ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP: SILVA DEFEATS LUTTER CRO COP MAKES IMPRESSIVE DEBUT.

Byline: JAMES MELROY Staff Writer

LAS VEGAS -- What was largely an uneventful show ended on a high note, thanks to the final two fights of UFC 67 on Saturday evening at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who has taken the organization by storm since his debut last summer, forced Travis Lutter to tap out at the 2:49 mark of the second round in a non-title fight.

Minutes earlier, heavyweight contender Mirko Cro Cop made his long- awaited UFC debut with a first-round TKO of previously-undefeated Eddie Sanchez (8-1).

Some of the luster was taken off the card prior to the event when Lutter failed to make the required 185-pound limit, turning it into a non-title fight. Lutter tipped the scales at 186 1/2 pounds in his final attempt to make the required weight Friday evening.

None if it mattered in the end as Silva was able to fend off Lutter's ground attack in the first round. After Silva missed a flying knee midway 1:30 into the fight, Lutter put Silva on his back and gained top position.

Silva (18-4) was able to wriggle free and regained his feet, only to be tripped up seconds later and put back on the mat.

Lutter (12-4) managed to pass Silva and as the round neared an end, began to throw a flurry of punches down on Silva, who didn't panic and, despite his dire position, was able to free himself.

Lutter opened the second round with another takedown, but when he tried to throw punches, he was caught with a kick by Silva, who quickly maneuvered his stunned opponent into position for a triangle submission. Lutter managed to avoid the full force of the hold, but Silva was able land several punches and elbows and Lutter was forced to tap out.

``I'm a stand-up fighter, but my jiu-jitsu skills can match up with anyone in this weight class,'' Silva said. ``You can see that by what I just did to Travis Lutter.''

Cro Cop, a native of Croatia who has fought almost in Japan with the Pride organization, put on a clinic against Sanchez.

Sanchez showed he wasn't intimidated early by charging Cro Cop (22-4-2) and throwing some wild punches. But he was quickly put into back-pedal mode as Cro Cop essentially stalked his opponent, throwing heavy punches and left-leg kicks to Sanchez's head.

The end came when Cro Cop landed a kick to the side of Sanchez's head, staggering him. A few seconds later, the youngster from Temecula Valley went down to the mat where his more experienced opponent mounted him and slowly began picking him apart before referee stepped in to call a halt to the action.

`Rampage' wins debut: It took Quinton ``Rampage'' Jackson about a round and a half to shake the nervousness of making his UFC debut.

But once he got that out of his system, Jackson looked much like himself as he knocked out Marvin Eastman with a flurry of right uppercuts that put Eastman to sleep 3:49 of the second round.

``It feels good tonight,'' said Jackson, who avenged his first ever mixed martial arts loss against Eastman in 2000. ``This is the most nervous I have ever been for a fight. -- I just wanted to give the fans a good show.''

Miguel Lopez contributed

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