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RONDA ROUSEY’S SHOCKING defeat to Holly Holm may have been the main attraction at UFC 193 in the early hours of this morning, but Gian Villante provided one of the event’s biggest highlights much earlier on the bill.

• Stunning UFC upset sees Ronda Rousey knocked out by Holly Holm

On the preliminary card at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Villante rebounded from his defeat to Tom Lawlor in July with a spectacular stoppage of Anthony Perosh.

With Perosh backed up against the fence, Villante launched a straight right down the pipe which sent his opponent crashing to the mat. Villante didn’t need to follow up in order to seal the win, with the referee diving straight in to stop the contest at the 2:56 mark of the first round.

Elsewhere, Joanna Jedrzejczyk needed all five rounds to successfully defend her women’s strawweight title against Valerie Letourneau, after Mark Hunt finished Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in the first round of their highly-anticipated heavyweight rematch.

Also on the main card, home favourite Robert Whittaker scored a career-best win against Uriah Hall and Jared Rosholt picked up his third consecutive victory by overcoming Stefan Struve.

UFC 193 results

• Holly Holm def. Ronda Rousey via KO (head kick and punches) after 0:59 of round two
• Joanna Jędrzejczyk def. Valérie Létourneau via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45)
• Mark Hunt def. Antonio Silva via TKO (punches) after 1:19 of round one
• Robert Whittaker def. Uriah Hall via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Jared Rosholt def. Stefan Struve via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jake Matthews def. Akbarh Arreola via TKO (doctor stoppage) after 5:00 of round two
• Kyle Noke def. Peter Sobotta via TKO (front kick to the body and punches) after 2:01 of round one
• Gian Villante def. Anthony Perosh via KO (punch) after 2:56 of round one
• Danny Martinez def. Richie Vaculik via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Dan Kelly def. Steve Montgomery via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Richard Walsh def. Steve Kennedy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• James Moontasri def. Anton Zafir via TKO (spinning back kick, spinning back fist and punches) after 4:36 of round one
• Ben Nguyen def. Ryan Benoit via submission (rear-naked choke) after 2:35 of round one

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