UFC Vegas 52: About Last Night...
Late cancellations and limited names made for a rough start, but the action got mighty exciting once Saturday's main card rolled around
Andrade Back in the Strawweight Mix
Jessica Andrade jumped right back into the mix in the strawweight division on Saturday night, closing out the show with a first-round submission win over Amanda Lemos that just might be the clubhouse leader in the Submission of the Year race.
Lemos started the fight strong, hammering home a couple heavy leg kicks and generally trying to bully the usually aggressive Andrade around the cage. She was succeeding in those early stages, but when Andrade was able to slip an errant right cross, the former titleholder instantly clamped onto a standing arm triangle choke, forcing Lemos back to the fence. She adjusted her grip and her arm positioning, tightening the squeeze and forcing Lemos to tap before she went to sleep.
It was the first standing arm triangle choke finish in UFC history and a victory that catapults the diminutive Brazilian right back into the thick of the chase in the 115-pound weight class. Lemos looked very good out of the gate, and shouldn’t lose ground as a result of this loss; she’s still a powerhouse and certainly someone that should get another chance to face a Top 10 talent next time out.
This was a breathtaking finish from Andrade, who instantly moves onto the short list of title contenders once again and adds increased intrigue to the championship chase in the division she’s already ruled once before.
Puelles Proves He’s Ready for Another Step Up
Claudio Puelles made Clay Guida pay for grappling with him early in their co-main event encounter.
The veteran wrestle turned to the takedown less than a minute into the contest, and Puelles immediately started looking for the choke. When Guida cleared his neck, he had to worry about his shoulder, and then his arm, and then a triangle choke, and then his arm and shoulder again, as Puelles just continued to cycle through setups each time Guida defended. Just when it seemed like the two were in a momentary stalemate, Puelles rotated and attacked the leg, clamping onto a kneebar with alarming quickness, leaving Guida no choice but to tap.
Not only is that consecutive kneebar victories for Puelles, but it’s also five straight wins and a massive feather in the cap of the promising Peruvian lightweight. This was a considerable step up in competition following wins over Jordan Leavitt and Chris Gruetzemacher in 2021, and Puelles showed on Saturday that he’s certainly capable of getting another bump up the competitive ladder next time out.
Puelles is someone to pay close attention to going forward — he’s 25 years old, training with a great group at Sanford MMA, and clearly has outstanding skills on the ground to go along with an athletic frame and plenty of room to grow. This was the kind of statement victory the ascending talented needed in order to be considered a real prospect in the 155-pound weight class.
Best Performance Yet for Barber
Faced with a crucial and competitive matchup, Maycee Barber turned in the best performance of her career on Saturday night, out-hustling Montana De La Rosa in the clinch and being the more physical fighter for the full 15 minutes to secure her second straight victory.
The first two rounds were closely contested, with Barber edging out both frames with her activity and impact, throwing more and landing more in each round before dominating the action along the fence in the third, showing a greater sense of urgency and ferocity than De La Rosa in every position. After edging out Miranda Maverick by split decision last time out, there were no questions about this one — it was clearly Barber’s fight.
This was a throwback to the efforts Barber exhibited on her way to the UFC and in the early stages of her career inside the Octagon — a pressure-heavy, grimy, aggressive battle where she used her physicality as a weapon against the more technical, but less active De La Rosa, who executed a slick back-take in the second round, but couldn’t find a finish. With all the “break Jon Jones’ record” nonsense in the past and having settled in at Team Alpha Male, this could end up being a turning point performance for the 24-year-old talent as she looks to work her way further up the divisional ladder going forward.
Massive Win for “Air” Jourdain
Charles Jourdain locked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday night, choking out Lando Vannata with a slick high-elbow guillotine in the late stages of the opening round.
Vannata opened the fight by catching a kick, elevating Jourdain, and dumping him to the canvas, landing in side control. The Canadian did well to avoid trouble and get back to his feet quickly before putting Vannata on the deck with a clean left hand down the pipe; see above. From there, Jourdain patiently set up the power guillotine, securing his arm under the neck and working Vannata into position to clasp his hands and squeeze out the tap.
The 26-year-old French-Canadian has now earned back-to-back victories and won three of his last four, while showing off a new wrinkle to his game. Jourdain has always been an entertaining, all-action fighter, and now that his confidence and focus are climbing to match with talents, he could become a force in the 145-pound weight class going forward.
Barriault Back in the Win Column
Marc-Andre Barriault made a quick return to the win column on Saturday, collecting a first-round submission win over Jordan Wright in the main card opener.
