked Zarmoskis before he nailed Diaz with a straight left and forced Diaz to the ground. Diaz managed to get up after nearly getting knockout. Diaz then unleashed a volley of punches that nailed Zaromskis repeatedly and he retreated while taking shots after shots.  

With 30 seconds left, Diaz stopped Zarmoskis with one final combination and the referee stopped the fight as Zarmoskis hit the ground.  

Diaz threw caution to the wind and nearly got stopped but in the end, his boxing skills saved him along with his reach as many of his punches caught Zarmoskis at the end of his longer arm.  

Diaz captured the first Welterweight champion.