Last-minute fill-in rocks Kimbo

After original opponent, Ken Shamrock, had to step out of the bout with a cut over his left eye, Seth Petruzelli stepped out of his scheduled preliminary fight against Aaron Rosa and made it to the main event against Kimbo.

As soon as the fight started, Kimbo strutted across the cage as confident as ever trying to stalk his prey, but instead of landing a big shot he was greeted by a short right hand from Petruzelli that put him down on the ground.

Recognizing that Kimbo was hurt, Petruzelli immediately jumped in with a few more punches forcing his opponent to role over where he proceeded to continue the assault.

As Kimbo's arms and legs seem to go limp, the referee stepped in between the two fighters and Seth Petruzelli was declared the winner of the biggest fight of his career that he took on essentially 2 hours notice.

"It was an opportunity for me to step up," Petruzelli said following the win. "I took a year off, started my own business, but it was a chance for me to get my name back out there and do what I had to do. My skill, it's what I've been doing since I was a little kid, this is what I always wanted to do my whole life."

Petruzelli seemed very understanding of the tough spot the short notice replacement left for both men, but he still walks out as the man who conquered Kimbo.

"It was a crappy situation for both of us," Petruzelli stated. "It was unfortunate what happened to Ken (Shamrock). But this is the man (motioning to Kimbo) that stepped up to fight me at the last minute, I stepped up last minute."

With a good size cut over his left eye, Kimbo was short in his address to the crowd following his first professional defeat.

"I want to thank this man (Seth Petruzelli) for taking this fight last notice," Kimbo said addressing the crowd.

While the announcers waffled somewhat on the significance of this loss for Kimbo, the reality is that he faced an experienced mixed martial artist who taught him a tough lesson in his 4th professional fight. Something Kimbo can grow from and something Seth Petruzelli can likely build on for a career with Elite XC.