Brock Larson cut by UFC, Brutaal Fight night results

Minnesota's top welterweight, Brock Larson, will be moving on from the UFC after being cut by the county's top MMA company earlier in week.

Larson confirmed to various news outlets on Wednesday that he had been released following his loss to Brian Foster on Saturday night at UFC 106 in Las Vegas.

"It's probably a good thing," Larson wrote in a text message to MMAJunkie.com. "I was having a hard time getting motivated for my last two fights. I needed a change. The undercards just didn't do it for me."

Larson had originally been signed to compete for WEC, the sister promotion of UFC that is also owned by UFC-parent company Zuffa. He went 4-1 in the WEC before they dropped their welterweight division and he moved to UFC.

He won his first two fights back in the UFC (he had competed for UFC before in 2005-06), before dropping his last two fights. All four fights this year had taken place on the unaired portion of the undercard, which apparently lead to Larson's lack of motivation.

The next step for Larson may be for him to take a couple of fights in Japan as a chance to make more money then he did on the undercard of the UFC events, as he tries to get his career back on track. UFC rival Strikeforce is also a possibility, but he would likely make even less fighting for them than he did in the UFC.

Larson did have some good news this week though, Tapout, one of the leading MMA clothing lines, released a Brock Larson signature shirt, which you can buy one right here.

It only took 22 seconds for Kevin Asplund to vanquish his opponent on Wednesday night in front of a standing room only crowd at the St Paul National Guard Armory.

Asplund floored fellow heavyweight Cameron Befort with a devastating right hand and quickly applied a kimura for a submission victory to move onto the finals of the Brutaal Heavyweight Tournament.

John Henry, who upset the heavily favored Heath Roth by TKO in the second round of their semi final match, will meet Asplund in the finals on January 15 at the Epic Nightclub in Minneapolis.

Roth controlled most of the first round with his grappling and tied up Henry on the ground before gassing and allowing Henry to flip him to gain a mount position with about a minute left in the round.

When the second round started, Roth clearly had nothing left and the two bulls quickly took the fight to the mat, with Henry ending up on top. Roth tried to keep Henry close, but Henry was able to finally get some space and hammer Roth with a handful of good punches until the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 2:10.

The second semi-final match saw Derrick Getzel defeat Dustin Petron in impressive fashion. The fight was very even at the start, with some great back and forth grappling. Eventually though, Getzel caught Petron with a triangle, and actually flipped him over and kept Petron tied up with the triangle while Getzel had a full mount. Petron tried to free himself but was unable to and the referee was forced to step in at 4:11 to stop the fight after Petron took numerous shots to the head while trapped.

The night was not without controversy though, as in one of the non-tournament matches, Courtney Buck defeated Ambition Gym fighter Cody Pasquale just :39 seconds into the first round by knockout. Pasquale's corner man Mike Reilly was visibly upset and complained after the fight that referee Daryl Guthmiller did not stop the fight sooner. Reilly felt that Guthmiller should have stepped in sooner, as Buck appeared to land a couple of unanswered punches while Pasquale lay prone on the mat. Pasquale corner carried him to the back after the fight, but he was did not suffer any injuries according to the events doctor after examining him in the back.

In the opening matches, Robert Dawson defeated Chris Dyrdahl by submission with an armbar at 4:57 in the first round. Also, Jeremy Beck was victorious over Tyler Nothnangel by TKO in just 13 seconds of round one in an amateur fight.

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