Miller, Pellegrino come up big in prelims

Three-time NCAA national champion wrestler Jake Rosholt had a tough go against IFL middleweight ace Dan Miller.

After getting blasted with a knee to start their tilt, Rosholt quickly found himself in danger as Miller (11-1, 1 NC) locked on a modified guillotine on the heels of a takedown attempt. Just 63 seconds into the battle of future stars, Rosholt (5-1), was handed his first career defeat as he submitted to the slick technique.

Miller is now 3-0 in the Octagon.

Kurt Pellegrino rallied after dropping the first frame on Sherdog.com’s scorecard to submit Robert Emerson at 3:14 of the second stanza.

Having tasted Emerson’s jab a few times in the first period, Pellegrino (13-4) struck from a different range in the second round, and was successful early with a well-executed punching combination. The fighters exchanged strikes on the feet and scrambled for position on the floor, where Pellegrino found an opening to secure a tapout-inducing rear-naked choke.

The loss for Emerson (8-7, 1 NC) was his first in four bouts for the promotion.

Matt Hughes-trained lightweight Matt Veach (11-0) kept his undefeated record intact with a technical knockout of Matt Grice to end a furious first round of action.

Grice, 9-2, dominated at the beginning of the bout with a flurry of punches and some vicious ground-and-pound. Showing an iron chin, Veach weathered the storm and connected with a crisp right hook that sent his opponent reeling to the canvas. Veach followed his fallen foe to the floor, where he put a stamp on his victory with follow-up punches until referee Troy Waugh saved Grice at 4:35 of round one.

American Top Team’s Gleison Tibau made quick work of seasoned veteran Rich Clementi with an easy first-round tapout via guillotine choke.

Setting the tone early with a straight left that stunned Clementi (32-14-1), Tibau dominated the Team Voodoo lightweight on the floor before securing a fight-ending guillotine at 4:35 of the first. Tibau (16-6) ended a two-fight losing streak with the impressive win.

Nick Catone made good on his Octagon debut with a second-round submission of Derek Downey.

Catone (6-0) greeted Downey with an elbow in the opening frame that raised an alien-like bulge on the head of the Utah-based middleweight. Downey (10-4) pushed on despite his lumps, but was forced to call it quits after a keylock extended his arm at 1:15 of round two.

In the evening’s opening bout, welterweight prospect Matt Riddle (2-0) outpointed ATT product Steve Bruno (12-5) en route to a unanimous decision. All three judges scored the contest 29-28 for the Arizona Combat Sports fighter.

Brian Knapp and Mike Fridley contributed to this report.