Montreal's David (The Crow) Loiseau stopped Leopoldo Serao on Friday night to win the Tachi Palace Fights middleweight championship.

The mixed martial arts fight was halted at 1:12 of the fifth round due to a cut.

Loiseau (20-10) was coming off a loss to Mario Miranda at UFC 115 last June that resulted in him being cut by the organization.

Serao (17-8) is an accomplished grappler who has 13 submission wins.

NOTES: Also Friday, Ryan Couture, son of former UFC champion Randy (The Natural) Couture, defeated Lee Higgins by rear naked choke at Strikeforce Challengers 14 in Cedar Park, Texas. The victory, which came at 4:41 of the third round, was his second in as many career bouts, after submitting Lucas Stark by triangle choke in August. Couture also went 5-1-1 in seven amateur fights ... In the main event, former welterweight title-holder in Edmonton's Maximum Fighting Championship Pat Healy earned a unanimous decision win (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) over Lyle Beerbohm ... Carlo Prater made quick work of Bryan Travers in the co-main event, securing an anaconda choke at 0:38 of the first round.