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Diego Rivas arguably lost round 1 by a 10-8 margin against Noad Lahat at UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson. One huge flying knee changed everything in round 2.

Diego Rivas and Noad Lahat kicked off the Fox Sports 1 preliminary card for UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson in Las Vegas. Lahat dominated round 1 with vastly superior ground skills, nearly submitting his foe with a mounted guillotine early in the fight. It was arguably a grappling 10-8 in Lahat’s favor, but the tide turned in unbelievable fashion in round 2.

With Rivas in desperate need of some offensive success, he uncorked a beautifully timed flying knee that put Lahat down and out. Watch the finish for yourself in the video below, courtesy of FS1. (Apologies if you are geo-blocked and thus cannot see the video.)

FLYING KNEE KO! What a knockout by Diego Rivas! #UFCVegas https://t.co/7bMCtKEpbU

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) February 7, 2016

Rivas improves to 7-0, including 2-0 in the UFC. Lahat is now 9-2, but both of his losses have come by flying knee KO. The previous instance of this unfortunate outcome for Lahat happened against Godofredo Pepey in 2014.

This scary KO left Lahat unable to get back to his feet for several minutes. Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, who is on-site in Las Vegas, tweeted that Lahat was able to exit the Octagon on his feet, but the stretcher was initially brought out as he remained on his back during the commercial break and even after the official result was announced by Bruce Buffer.

Lahat is on his back and is kicking reflexively. The people helping him, including inspectors from commission, are trying to hold him down

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) February 7, 2016

Lahat is on his feet. Big group surrounding him so I can’t see much of what is going on. They have a stretcher out

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) February 7, 2016

He’s on his feet and being assisted to the locker room. Just walked past me, kind of dragging legs. Still looks out of it

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) February 7, 2016

Mickey Gall got the win he needed to earn himself a fight vs. CM Punk. Here’s the staredown

UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson had a hugely important fight screened on Fight Pass to start the night off, as Mickey Gall faced Mike “The Truth” Jackson in a welterweight bout. As Dana White noted last month, a win for the “Lookin’ For a Fight” talent would net him a fight with CM Punk later this year.

With Gall heavily favored, he dropped Jackson with a right hand and then finished the fight off with a rear-naked choke. The 45-second thrashing certainly impressed CM Punk, who was in attendance and saw the whole thing unfold. After the post-fight interview ended, Punk and Gall had an incredibly non-threatening staredown, which you can see in the video below.

After a spectacular performance by @MickeyGall, @CMPunk now has an opponent! #UFCVegas https://t.co/sU1gct1OIo

— #UFCVegas (@ufc) February 7, 2016

Gall vs. Punk is expected to take place on the main card of either UFC 199 in June or UFC 200 in July.

My new favorite line in mixed martial arts (MMA) interviews these days would have to be, “I don’t want to make any excuses but…”

It’s almost as though these athletes believe that the disclaimer makes the contradiction acceptable. This kind of cognitive dissonance used to be reserved mainly for Brazilian fighters, who would blame something being lost in translation. But these days everybody is doing it.

The latest person is Chris Weidman, the former UFC middleweight champion who was thoroughly and completely trounced by Luke Rockhold in the co-main event of UFC 194 on Dec. 12, 2015.

According to a recent interview with AXS TV, Weidman says that although he deserved to lose that night he could beat Rockhold in a rematch.

“It wasn’t me in there. I had a lot of issues going on. I had a lot of things I was going through and it wasn’t my night, it was his night. He deserved to win that fight. But he’s a guy I’m just very capable of completely running through. I was at maybe 10 to 20 percent of me and I was still kicking his ass for a while in there.”

Wow, 10 to 20 percent. Is that like the remainder of 70 percent Hendricks?

But look, Weidman isn’t whining. Seriously. He isn’t. Look at me. This is my serious face.

“I don’t like to make excuses. I’ll just say this. It was the worst camp I ever had and a lot of things were going on. But what I felt in there was a weak guy who was ready to break before it all went downhill for me with the spinning back kick.”

Despite being battered and stopped in the fourth round, Weidman reiterated the loss was a blessing disguise because he’s now free to work on his mistakes and reach his full potential. The All American added he hasn’t been this excited about his career since before his Anderson Silva fights.

“I’ve got a guy borrowing my belt right now, Luke Rockhold, and I’d like to take that, beginning of summer, take it back from him. And then whoever’s next, whether he wants another shot and have a third fight in New York we could do that. If not it’ll be somebody else.”

Let’s hope Weidman brings his 90 percent to that fight. Thoughts about these excuses comments?

After contemplating retirement, one of the remaining TUF 17 alumni will be testing the waters in a different division, with the help of a new camp.

It is commonplace for cast members of The Ultimate Fighter to change weight classes after filming, and for one member of season 17, he’ll be doing it conjunction with a location change for camp.

Clint Hester (4-2 UFC) confirmed with Bloody Elbow that he has a matchup at 205 lbs, although the date and opponent are yet to be announced. Hester recently left his gym of X3 in Atlanta, Georgia, to train with Blackzilians in Boca Raton, Florida.

“I’ll always go back and help out in Atlanta, but I gotta go where I can be pushed by the best athletes in the world, and that’s what’s down here I think. They’ve given me a renewed sense of interest in my career. I was on the verge of hanging up my gloves, and I got a call to come down and try it out. I’m excited to learn again and get back in there.”

As for the weight class change, Hester cited difficulty in cuts as the catalyst.

“The weights cuts have gradually gotten harder since coming off the show. I almost missed weight last time. It was stressful. It was stressful during camp, stressful during the week of, and I ended up fighting two fights. I gotta go up.”

Hester is 0-2 in his last two fights, after going 4-0 in the promotion. Stay tuned for more details.