UFC 131 openers: Beltran wins brawl over Rosa, Elkins takes shaky decision from Omigawa

Joey Beltran and Aaron Rosa won't be modeling for a calendar anytime soon, but those big dudes can dish out some damage. They can also take a beating. The heavyweights, who clocked in at a combined 598 pounds, slugged it out until Rosa got drilled by a knee early in the third. Beltran turned up the heat and pounded out Rosa on the ground for a win at the 1:26 mark of the third at UFC 131 in Vancouver.

Beltran, a 237 pounder fighting out of San Diego, wins for the third time in the UFC. His killer instinct was impressive.

"To be blunt, I knew he was going to be tough as hell. I was able to land some big shots and I am really happy with this performance," Beltran said. "Putting away a tough guy like him is just a testament to how hard of a camp I went through to get ready for tonight."

Just 40 seconds into the third, Beltran (13-5, 3-2 UFC) worked head control and pushed Rosa down into a nasty knee. That seemed to change everything as Beltran scored an easy takedown.

With Rosa (16-4, 0-1 UFC) on his knees and covering up, Beltran landed some body punches and got off 11 shots to the head. Rosa rose to his feet, but was stunned. Beltran dumped him a few seconds later, and as he settled into half guard he came down with the full force of a right elbow to Rosa's face. Rosa was shot. The bigger man ate a flurry of punches. Two left hands through his arms ended things.

"I got tired, but I think I got hit in the back of the head after he took me down and that dazed me. When I got up, he hit me with more hard shots and I never recovered. He's tough and proved that tonight," said Rosa.

Beltran came to Alliance Training Center in San Diego weighing 300-plus pounds. He's slimmed down and looks better each time out.

"I think I'm barely starting to show the type of fighter I am. To succeed in the UFC, it takes a full team effort and my team did a great job preparing me for this fight," said Beltran.

After seeing both fighters sporting some extra beef around the middle, it looked like stamina might be an issue, but it wasn't. Rosa, who's fought in the past at light heavyweight, entered the fight at 261 pounds. He absorbed some huge right hands, body shots and a few good standing elbows through the first round and a half. Rosa came back towards the end of the second, but that big knee from Beltran in the third took away his chances to get a win in his UFC debut.

During the prefight, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva added the note that this was the first time two fighters of Mexican descent went head-to-head in the Octagon.

Japanese star Omigawa loses again in the UFC

This was another big night for Japanese MMA. Michihiro Omigawa, one of the top featherweights from Japan, needed a win after getting dominated by Chad Mendes at UFC 126. It looked like he did enough to take a 29-28 decision from Darren Elkins, but the judges disagreed. Even with multiple cuts on his face and a lackluster third round, Elkins took a unanimous decision from Omigawa, 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.

Elkins (12-2, 2-1 UFC) did some nice work in the opening round. Omigawa bounced around the cage and switched stances every few seconds, but it didn't allow him to land anything very solid.

In the second round, Omigawa landed some good shots around Elkins' right eye and opened two cuts. He also scored a takedown and blasted away at Elkins. In what appeared to be a one-sided final round for Omigawa, more cuts were opened on Elkins' face and he finished all bloodied up. It didn't impress the judges.

A former lightweight, Omigawa (12-10-1, 0-4 UFC) dropped to featherweight and went 8-2-1 before re-signing with the UFC. He's now dropped two straight.

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Father knows best: Advice from MMA’s dads

Fathers are known to dispense advice, so in honor of Father's Day, Cagewriter collected some of the best advice given to the MMA world.

Daniel Cormier, Strikeforce heavyweight: "My father died when I was seven, but the man who raised me, Percy Benoit, told me to work hard, you're a good person and good things will come to you."

Joe Lauzon, UFC lightweight:" My father was huge with 'Don't put off tomorrow what you can do today.' My dad has always hustled... no matter how well he did something, there was always room for improvement and he was going to squeeze out every ounce of improvement in everything he did."

Dan Henderson, Strikeforce light heavyweight champ: "My dad was my wrestling coach for most of my life, and then when I started MMA, he didn't know too much about it. But he'd watch my fights on TV, and I was fairly new in the sport, and he'd always have some sort of critique, even though he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Even if I knocked the guy out, he'd say, 'It seems like he's hitting you an awful lot. Maybe you ought to move your head a bit.'"

Scott Coker, Strikeforce CEO: "My dad knew I loved martial arts, and he said find a way to make that your career, as you get older, because then you'll love it, and you won't have to feel like you're going to work. Find something that you love to do."

Sam Stout, UFC lightweight: "My dad's give me tons of good advice in my life. He's the one who taught me to work for what I believe in. He's a very motivated guy. He's the one who taught me to stick up for myself. He's the one who put me into sports and encourage me to play."

Aaron Simpson, UFC middleweight: "If you want to continue to be great at something, never be satisfied. He told me this after I won state my freshman year of high school."

A very Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially my father, who gave me the advice to not let idiots get in the way of my dreams. Thanks, Dad.

Picture from Combat Lifestyle

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Munoz interview: This wrestler isn’t afraid to hit the mat with Maia

Mark Munoz and Chael Sonnen were high level wrestler on the collegiate scene. Munoz was a little more accomplished, but they've both used the same base to put together solid runs in the UFC. So when Munoz looks at how Sonnen did when he faced Demian Maia at UFC 95, it's almost hard to imagine the former Oklahoma State star would risk going to the ground with the jiu-jitsu ace. It took less than three and a half minutes for Maia to submit Sonnen. Munoz disagrees.

"I'm not afraid of the ground game," Munoz said (5:30 mark). "I'm confident when it goes to the mat. I'm definitely going to take the fight where I want and we're going to fight on my terms."

Maia's win over Sonnen was startling. Once he got a hold of Sonnen, he tossed him over his head and fell into the mount where he transition to a triangle. Munoz said there was more to the story. Sonnen explained that he had been hit just a few seconds before and was stunned, which allowed Maia to ragdoll him so easily.

Using advice Sonnen gave him, Munoz just wants to be careful in the clinch and especially if he has top control.

"You just gotta have to be able to posture and not keep your head down so low to be able to get hit," Munoz said. "For me, I drop bombs. That's what I do. Demian knows that."

Munoz (10-2, 7-2 UFC) has been drilling his jiu-jitsu for the last few years with a bevy of Brazilians at Blackhouse MMA in the Los Angeles area. For this camp, Junior dos Santos and the Nogueiras were down in Brazilian, so Munoz had to change things up.

At his own gym, Reign Training Center in Lake Forest, Ca., he worked with Jason "Mayhem" Miller. He also has a partnership with King's MMA in Huntington Beach, Ca., and got to work with Mauricio Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Fabricio Werdum.

Meanwhile, Maia worked with Blackhouse's new gym in San Diego. At times, that kind of crossover can irk fighters, but Munoz was far from insulted.

"It's a tangled web we weave, training with certain guys. If you're training with the right guys, you're going to end up fight people or people you know of or the friends of your training partners," Munoz said (8:04 mark). "At the same time, it's one thing to tell somebody that they have something, but it's a whole different thing to actually do it and execute it inside the Octagon."

Surprisingly, Munoz is a minus-130 favorite over Maia. The Filipino has won two straight and 5-of-6 while Maia (14-2, 8-2 UFC), has looked less than stellar recently as he's looked to showcase his striking more in decision wins over Kendall Grove and Mario Miranda.

Check out Larry Pepe from ProMMA.com and Damon Martin from MMAWeekly,com as we break down the Munoz-Maia fight from the betting perspective.

You can watch UFC 131 right here on Yahoo! Sports

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