Victorian judoka Dan Kelly has claimed the biggest scalp of his UFC career, beating veteran and former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans via split decision.
In a three-round brawl, the 39-year-old emerged victorious as all three judges scored the fight 29-28, with two of them favouring the Australian.
![Sweet victory: Dan Kelly celebrates after being declared the winner.](/web/20170305124057im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/r/3/7/c/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gur2ql.png/1488694615908.jpg)
Kelly has now won his last four fights in the UFC, with Evans losing three on the bounce. This was the latter's first fight at middleweight level in the organisation.
Earlier, Mark Hunt suffered a brutal knockout at the knees of Alistair Overeem, who knocked him out in the final round of their heavyweight clash.
![Fight night: Kelly attacks Rashan Evans in their middleweight bout.](/web/20170305124057im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/r/3/j/f/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gur2ql.png/1488694615908.jpg)
After a spiteful build-up that saw Hunt launch several verbal barbs at his opponent's past doping violations, there was no love lost in the ring with both men exchanging some brutal leg kicks that left blood all over the canvas, and some in the Aussie's bleached-blonde hair.
In the final round of the clash it was the Dutchman who emerged victorious, with a pair of vicious knees to the head of the 'Super Samoan'.
On the UFC Fight Pass portion of the event, Tyson Pedro took home a win and kept his undefeated run alive, handing Scotsman Paul Craig his first loss via a first-round TKO.
Pedro had promised that the fight would be over quickly, and lived up to that with a stoppage just four minutes into the fight.
In the main event of the evening, Tyron Woodley retained his welterweight title against Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson by a majority decision as the boos rained down from the Las Vegas crowd, who were miffed at the quality of the last fight.
Full results (Australians in bold):
Tyron Woodley defeated Stephen Thompson by majority decision (48-47, 47-47, 48-47)
David Teymur defeated Lando Vannata by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Daniel Kelly defeated Rashad Evans by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Cynthia Calvillo defeated Amanda Cooper by submission (rear naked choke), 3:19 of round 1
Alistair Overeem defeated Mark Hunt via KO (knee), 1:44 of round 3
Marcin Tybura defeated Luis Henrique via TKO (punches), 3:46 of round 3
Darren Elkins defeated Mirsad Bektic via KO (punches and head kick), 3:19 of round 3
Iuri Alcantara defeated Luke Sanders by submission (kneebar), 3:13 of round 2
Mark Godbeer defeated Daniel Spitz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Tyson Pedro defeated Paul Craig via TKO (elbows), 4:10 of round 1
Albert Morales defeated Andre Soukhamthath by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)