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Middleweight Kendall Grove trapped Jake Rosholt in a triangle choke at three minutes 59 seconds of the first round to win on the undercard of UFC 106 on Saturday night.

Grove (13-6) dedicated the mixed martial arts victory to his grandmother who passed away last week.

Rosholt (6-2), a three-time NCAA wrestling champion, had rag-dolled Grove several times in the round before being caught in the choke.

The fight was on the undercard of the light-heavyweight main event between Tito (The Huntington Beach Bad Boy) Ortiz and Forrest Griffin. The card, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, was the UFC's second in as many weeks, following on the heels of UFC 105 in Manchester, England.

Ortiz's purse was a basic US$250,000 according to the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Griffin got $100,000 with a $150,000 win bonus. In the co-main event, welterweight Josh Koscheck collected $53,000 with a matching win bonus while Anthony (Rumble) Johnson was looking at $17,000 with a similar win bonus.

The commission figures do not tell the whole story since they do not reflect bonuses or any cut of the pay-per-view that may go to main event fighters.

The Vegas card had its share of problems ahead of time. Brock Lesnar's title defence against Shane Carwin was called off because of the heavyweight champion's illness, Mark (The Hammer) Coleman was injured in training and had to pull out of his scheduled fight with Ortiz while welterweight Karo Parisyan abruptly dropped off the card Thursday.

Hard-hitting welterweight Brian Foster pounded his way to a second-round TKO over veteran Brock Larson in a fight that saw Larson dominated and penalized two points in the first round for illegal kicks. The first was for an up-kick to the head while Foster (15-4) was on his knees and Larson was on his back. The second was for a knee to the head while Foster had his hand on the ground.

A battered Larson (27-4) tapped after eating a nasty uppercut and a flurry of follow-up blows. Montreal referee Yves Lavigne stepped in at the same time, ending the punishment at 3:25 of the round.

American-based Brazilian lightweight Fabricio Camoes and Caol Uno fought to a rare majority draw with the judges scoring it 29-27, 28-28, 28-28 with a Camoes point deduction crucial in the outcome. The 29-27 verdict was for Uno.

It was all Camoes in the early going with Uno fighting off a rear naked choice and then going on the offensive as the first round ended. Camoes had a point deducted in the second round for kicking off his back at Uno's head while the Japanese fighter's knees were on the ground.

Camoes (10-4-1) looked impressive in his UFC debut. Uno (25-12-5) also registered a draw with B.J. Penn back at UFC 41 in 2003.

American-based Australian George Sotiropoulos opened the card with a slick ground performance against Jason (Diamond) Dent (19-11), finishing it off with an armbar at 4:36 of the second round.

Sotiropoulos (11-2 including 4-0 in the UFC) is probably destined next for the UFC's debut show in Australia in February.

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