Ed (Short Fuse) Herman beats Trevor (Hot Sauce) Smith in wild UFC undercard bout

SEATTLE – Middleweight Ed (Short Fuse) Herman won a split decision over former Strikeforce fighter Trevor (Hot Sauce) Smith in a wild free-swinging bout on a UFC televised card Saturday that saw little emphasis on defence.

“Wow… Hell of a fight. Those guys took a few quality years off their lives,” tweeted welterweight contender Carlos (Natural Born Killer) Condit.

Both men were wobbled in a hard-hitting first round and Smith was cut around the eye. Smith (10-4) kept swinging and Herman (21-7 with one no contest) never blinked, even when he took a kick to the groin late in the fight.

It really was Sleepless in Seattle as both men refused to go down.

“What a SICK fight much respect to Herman and Smith!!!!!! Tough one to judge,” tweeted UFC president Dana White.

He was proved right when the judges scored it 30-27, 27-30, 29-28 for Herman before a late-arriving crowd at KeyArena on a glorious summer day in the Pacific Northwest.

“It was a battle, he was tough,” said Herman. “He rocked me a few times and he was definitely testing me throughout. He was taking my punches a lot better than I thought he’d be able to.”

White later tweeted that Smith fought with a broken hand.

“I thought I won, but it was a close fight, so I’ll give him the credit,” said Smith, who fights out of Tukwila, Wash. “I hope it was exciting for the fans. I’ll be back.”

The crowd-pleasing brawl was on the undercard of the flyweight title bout between 125-pound champion Demetrious (Mighty Mouse) Johnson and John Moraga. Canadian welterweight Rory (Ares) MacDonald faced Jake (The Juggernaut) Ellenberger in a co-main event that had dominated much of the pre-fight buildup.

MacDonald entered the fight ranked No. 3 in the 170-pound ranks while Ellenberger was No. 4.

Ellenberger was clearly feeling confident going into the evening, tweeting a picture of himself in the Hugo Boss suit he planned to wear at the post-fight news conference.

There were some odd scorecards on the day, with another undercard bout seeing two judges awarding all three rounds to different fighters as Daron (Detroit Superstar) Cruickshank won a split (30-27, 27-30, 30-27) decision over veteran Yves Edwards.

“That was a garbage dec! I hate the way this sport is judged,” tweeted lightweight Jamie Varner.

Edwards seemed to control the fight, evading Cruickshank’s flashy kicks, but two judges saw it differently.

“I feel like I won the fight. I feel like I won the first and third round for sure,” said the 36-year-old Edwards.

Lightweight Melvin (The Young Assassin) Guillard, who had lost four of his last five fights, dominated Mac Danzig en route to a nasty knockout at 2:47 of the second round.

Guillard (48-13-3 with one no contest) floored Danzig (22-11-1) with a punch to the head and then put him away with a flurry on the ground before referee Steve Newport finally stepped in.

“The judges rules the Melvin Guillard vs Mac Danzig fight a split dec,” White tweeted sarcastically after the stoppage.

“Yes that was a joke,” he added.

“Judging is so bad in MMA people actually thought I was serious and that could happen,” he continued on Twitter.

Danzig had trouble regaining his equilibrium, falling over when he finally got up in the cage. But he walked out of the cage under his own steam. The KO was his first since February 2007 in Pride when he was stopped by Hayato Sakurai.

The winner of Season 6 of “The Ultimate Fighter” has now lost four of his last six UFC fights and seven of his last 10.

Lightweight Jorge (Gamebred) Masvidal submitted Michael (Maverick) Chiesa (9-1) via D’Arce choke with just one second remaining in the second round of a hard-fought bout that featured some big punches and plenty of technical grappling.

There was some bad blood before the fight with Masvidal (25-7) objecting to Chiesa’s win over a teammate last time out and his bushy beard. Chiesa, a native of Spokane, Wash., won Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter

Lightweight Danny (Last Call) Castillo won a unanimous 29-28 decision over Tim (The Dirty Bird) Means.

The six-foot-two Means weighed in at 160, four pounds over, and forfeited 20 per cent of his purse to Castillo (16-5). In his defence, he took the fight as an injury replacement on several weeks notice. Means (18-5-1) was sucking air at times but, with a five-inch height advantage, he was still a handful.

Dutch bantamweight Germaine (The Iron Lady) de Randamie (4-2) earned a split (30-27, 28-29, 29-28) decision over Julie (Fireball) Kedzie (16-12) in a battle of UFC newcomers.

“Have no clue how a judge could call that a split dec!!!” tweeted White. “MMA judges scare me. Randamie won easily 2-1 in a not very exciting fight.”

The five-nine Dutch fighter used her length with great effect at the fence early, peppering the smaller Kedzie with knees. Kedzie, who had her first pro fight in 2004, took de Randamie down at the end but failed to press the advantage and instead absorbed a string of elbows from the bottom.

Lightweight Justin (J-Bomb) Salas (11-4) won a split (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) decision over veteran Aaron Riley in a fight that left both men’s faces busted up. Riley (29-14-1) got the worst of it, though, paying the price as he waded forward throughout the fight.

Bantamweight Yaotzin Meza (19-8) defeated John (Prince) Albert (7-5) by second-round rear-naked choke to open the card with his first UFC win. Albert was also forced to forfeit 20 per cent of his purse to Meza after missing weight.