UFC 181 Anthony Pettis def. Gilbert Melendez submission (mounted guillotine choke) – R2

Gilbert Melendez showed Anthony Pettis no fear in their UFC lightweight title bout on Saturday night. Melendez pressed forward for the bulk of the fight and won the first round. But he walked right into a big right hand early in the second round. Before you could blink, Pettis caught Melendez in a guillotine choke and became the first person ever to submit the former Strikeforce champion. Pettis, defending his title for the first time 15 months after winning it, got the tap at 1:33 of the second round in the co-feature of UFC 181 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.Melendez pushed forward just 10 seconds into the fight, clinching Pettis up against the fence and looking for a takedown. Pettis stayed upright, then threw a right high kick. But Melendez blocked it, then briefly took the champion down. Melendez threw knees as he looked to turn it into a grinding fight. It took Pettis a couple minutes, but he finally broke free. But it was Melendez putting pressure on, coming forward quickly, then again taking Pettis down. Once Pettis was back up, he looked for spinning kicks and landed. But once again, Melendez was all over him. With a minute left, the two briefly traded in the center of the cage, and it was Pettis who broke off and looked to land a flying knee. But it was a clear first round for the challenger.Again in the second, Melendez came out swinging. The champion threw back, but Melendez gave chase, winging punches and again pushing Pettis to the cage. Melendez continued to work punches to the body, but Pettis cracked him with a left hand, and as Melendez dropped down, Pettis caught him in a guillotine choke. Pettis was tagged by Melendez after the challenger cut off his angle and Pettis caught Melendez with a quick shot. However, Melendez quickly recovered and continued to use his grinding style to keep Pettis up against the fence. Melendez unloaded with some body shots and was baiting Pettis in to a slugfest. Pettis got Melendez with a left and then dropped down for a guillotine. Pettis locked the guillotine in and forced Melendez to tap.