Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva entered the main event at UFC 99 in desperate need of victories on Saturday at Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, on pay-per-view.

Franklin, a former UFC middleweight champion, had lost two of his previous four fights and Silva, a former Pride 205-pound champion, had lost four of his past five fights.

These two proud warriors both found themselves in a must-win situation and Franklin was able to pull out a three-round unanimous decision.

The bout was contested at a catchweight of 195 pounds. Franklin plans to continue his career at 205 pounds, while Silva is headed to 185 pounds to see if he can turn his career around and remain relevant in the UFC.

Franklin and Silva engaged in three hotly contested rounds that were hard to score, but the judges went for Franklin's activity and pressure over Silva's more damaging punches.

Heavyweight Cain Velasquez (6-0) of San Jose continued his MMA education by pounding out a three-round unanimous decision over Cheick Kongo (24-5-1) of Paris, France, in the semi-main event.

Velasquez, a former two-time All-American wrestler, absorbed a right hand early in the first round. But he got a takedown and went to work with some vicious ground-and-pound. He got in a number of slams to take the first round.

Velasquez dominated the second round with his relentless takedowns and more ground-and-pound.

Velasquez mounted Kongo and pounded on him for much of the final round, but he was unable to finish the rugged Kongo.

Heavyweight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (25-6-2) of Zagreb, Croatia, made his return to the UFC and scored an emphatic first-round TKO over Mostapha Al-Turk (6-5) of London, England.

Filipovic dropped Al-Turk with a left hand in the first round and he stopped Al-Turk later in the round with another left before unloading a barrage of punches that forced referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the fight at 3:06 of the opening round.

Mike Swick (14-2) of San Jose continued his climb up the welterweight division rankings with a second round TKO over Ben Saunders (7-1-2) of Orlando, Fla.

Swick was pressing the action and trying to force the fight for all of the first round, while Saunders was playing defense and trying to look for openings.

In the second round, Swick landed a series of right hands and Saunders had no answer for the combinations that followed. Referee Leon Roberts stopped it at 3:47 of the second round.

Spencer Fisher (24-4) of Bettendorf, Iowa, won a three-round unanimous decision over former two-time UFC lightweight-title challenger Caol Uno (25-12-4) of Kanagawa, Japan.

Both fighters struggled to gain an advantage in the first round and neither was able to inflict any damage.

The crowd was growing restless because Uno and Fisher were cancelling each other out with their expert defense and ground skills in the second round.

Fisher landed some good strikes early in the third round, but Uno  got a takedown, took full mount and landed some damaging strikes in the final minute. It wasn't enough to sway the judges.

Welterweight gatekeeper Marcus Davis (21-6) of Bangor, Maine, was looking to silence trash-talking Dan Hardy (22-6) of Nottingham, England, but Hardy rallied in the final two rounds to pull out a three-round split decision victory.

Davis spent much of the first round mauling Hardy, but he did get cut from a right elbow by Hardy.

Hardy landed a left knee that dropped Davis to the canvas early in the second round. Davis stayed cool and weathered the storm from the bottom and even got in an armbar attempt. Referee Mark Goddard stood the fighters up with 1:10 remaining.  Davis landed a big left hand and got a takedown in the final minute.

Davis got a quick takedown in the third round and went for a heel hook, but Hardy was able to avoid the submission and get back to his feet. Hardy got a takedown of his own and landed a brutal right elbow that busted open a cut on the bridge of Davis' nose. Hardy continued to deliver the punishment and it looked like enought to give Hardy the fight.

Two of the judges scored it 29-28 in favor of Hardy, while the third judge gave Davis a 29-28 nod.

THE UNDERCARD

Lightweight --- Terry Etim (13-2) of Liverpool, England, def. Justin Buchholz (9-3) of Sacramento, submission, brabo choke, Round 2

Lightweight --- Dennis Siver (14-6) of Mannheim, Germany, def. Dale Hartt (6-2) of Bangor, Maine, submission, rear-naked choke, Round 1

Welterweight --- Paul Taylor (10-4-1, 1 NC) of Walsall, England, def.. Peter Sobotta (8-2) of Geislingen, Germany, una dec.

Lightweight --- Paul Kelly (9-1) of Liverpool, England, vs. Rolando Delgado (8-3-1) of Little Rock, Ark.

Heavyweight --- Stefan Struve (17-3) def. Denis Stojnic (5-3), submission, rear-naked choke, 2:37, Round 2

Welterweight --- John Hathaway (11-0) def. Ricky Story (7-3), una. dec.

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