Spin City at Hangar

COSTA MESA — The Showtime cameras rolled live Friday night at the OC Fair & Event Center.

Five mixed martial arts fighters on the televised card followed suit by rolling through their respective opponents with ease.

M-1 Global promotions’ Challenge 26 was far from a test for each of the fighters shown on the premium cable channel. Four of them won by knockout at the Hangar, one by unanimous decision.

Some used traditional left- and right-handed punches to drop their opponent. One unleashed a spinning back-fisted shot.

The spin move turned out to be the highlight of the night.

Russian Arthur Guseinov stole the show before the featured heavyweight rematch between Kenny Garner and Pat Bennett. There was nothing Garner and Bennett could do to regain most of the crowd’s attention.

Guseinov made quick work of Oregon’s Tyson Jeffries when he surprised him near the middle of the ring. While Jeffries’ hands stayed out in front of his chest, Guseinov quickly spun before catching Jeffries with his right fist.

Jeffries never saw the blow coming and he fell at the 1:32 mark in the first round.

Guseinov mocked Jeffries (7-5) by hovering over him. He knew it was over. He improved to 8-2, and when an announcer interviewed him inside the ring, most of the fans did not understand a word said by Guseinov.

All that mattered was that he delivered the most spectacular blow.

Garner hoped to get a similar or better rise out of the crowd. The Floridian had beaten Bennett before, in the finale of the 2010 M-1 Selection Americas Tournament back in September.

Bennett, who is from New York, did not get out of the first round back then. He lasted past the opening round this time around, but Garner eventually wore him down.

Garner (7-3) knocked out Bennett (4-3) at the 1:15 mark in the second round. He connected with three right-handed shots before using a vicious left- and right-handed combo to drop Bennett.

“I’m coming to get my belt,” said Garner, referring to M-1 Global promotions’ heavyweight champion, Guram Gugenishvili, who has defeated Garner already.

Gugenishvili was supposed to fight Bennett in the main event, but he withdrew from his U.S. debut because of an injury.

The first of five bouts on Showtime featured Arizona’s Eddie Arizmendi and Oklahoma’s Jason Norwood in a middleweight match. The cameras mostly followed Arizmendi kicks and punches.

The assault proved to be too much for Norwood to handle.

In the second round, Arizmendi caught Norwood with a left-handed shot to the head, dropping Norwood. Arizmendi tried to pounce on Norwood and club him with his fist, but the referee dove in at the 4:55 mark to stop further damage to Norwood (11-3).

Arizmendi (15-2) turned in the first of five straight dominating performances on the Showtime card.

The second one belonged to Daniel Weichel. The German tore up Virginia’s Beau Baker’s face, bloodying it by the third round of a lightweight match.

Weichel (27-7) was on his way to earning a unanimous decision after three rounds, while Baker (8-5) needed to see a plastic surgeon.

Another European lightweight took care of business. His name was Mairbek Taisumov.

The Austrian flattened Florida’s Josh Bacallao (6-3) with a right shot at the 2:01 mark in the first round. While Bacallao was on his back, Taisumov released a flurry of left-handed shots before the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

Taisumov improved to 15-3 and celebrated by putting his face down on the canvas.

The first two fights didn’t make it on Showtime, the first one with good reason.

Fans believed the wrong fighter won the opening match.

Duarte’s Brandon Michaels appeared to have earned a victory after three rounds of a light heavyweight tilt against Inglewood’s Diman Morris. But it was Morris celebrating a split decision, helping him improve to 3-1, while Michaels dropped to 1-4.

The second bout featured two lightweights fighting for the second time in their young careers.

Max Martyniouk ended Mike De Robles’ night a little early. Martyniouk (1-1), who’s from Estonia, knocked De Robles (1-1) out in the first round at the 2:30 mark.

The knockout blow was the first landed before the Showtime cameras began rolling the big fights.