THE CANADIAN PRESS

LAS VEGAS -- Canadian heavyweight Tim (The Thrashing Machine) Hague came on strong in the third round but lost a majority decision to Chris (The Crowbar) Tuchscherer at UFC 109 on Saturday night.

After two lacklustre rounds, Hague came out swinging in the third and hurt Tuchscherer. Stuffing a takedown, he put an exhausted Tuchscherer down. The round was one-way traffic but Hague was unable to finish his man off.

The judges scored it 29-28, 29-28 and 28-28 for Tuchscherer (18-2 with one no contest). The crowd at the Mandalay Bay booed the decision.

The fight was the first for Hague, a 26-year-old former kindergarten teacher from Edmonton, since he was knocked out in a UFC-record seven seconds by Todd Duffee at UFC 102 in August.

Tuchscherer, who trains with Brock Lesnar, lost his UFC debut to Gabriel Gonzaga on the same card in a fight in which he took an accidental kick to the groin. He took another low blow, this time a knee, in the first round Saturday.

The main event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center pitted 46-year-old Randy (The Natural) Couture against 45-year-old Mark (The Hammer) Coleman in a battle of UFC Hall of Famers.

Hague (10-3) walked out to "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses. He fought off Tuchscherer's takedowns in the first round but failed to get his offence going.

Tuchscherer did take him down early in the second but the six-foot-four 265-pound Canadian fought his way back up. Hague was looking tired, however.

Hague found a second wind in the final round, but it came too late.

NOTE: One of Saturday's fighters had an Edmonton Rush logo on his shorts, but it wasn't Hague. Instead it was Couture who donned the logo on the left front thigh of his red fight shorts as part of a sponsorship deal struck in December with the National Lacrosse League team. Several Rush players had also come down to the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas to train as a result of the agreement.

AGGRESSION MMA: (SPORTSNET.CA) Former UFC fighter Jason (Dooms) Day of Lethbridge, Alta., was submitted by Jesse (JT Money) Taylor at an Aggression MMA card Friday night in Edmonton. Headlining the "Aggression MMA 2: Vengeance" show at the Edmonton Expo Centre, Taylor, who was famously kicked off The Ultimate Fighter for his behaviour during a night out on the night, secured a first-round rear naked choke of the Canadian, who lost a third out of his past four fights.

Day is now 1-1 since being released by the UFC, where he went 1-2 in three fights.

"Congrats to Jesse Taylor he did his job last night," Day wrote on his Facebook page. "Thanks to all my friends,family and fans for supporting me and believing in me."

In the co-main event, Toronto's Claude Patrick defeated Matt MacGrath of Halifax by third-round submission.

Canadian rocker turned mixed martial artist Robin Black evened his MMA record at 3-3 with a win by TKO Matt Knysh in the second round.

THE FIGHT CLUB: The Edmonton-based promotion TFC has announced two championship fights for its upcoming "High Octane" show. Ryan Ford will defend his newly acquired welterweight belt in the main event against former veteran and former WEC and UFC fighter Tom Speer.

Also at TFC 10, which will take place March 19 at the Shaw Conference, Victor Valimaki will put his light-heavyweight title on the line against Martin Desilets in a matchup that was orginally scheduled for December. The bout was scrapped at the last minute when Valimaki suffered medical issues after the weigh-in due to weight loss.

The organization also announced a deal with Ringside Boxing & MMA to broadcast its events live on pay-per-view across Canada, starting with its next show.

“We are very excited about our new television arrangement,” said TFC president Mark Sinclair. “It’s an opportunity to promote our brand, our fighters and our sponsors to a huge audience across the country and around the world. It will allow us to expand and increase our fighter base and sponsors and offer MMA fans a more entertaining product.”

MIXED FIGHT LEAGUE: David Loiseau's wish to fight for Haiti was granted last week. The Montrealer, who was cut by the UFC shortly after his return to the organization last year, signed a deal with Mixed Fight League. He will fight Isidro Gonzales at MFL 2: Battleground on Feb 27 in Montreal, with all the proceeds from his purse to be donated to help the earthquake victims in Haiti.