MELBOURNE, Australia – Fighting in front of his hometown Aussie crowd, Jake Matthews survived a scare in Round 1 to bust up the face of Akbarh Arreola and force a doctor’s stoppage.

The lightweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC 193 event at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

After an early period of Round 1 where both men traded shots, it was a big headkick from Arreola (23-10-1 MMA, 1-3 UFC) that seemed to set him on the path to victory. With Matthews (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) hurt, Arreloa pounced, ending up on top and trying to do big damage. However, Matthews was able to reverse at the end of the round and begin unloading with big ground-and-pound to the final bell, walking back to his corner screaming after the final bell.

Matthews followed up on the big finish to Round 1 by putting Arreola on his back and unleashing more ground and pound that got the blood flowing from the face of his foe.

By the end of Round 2, Arreola’s face was a swollen, bloody mess. With his right eye swelling and bleeding and a cut above his lip, the doctor made the call that enough was enough and waived the fight off, bringing a halt to the fight at an official time of 5:00 of Round 2

Matthews suffered the first loss of his professional career in his most recent bout, a guillotine choke submission loss to James Vick at UFC Fight Night 65.

Arreola dropped a unanimous decision to Francisco Trinaldo in his most recent fight at UFC Fight Night 62, which came on the heels of an armbar submission of Yves Edwards at UFC Fight Night 57.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 193 results include:

Jake Matthews def. Akbarh Arreola via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 5:00 Kyle Noke def. Peter Sobotta via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:01

For complete coverage of UFC 193, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on site in Melbourne.)