Edgar downs Penn, keeps title

Edgar won the title from Penn via decision in April in a much closer fight than Saturday’s bout, which all three judges scored 50-45.

The co-main event featured a battle between a championship boxer and a champion mixed martial artist, with five-time UFC titleholder Randy Couture defeating 11-time boxing champion James Toney by submission in the first round of a scheduled three-round heavyweight bout.

Edgar (13-1) controlled his bout from the start, scoring a takedown in the first 20 seconds. After Penn (15-7-1) escaped and got to his feet, Edgar took him down again with 1:50 left in the round.

“BJ really brought out the best in me,” said the 28-year-old Edgar, who scored another takedown in the second round. “It was close the first time, and I wanted to make a point.”

After both fighters spent most of the third round on their feet trading punches, Penn began the fourth round with a takedown, but Edgar got up with 3:45 left in the round. In the final three minutes of the round, Edgar swept Penn’s left leg, sending him to the mat, where he landed a hard right hand to Penn’s head.

In the fifth round, Penn took Edgar to the mat in the first 30 seconds, but a minute later, Edgar reversed positions.

Both fighters finished the bout on their feet, with Edgar warding off a takedown attempt in the final 15 seconds.

“Frankie fought a great fight,” the 31-year-old Penn said. “He beat me twice, so what can you say?”

In the co-main event, Couture (19-10) prompted Toney to tap out at 3:19 of the first round in his first MMA bout.

Within the bout’s first 30 seconds, Couture brought Toney to the mat with a single-leg takedown. He never let Toney off the mat, landing punches to the head and getting Toney into a head triangle, which he held until Toney signaled to referee Mario Yamasaki that he had enough.

The 47-year-old Couture is a former three-time UFC heavyweight champion and a two-time light heavyweight champion. Toney has held world championships in boxing at middleweight, super middleweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight. The 42-year-old’s boxing record is 72-6-3, with two no contests.

“I got caught,” said Toney, who began training in MMA nine months ago. “What can I say?”

Said UFC president Dana White: “(Toney is) a tough guy, but he came in there with one discipline, and that was not enough, even if he trained eight or nine months.”

In other bouts on the main card, lightweight Gray Maynard (11-0) won a three-round unanimous decision over Kenny Florian (15-5), a local favorite from Brookline, Mass.

Demian Maia (13-2) won a unanimous decision over Mario Miranda (12-2) at middleweight. And Nate Diaz (13-5) won by submission over Marcus Davis (21-5) in the third round of a welterweight bout.