LONDON - Diego (Nightmare) Sanchez celebrated his debut at lightweight Saturday with a unanimous decision over Joe (Daddy) Stevenson in the main event of UFC 95.

It was a competitive contest, albeit one that lacked the fireworks elsewhere on the card. Sanchez's standup was superior and he had slightly more tools in his arsenal.

The judges scored it 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 for Sanchez, who moved down from 170 to 155 pounds. The verdict seemed fair, but the crowd booed all the same.

"Joe's a warrior, man," said Sanchez, who hurt his hand in the first round. "I didn't expect him to improve that much."

In the penultimate fight of the night at the 02 Arena, English welterweight Dan (The Outlaw) Hardy knocked out former IFL veteran Rory Markham after just 69 seconds.

Markham stalked him from the start, with Hardy (21-6 with one no contest) content to kick and counter-punch. Then Markham (16-5) made a mistake. He was short with a right and Hardy punished him with a left to the temple, clubbing him to the ground. A dazed Markham needed some helping hands as he walked back to the dressing room.

It was one of many quick, violent endings on an entertaining highlight-reel card, aired on TV rather than via pay-per-view.

Prior to the main event, six of the nine bouts ended in the first round. There was just one decision and the judges only had to score six rounds before Sanchez-Stevenson went the distance.

Sanchez walked out last on the night -- like a man possessed to Queen's "We Will Rock You" -- throwing a fist in the air and yelling "Yes" along the way. Stevenson just bounced on his heels and waited in the cage.

Sanchez began to find his range in the middle of the first, hurting Stevenson with a right uppercut. Stevenson kept coming, with Sanchez counter-attacking to some effect.

In the second, Stevenson was hurt early and tried to take it to the ground. But he recovered and they returned to their feet. At the fence, Stevenson tried to lock on a standing guillotine choke and Sanchez picked him up and slammed him.

Stevenson kept coming in the third, with Sanchez looking to counter. Towards the end, Stevenson tried for his signature guillotine again. The fight ended with both 155-pounders throwing.

Earlier, Brazilian newcomer Paulo Thiago (11-0) shocked welterweight Josh Koscheck, knocking him out at 3:29 of the first round with a big right uppercut followed by a left after Koscheck left himself open throwing a jab.

Koscheck (14-4) went down and Thiago did not bother to throw another punch as the referee rushed in to halt proceedings. Koscheck was rubber-legged and shell-shocked as he struggled to his feet.

Koscheck was the aggressor in the fight, looking to connect with an overhand right or kick, until Thiago clocked him. It was Koscheck's second loss in three outings, but only his fourth in 14 UFC bouts.

Thiago, a Brazilian special operations police officer who is also a jiu-jitsu black belt, is clearly not a man to be messed with.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia (11-0) continued his impressive run through the middleweight ranks, winning his fifth straight in the UFC by clinically submitting veteran Chael Sonnen (23-10 with one no contest) 2:37 into the first round. From a clinch at the fence, Maia deliberately fell backwards and flipped Sonnen over, then rolled into mount. He rolled on his back next, locking on a triangle choke in the process.

Maia, a former world and World Cup jiu-jitsu champion, said in the cage afterwards it was now time for a title shot. He'll have to wait his turn, since Anderson Silva defends his 185-pound crown against fellow Brazilian Thales Leites next at UFC 97 in Montreal in April.

In another battle of middleweight contenders, Nate (The Great) Marquardt pressed his claim for a second shot at Silva by recording a methodical third-round TKO over American-based Brazilian Wilson Gouveia.

Marquardt (31-8-2) scored a late takedown, connecting with a few blows from the top position after fighting off a guillotine choke, in a close first round fought mainly on the feet.

Gouveia, a former light-heavyweight who failed to make weight last time out in a win over Canadian Jason MacDonald, began to show signs of fatigue in the second round. A fresh-looking Marquardt, who works with Montreal strength and conditioning coach Jon Chaimberg, punished him at the fence as the round ended.

Gouveia (12-6) came out swinging in the third but then Marquardt went on the offensive, backing him up with a knee and several kicks before dropping him at the fence with a knee.

English lightweight Terry Etim (12-2) put on a second straight impressive performance when he stopped Brian (The Bandit) Cobb via TKO 10 seconds into the second round, chopping at Cobb's knee with a low right kick and then toppling him with a left kick to the head on the preliminary card.

The six-foot-one Etim showed off his reach, kicks, and crisp striking in dominating Cobb (15-5), a late replacement making his first UFC appearance, in the first round. Etim also looked sharp in a decision over Canadian Sam Stout at UFC 89.

Brazilian heavyweight Junior Dos Santos used his power to cut six-foot-11 Stefan (Skyscraper) Struve down to size in under a minute.

The long, lean Dutchman didn't offer much resistance as the six-foot-three Dos Santos (8-1) backed him up to the fence with seven punches and then floored him with a right to the head for a TKO at 54 seconds.

Struve (20-3) disappointed, hardly doing a thing in the cage. Veteran cutman Leon Tabbs expended more energy standing on his tip-toes to apply Vaseline on the 21-year-old UFC debutant's face prior to the bout.

English welterweight Paul Kelly (9-1) unleashed his ground and pound in busting open a game Troy Mandaloniz, who had fellow Hawaiian and lightweight champion B.J. Penn in his corner, en route to a unanimous decision in an entertaining fight.

For Kelly, who looked poor in a submission loss to Marcus (The Irish Hand Grenade) Davis at UFC 89, it was a return to the form he showed in his UFC debut -- a fight-of-the-night performance over Paul (Relentless) Taylor at UFC 8.

Former IFL fighter Mike Ciesnolevicz, a light-heavyweight moving up to heavyweight as a late injury replacement, made short work of 38-year-old Neil (Goliath) Grove thanks to a heel hook at 1:03 of the first round. Grove limped out of the cage.

American lightweight Evan Dunham (8-0) impressed in his UFC introduction, flooring Sweden's Per Eklund (15-4-1) with a counter left to the head for a knockout at 2:14 of the first round.

NOTES -- The crowd included UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre of Montreal, former light-heavyweight title-holder Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon.