UFC 114: John Hathaway Upsets Diego Sanchez

The undefeated British fighter John Hathaway took a big step up in competition and made the most of it at UFC 114, defeating Diego Sanchez in a significant upset for by far the biggest win of his career.

For Sanchez, who was last seen losing to B.J. Penn in a lightweight title fight, it was the worst loss of his career: A loss that's going to send him back to the drawing board, and that takes away any possibility that he'll be contending for a belt again any time soon.

"I'm very happy," Hathaway said. "Me and my team worked really hard for this."

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The fight got off to a fairly slow start, but midway through the first round Hathaway landed a huge knee to Sanchez's face, sending Sanchez down and nearly out. Hathaway landed more punches and elbows on the ground from inside Sanchez's guard, and it was all Sanchez could do to hold on and survive the round. It was a very impressive first round for Hathaway.

At the start of the second round Sanchez tried to get more aggressive with his striking, throwing a couple of head kicks, but Hathaway used his superior reach to land punches and move away from Sanchez's hands. A couple minutes into the round Hathaway wanted to throw another knee but Sanchez grabbed his leg and took him down. He couldn't keep Hathaway down, however, and on his feet Hathaway looked very comfortable landing punches and visibly battering Sanchez's face.

In the third round Sanchez started to come alive, landing some strong right hands and bloodying the left side of Hathaway's face. Late in the round Hathaway's nose started to bleed as Sanchez landed more punches, but Hathaway showed a lot of tenacity in refusing to let Sanchez get the upper hand. After the final horn, two judges gave it to Hathaway 30-27 and one even gave it to Hathaway 30-26. It was a dominant showing for a budding star of MMA.