After a thrilling win in his Dana White’s Contender Series audition, Julian Marquez (7-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) impressed again in his UFC debut, downing Darren Stewart (7-3 MMA, 0-3 UFC) in memorable fashion.

The middleweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC on FOX 26 event at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It aired on FS1 following an additional prelim on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FOX.

The action started quickly, with Marquez looking to press inside, but Stewart countered well and briefly held top position. Marquez worked quickly back to his feet, only to be brought again to the floor as Stewart elected to focus on the grappling game in the early going. Marquez repeatedly showed an excellent ability to return to his feet, but Stewart kept the pressure high with his continual takedown attempts, eventually working to his opponent’s back and hunting for the rear-naked choke. However, Marquez patiently worked free from the hold and landed a few big shots on the feet before using a standing kimura attempt to take the action to the canvas and trying to attack the left arm, though the round would end before he could finish.

Marquez was again aggressive in the second, briefly holding a standing guillotine before driving in a few brutal knees that Stewart somehow survived. The two would briefly just brawl toe-to-toe before Marquez turned again to the clinch. The quick pace certainly took its toll on both men, but Marquez pushed through, again grabbing the guillotine and squeezing until Stewart went to sleep at the 2:42 mark of the second.

“It feels incredible to get the win in my first UFC fight,” Marquez said after the win.” I had been training for this fight and then my opponent changed, so I had to change my whole gameplan. As soon as I got punched, I said to myself ‘OK, let’s do this.’ I didn’t feel enough power to knock me out, so I was determined to just keep swinging at him. He decided he didn’t want to stand anymore and that’s when I was able to lock in the choke.

“It would’ve been great to knock him out in one of those wild exchanges, but I just wanted the win however I could take it. I really don’t care who I fight next. I just want the gold. I know I’m new and I’m not going to get that fight just yet, but that’s the only fight I’ll ask for. Anyone else is just the next step.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 26 results include:

• Julian Marquez def. Darren Stewart via technical submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:42
• Nordine Taleb def. Danny Roberts via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 0:59
• John Makdessi def. Abel Trujillo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Alessio Di Chirico def. Oluwale Bamgbose via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 2:14
• Jordan Mein def. Erick Silva via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Mike Bohn and Ken Hathaway contributed to this report on site in Winnipeg.)