Le shocks Franklin with one-punch KO at UFC in Macau

• Le notches arguably biggest win of his career with one-punch knockout of Franklin
• Le calls knockout, which came at the 2:17 mark, 'lucky,' and is at loss for words
• In co-main event, Silva comes back to defeat Nedkov, gets back in win column after long absence

Not a lot was on the line in Saturday's main event in Macau, but don't tell that to Cung Le.

The former Strikeforce middleweight champion notched arguably the biggest win of his career with a one-punch knockout of ex-UFC champ Rich Franklin.

Le's massive first-round knockout came at the 2:17 mark in the main event of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's first card in China, UFC on FUEL TV 6, which took place at CotaiArena in Venetian Macau Resort Hotel.

The Vietnamese-born Le,a part-time action movie star, attributed the knockout to luck, though he executed it perfectly.

"That's the biggest fight of my life," Le (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) said after the event. "I'm just grateful. I don't know what to say. Just a lucky punch."

Franklin (29-7, 14-6), who was a UFC 185-pound champ until longtime divisional kingpin Anderson Silva beat him in 2007, was a 4-to-1 favorite against the 40-year-old Le.

But Le took his time against the American. He tried to time his offense against Franklin's jabs and leg kicks. When Franklin threw a left outside leg kick, Le reared back and threw a right hand that was right on the button, which put Franklin flat on the canvas.

"He kept on throwing that punch at me, and I wasn't able to time my kick," Le said." He was loading up, and he was looking for me to kick and catch me with the punches. So I came in, I waited for him to punch. I came with the overhand right, and I caught him."

After a loss in his UFC debut nearly a year ago to Wanderlei Silva, Le now has back-to-back octagon wins. The loss for Franklin keeps him from his first win streak since 2008. He was looking for a second straight victory after a unanimous-decision win over Wanderlei Silva in June.

Le earned the night's$40,000 "Knockout of the Night" bonus for his effort.

In the co-main event, Thiago Silva mounted a comeback against Stanislav Nedkov to get back in the win column for the first time in more than three years.

Nedkov's clinch game stifled much of Silva's offensive potential through two rounds. But in the third, Silva took advantage of a tiring Nedkov to land a high kick and then secure a takedown. On the ground, Silva made quick work of the Bulgarian. He transitioned from full mount to secure an arm-triangle choke, and Nedkov tapped at the 1:45 mark of the final round.

UFC officials rewarded Silva with a $40,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus.

The nine-fight card featured seven straight decisions before Silva's submission win and Le's knockout. Of those seven 15-minute fights, Takanori Gomi's split-decision win over "The Ultimate Fighter 5" winner Mac Danzig was named "Fight of the Night."

Full UFC on FUEL TV 6results included:

- Cung Le def. Rich Franklin via knockout (punch) - Round 1, 2:17

- Thiago Silva def. Stanislav Nedkov via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 3, 1:45

- Dong Hyun Kim def. Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

- Takanori Gomi def. Mac Danzig via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

- Jon Tuck def. Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

- Takeya Mizugaki def.Jeff Hougland via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-27, 30-27)

- Alex Caceres def. Motonobu Tezuka via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)

- John Lineker def. Yasuhiro Urushitani via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

- Riki Fukuda def. Tom DeBlass via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Erickson writes for MMAJunkie.com