Radach expects EliteXC title shot to come in February

It had been nine months since Benji "Razor" Radach competed in mixed martial arts when he stepped into the cage to face Murilo "Ninja" Rua at EliteXC: Heat on Oct. 4. Slated to kick off the third installment of EliteXC on CBS, Radach delivered, knocking out Rua at the 2:31 mark of the second round.

"It was amazing. We definitely got it going," the middleweight fighter told MMAWeekly.com. "I just wanted to get right in his face and see what it was all about. You know what I mean? See what he was all about. And he's a tough dude."

Radach came out of the gate firing, stunning Rua with punches and looked as if he may get an early finish. Rua weathered the early onslaught and survived the round, inflicting his fair share of damage on Radach as well.

"Everything that I threw seemed to find it's home. It was hitting him, and some huge impacts. I couldn't believe, like I would see him stagger. He was hurt," said Radach. "He was looking through me instead of at me. I would go for a finishing shot and miss, and he'd have his bearings right back. He had such good composure."

When the two fighters came out of their corners to start round two, Radach looked fatigued. "I was getting tired throwing down like that. Come the second round I had to take a back seat and let him dictate the pace for a minute and get my composure," commented the 29-year-old fighter. "It worked out."

Discussing the knockout, "I had some energy and I was waiting for that time to explode. It was right there. That was the time. And I dropped that one down from way above," said Racach. "The first shot was really, really hard ... You could hear the boards from the cage bouncing. I hit him real hard."

Coming off a loss to Matt Horwich in the International Fight League World Grand Prix Finals, snapping a five-fight win streak, and the nine-month layoff, Radach was thrilled with his performance and the result.

"It was a really cool fight just because there was so much action in that first round. And to go into the second round and play a different role and still come out on top was pretty cool. I was able to regain my composure and get it together. It was a pretty cool fight for me. I couldn't have picked a better time to have an awesome fight."

Radach will enjoy a little time off before getting back to the gym. He expects to fight again in February against the winner of Robbie Lawler and Joey Villasenor for the EliteXC middleweight title.