In the main event, Kenny Florian maintained his status as a top lightweight contender by pounding out a second-round TKO win over Joe Lauzon.

In other bouts, Anthony Johnson knocked out Tommy Speer in 51 seconds; Nate Diaz made Kurt Pellegrino tap out to a triangle choke; Matt Hamill beat Tim Boetsch by TKO in Round 2; and Thiago Alves beat Karo Parisyan by TKO in Round 2; and Gray Maynard beat Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision.

Also that night, UFC debuted the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter reality series. Light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and his next challenger, Forrest Griffin, are the coaches.

Le clobbered Shamrock with kicks and punches into the third round before Shamrock mounted a furious comeback. Le stopped the flurry with a pair of head kicks, and Shamrock could not respond.

Strikeforce also made headlines earlier in the week by signing a deal with NBC to produce shows on Saturday nights. You better set your TiVo, because it will air at 2 in the morning after “Showtime at the Apollo.”

Gilbert Melendez is the Strikeforce lightweight champion after a dominating victory over Gabe Lemley.

In other action, Drew Fickett beat Jae Suk Lim with the guillotine; Wayne Cole beat Mike Kyle with an armbar in 42 seconds; and Joey Villasenor knocked out Ryan Jensen.

The next Ultimate Fight Night special will be a three-hour event starting at 7 p.m. Eastern on April 2. The main event will be a battle of lightweight contenders as Kenny Florian (9-3) takes on Joe Lauzon (15-3).

Karo “The Heat” Parisyan (25-4) will take on Thiago Alves (18-4) in a featured welterweight fight. Also, Matt “The Hammer” Hamill (5-1) will battle Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch (7-1) in a light heavyweight bout.

After the show, Spike TV will air the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter 6. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Forrest Griffin will be the team captains.

The next pay-per-view will feature a battle of welterweight stars as Matt Serra faces Georges St. Pierre on April 19 in Montreal, Quebec to determine the undisputed champion of that weight class. Serra won the title from St. Pierre last year.

Also, UFC 83 will feature a pair of middleweight fights. Rich Franklin will take on Travis Lutter; and Nate Quarry will battle Kalib Starnes.

Silva retained the UFC middleweight title and unified it with Henderson’s Pride 185-pound championship.

Henderson hung in there with Silva early. However, Silva used his skills as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to take over on the mat, winning with a rear naked choke at 4:52.

Chris Leben moved closer to a shot at Silva with a convincing win over Alessio Sakara of Italy. Leben floored Sakara with a left and pounded his way to a TKO victory at 3:16.

In a battle of heavyweight contenders, Heath Herring won a split decision over Cheick Kongo of France. Kongo looked great at first, but he didn’t have a solid strategy to put Herring away. Herring recovered and controlled the pace on the mat in Rounds 2 and 3 to pick up the win.

Japanese welterweight Yushin Okami knocked out Evan Tanner with a knee strike at 3 minutes of Round 2.

Also, John Fitch won a unanimous decision over Chris Wilson in the middleweight opener; and Josh Koscheck defeated Dustin Hazelett on a TKO in Round 2.

Henderson also holds the Pride middleweight title, and he will unify the belts in his bout with UFC champ Silva at UFC 82: Pride of a Champion in Columbus, Ohio.

Middleweights will also be featured on the undercard, as Alessio Sakara (16-6-1) will face Chris Leben (17-4), while Yushin “Thunder” Okami (22-4) battles Evan Tanner (34-6).

Also, French heavyweight Cheick Kongo (11-3-1) will try to follow up on his win over Mirko Cro Cop when he faces Heath Herring (27-13-1).

In addition, Chris “The Professor” Wilson (12-3-1) will face Jon Fitch (20-2-1) in a welterweight fight.

In other news, CBS signed a deal to air prime-time MMA specials with the Elite XC promotion. Kimbo Slice beat Tank Abbott in the last Elite XC show on Showtime. This will be the first time MMA has aired on network television.

Mirko Cro Cop is gone from UFC after a year, and he will compete for the DREAM promotion, which will debut in Japan on March 15. Officials from PRIDE, Heroes and K-1 are running the new venture.

Lesnar landed some big strikes early in the fight, but Mir caught his with a kneebar for the tapout at 1:37.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira won the UFC interim heavyweight title with by defeating Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia with the guillotine in Round 3. Nogueira asked for a fight with current UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture, who is sitting out due to a contract dispute.

Middleweight Nate “The Great” Marquardt improved his UFC record to 5-1 by defeating Jeremy Horn in Round 2 with the guillotine.

In other fights, Chris Lytle knocked out Kyle Bradley in 33 seconds; Robert Emerson bear Keita Nakamura by split decision; Tim Boetsch beat David Heath by TKO in Round 1; Tyson Griffin beat Gleison Tibau by unanimous decision; and Ricardo “Big Dog“ Almeida beat Rob Yundt with the guillotine in 68 seconds.

That’s because the former WWE champion stands to become a huge star if his fight against Frank Mir goes as well as his MMA debut over Min Soo Kim on June 2.

UFC 81: Breaking Point will begin at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Mir is no pushover, as he enters the fight with a 10-3 record. He used the Kimura armlock to beat Antoni Hardonk back in August.

The winner will be a potential challenger for the new UFC interim heavyweight champion, which will also be decided that night. Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia (26-3) will face Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera (30-4-1) for the belt.

Current champion Randy “The Natural” Couture is still recognized as the UFC champion, despite his lengthy contract dispute with UFC.

Sylvia lost the UFC heavyweight title to Couture last March, but he bounced back to beat Brandon Vera in October. Noguiera is coming off a unanimous decision win over Heath Herring in July.

Middleweights will battle in the other two top bouts of the night. Jeremy Horn (88-16-5) will face Nate Marquardt (28-7-1), while Rob Yundt (7-0) battles Ricardo “Big Dog” Almeida (8-2).

Swick improved his record to 11-2, while Burkman dropped to 9-5.

Nate Diaz, the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 5, defeated Alvin Robinson in Round 1 with a triangle choke.

In other bouts, Patrick Cote knocked off Drew McFedries by TKO in the first round; and Thiago Tavares defeated Michihiro Omigawa by unanimous decision.

Penn clobbered Stevenson early, almost winning the bout in the opening seconds. Penn opened up Stevenson’s forehead before putting him away with a rear naked choke late in the first round.

Penn, a former welterweight champion, became the second man to win UFC titles in different weight divisions. Randy Couture was the first (light heavyweight and heavyweight).

Sean Sherk did commentary at ringside. He lost the lightweight title after testing positive for a banned substance. Sherk will battle Penn at a future pay-per-view to determine the undisputed king of the lightweight (155-pound) division.

In the heavyweight division, Fabricio Werdum upset fellow Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO with a flurry of punches late in Round 2.

In other bouts:

– Marcus Davis beat Jess Liaudin with a very quick knockout.
– Jorge Rivera upset Kendall Grove with a first-round knockout.
– Wilson Gouveia took an early beating but came back to knock out Jason Lambert in Round 2.
– Paul Kelly and Paul Taylor, a pair of British fighters, opened their fight with a wild slugfest. The bout went the distance with Kelly winning a unanimous decision.