ST LOUIS — This weekend was rough on two St. Louis area fighters, and the hard times didn't differentiate between boxing ring and octagon.
Here a rundown on how things went for St. Charles boxer Ryan Coyne and Pacfic, Mo., UFC fighter Justin Lawrence.
Stop reading now if you expected good news.
Coyne gets KO'd:
Ryan Coyne entered Friday night's fight against Marcus Oliveira with hopes of locking in the mandatory challenger position that was up for grabs. Instead, the previously undefeated southpaw got knocked out in his light heavyweight fight against still-undefeated Oliveira. The stoppage in Las Vegas came at the 1:15 mark of the 11th round. Oliveira is now the mandatory challenger to WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov.
Lawrence dismissed early:
Justin Lawrence hoped his Saturday night fight against Daniel Pineda would show the strides the 22-year-old UFC featherweight made since he relocated to California to train. Instead, Lawrence was dismissed shortly into the first fight of Saturday's The Ultimate Fighter 17 finale in Las Vegas. Pineda exposed Lawrence where he is weakest: on the ground. An early takedown led to a Kimura that caused Lawrence to tap. The fight was over in 95 seconds. Lawrence has now lost back-to-back fights.
