Matt hughes won the fight.

but heres the story on it

LOS ANGELES (CP) - Welterweight champion Matt Hughes dominated UFC Hall of Famer Royce Gracie to win a non-title mixed martial arts fight in short order Saturday night.

The bout was halted at 4:39 of the first round with Hughes on the back of a prone, face-down Gracie dealing more than 15 unanswered blows to the head of Gracie.

Hughes had earlier almost submitted Gracie, twisting the Brazilian's arm into a painful armbar hold. Gracie offered little offence during the bout and was on the defensive throughout.

"Of course I'm disappointed but he is the welterweight champion," Gracie said.

"I've got a couple more in me," he said when asked if he would keep fighting. "Let me go home and heal this up. I'll be back. I'll be back."

The main event of UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie at the Staples Center pitted one of mixed martial arts' legends against one of its most dominant champions.

Royce Gracie is a 39-year-old submission artist who won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in 1993 and last fought in the Octagon ring in 1995. Gracie, who retired from active competition from 1995 to 2000, exited the 175-pound bout with a 13-3-3 record.

In recent years, Gracie has averaged one fight a year, mostly on the K-1 circuit in Japan. The Brazilian, who now calls California home, was out of active competition from 1995 to 2000 and since then has fought six times to 30 for Hughes.

Hughes, a former all-American wrestler at Eastern Illinois University, has a mixed martial arts record of 41-4-0 and has lost just one of his last 19 bouts (by submission to B.J. Penn at UFC 46: Supernatural in January 2004).

Next up for the 32-year-old Hughes is a title defence rematch at 170 pounds with Canadian Georges St. Pierre, who is coming off a win over Penn. Hughes forced the Montreal fighter to tap out via an armbar with one second remaining of the first round in UFC 50: The War of 04 in November 2004.

Vancouver welterweight John (The Natural) Alessio lost a decision to Diego (Nightmare) Sanchez on the undercard. Sanchez, a winner on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show, improved his record to 17-0-0 while Alessio slipped to 22-9-0.

Alessio fought off all of Sanchez's takedown attempts and opened a nasty cut over his right eye in the second round. The Canadian fought the final minutes of the final round standing up with Sanchez perched on his back furiously trying to work a submission hold. That finale probably won Sanchez the fight.

Alessio clearly thought he had won the bout and the crowd agreed, booing Sanchez in his post-fight interview.

In other undercard action, middleweight Mike Swick defeated Joe Riggs by submission (guillotine choke) 2:19 at of the first round. Unbeaten heavyweight Brandon Vera improved to 7-0-0 by choking out Brazilian Assuerio Silva at 2:39 of the first round.

Light-heavyweight Dean (The Boogeyman) Lister submitted former Italian boxer Alessio Sakara at 2:20 of the first round via triangle choke.

Celebrities on hand included James Caan, Nicolas Cage, Cindy Crawford, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson, David Spade, Paul Walker, Marlon Wayans and Paris Hilton.