Light heavyweight James Te Huna (12-5, 1-1 UFC) christened UFC 135 by smashing a champagne bottle of fists on Ricardo Romero's (11-2, 1-1 UFC) head. Both men were coming into the bout off a loss and, given the UFC's stacked rosters, should have entered the cage worried about their jobs.
UFC 135 results: James Te Huna defeats Ricardo Romero via knockout (strikes) at :47 of round 1.
It didn't take long for Te Huna to show he wanted to stay in the UFC and would be more than happy to send Romero to the unemployment line. As soon as Romero shot in, Te Huna caught him ducking into a beautifully thrown uppercut. The blow staggered Romero and he dropped down to grab Te Huna's ankle with the momentum of a bag of cat litter hitting the floor of a suburban mom's SUV.
Romero lasted another little bit, but a second uppercut on a second failed shot send Romero to the land of Nod. Te Huna followed up with some ground and pound but it was superfluous and the fight was stopped at 0:47 of the first round.
After the fight, James Te Huna breathed a sigh of relief and said "I'm feeling really relieved. I was glad to get it over. I took my time and followed it up with one punch after another. I was looking to catch him with the uppercut and caught him and hurt him.
Referring to his UFC 127 loss to Alexander Gustafsson, Te Huna said, "My last fight i wasn't mentally there but tonight i got everything right."
He sure did.