Ray survives early beating to eke out majority decision over Lauzon

Never count Stevie Ray out of a fight.

True to his moniker, "Braveheart" survived a first-round beating and dug deep to grind out a majority decision over Joe Lauzon (28-27, 29-27, 28-28) in their lightweight bout Saturday at UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville, Tenn.

The Scotsman appeared destined for an L after the first five minutes, as Lauzon took him down with ease and proceeded to have himself a grand old time from a variety of dominant positions. After taking Ray's back and seeing his efforts to slap on a rear-naked choke go for naught, the battle-tested vet effortlessly transitioned to full mount and rained hellfire in the form of punches and elbows on his foe's noggin to cap a dominant Round 1.

Unfortunately for Lauzon, his gas tank wouldn't make it to the second stanza, allowing Ray to find a home for his sneaky power left and get right back in the fight. "J-Lau" did have enough energy saved up for a takedown midway through the frame, and while he failed to mount anything remotely resembling the damage he inflicted in the first, his top control made it a nailbiter going into the final round.

Ray snatched victory from the jaws of defeat - or judging by the scorecards, a draw - in a pivotal Round 3, as he cracked Lauzon's dome with elbow after elbow while fending off a desperate takedown, and continued to uncork them once they'd made it to the mat. The 27-year-old provided the only offense in that final grappling exchange, and threw whatever he had left at the painfully vulnerable Lauzon to close out the spirited scrap.

The scores were as jumbled as the action, with each fighter scoring a 10-8 round on two of three scorecards, the third deeming Ray one point short of a clean sweep.

Ray improved his UFC record to 5-1 with his second straight victory, while the notoriously streaky Lauzon has alternated wins and losses in his last eight fights.