PERTH, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's biggest MMA star Li Jingliang, 'the Leech', has lost a three-round judge's decision to Aussie welterweight contender Jake Matthews on Sunday at the UFC's first ever event in Western Australia.
Officially declared the fight of the night due to its relentless pace, the epic back and forth battle had fans at the Perth Arena on the edge of their seats.
In the early stages of the contest, Matthews landed a left hook that dropped the 29-year -old and then followed up with strikes on the ground.
Although the Aussie was able to secure top position and threaten with submissions, Li survived and came back hard in the second round where he landed a solid uppercut and continued to heap the pressure on Matthews.
In the third and final round however, Matthews was able to get the better of the furious exchanges in the pocket to edge ahead on the judge's scorecards and claim the win.
"There's nothing like this kind of crowd," Matthews said after the match.
"This fight was about bringing the enjoyment into it for once because all my fights I've gone in not to lose, rather than just going in and doing what I do, showcasing what I can do,"
"My confidence was always there, I just needed to bring it out and show everyone I could do it."
In the evening's main event, Olympic freestyle wrestling medalist Yoel Romero knocked out American former champion Luke Rockhold in round three.
Although the match up was originally scheduled as an interim title bout, the Cuban middleweight will not collect the title after missing weight by almost three pounds on Friday.
In other contests, American Curtis Blades wrestled his way past the 'Super Samoan' Mark Hunt.
Australian light heavyweight contender Tyson Pedro submitted Russian Saparbek Safarov via kimura in round one.
South Korea's Dong Hyun Kim outlasted Aussie Damien Brown in a tough three-round thriller.
New Zealand's Israel Adesanya impressed in his UFC debut, overcoming Rob Wilkinson via TKO in the second round.