Just a few months after getting blitzed and finished by Chidi Njokuani, Barriault jumped at the short-notice opportunity to share the Octagon with Wright and made the most of it. He came forward to start and stung “The Beverly Hills Ninja” in the clinch, prompting the kickboxer to chase a takedown along the fence. Wright got Barriault to the ground, but the French-Canadian fighter popped right back up, and when his opponent remain focused on securing a takedown, the former TKO champ clamped onto a guillotine choke, sticking with it as he rolled into mount and secured the tap.
After a rough start to his UFC run, Barriault has now won three of his last four, showing marked improvements since moving to South Florida and shifting his training to Sandford MMA. He’s a big, strong middleweight that should remain a fixture in the middle of the division going forward, and if he continues making gains, he’s could challenge for a place in the lower-third of the rankings in the future.
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Preliminary Card Thoughts
Sergey Khandozhko ended a nearly 900-day hiatus from the Octagon with a swarming second-round stoppage win over Dwight Grant in a back-and-forth affair that closed out the prelims.
The 29-year-old Russian, who last fought on November 9, 2019, losing to Rustam Khabilov, looked sharp out of the gate, putting Grant down with a clean right hand early in the round. The DWCS graduate returned the favour by dropping Khandozhko late in the stanza, sending it to the second rather tight. But in the middle frame, Khandozhko got on Grant early and never really let up, finally dropping him with just under a minute remaining, prompting the referee to hustle in and halt the action.
It’s always difficult to know what to expect from a fighter coming off a lengthy layoff like this, but Khandozhko looked sharp from the outset, shook off a dicey finish to his first round in years, and secured a finish, pushing his record to 27-6-1 in the process. This was a strong outing for “Honda” and the kind of performance that should merit a reasonable step up in competition next time out.
Welcome back, Tyson Pedro.
After more than three years and multiple knee surgeries, the Australian light heavyweight returned to action on Saturday night, taking home a first-round stoppage win over Ike Villanueva, registering his first victory since submitting Saparbeg Safarov at UFC 221 in February 2018. While he started slowly, making reads and offering feints, as soon as Pedro started letting go of his weapons, he started hurting Villanueva.
Midway through the round, the 30-year-old returning talent attacked with a low kick, and the first one had the Texas veteran wincing and moving gingerly on his lead wheel. Rather than spam kicks, Pedro picked his spots, landing two more heavy shots to the left leg before finally chopping Villanueva down late in the round before putting him away with heavy uppercuts along the fence.
Pedro showed promise, but plenty of rawness during his first six UFC outings, splitting his results evenly and going the distance just once. He admitted after the bout that he used to be rushed and impatient, but he showed much greater poise and ring generalship on Saturday, and with the victory, injects himself back into he mix in the 205-pound weight class.
What a brilliant showing from Aoriqileng, who put an absolute hurting on Cameron Else in his first appearance in the UFC bantamweight division.
After a pair of solid efforts at flyweight last year, “The Mongolian Murderer” ventured up a weight class and ran through Else, hurting him with a pair of body shots on the feet and another when he had him on the ground. With in a defensive posture, the Mongolian took his back, stretched hm out, and pounded out the finish, landing a torrent of unanswered blows to finally bring referee Keith Peterson in to wave off the fight.
This was an outstanding showing for the 28-year-old Aoriqileng, who hung tough with Jeff Molina in their joint debuts and arguably did enough to beat Cody Durden last time out. He was on Else from the outset and never let off the gas once he had him hurt, hammering out a finishing and establishing himself as yet another name to watch in the talent-rich bantamweight division.
Preston Parsons collected his first UFC victory with a solid, workmanlike effort against game late replacement Evan Elder.
After dropping his own short-notice debut against Daniel Rodriguez, Parsons fought with confidence and sharpness on Saturday, using an assortment of takedowns and solid striking in all realms to collect a clean sweep of the scorecards. There were multiple instances where Parsons put Elder on the deck and attacked an arm triangle choke, but the Sanford MMA product constantly fought his way out, prompting a shift to ground-and-pound in the third for Parsons, who collected a 10-8 from judge Ron McCarthy in the final stanza.
Despite the loss, this was still a solid showing for Elder, who took the fight on four days notice up a division. He’s had limited experience up to this point, but gave a good accounting of himself in a tough assignment, and bears watching when he moves back down and has a full camp to prepare for his next opponent.
Philipe Lins looked like a completely different human being down at light heavyweight and sporting a curly mop of hair. He also fought more effectively than he had in his two previous UFC appearances, getting the better of things on the scorecards against Poland’s Marcin Prachnio.
The Brazilian dropped the opening round on all three scorecards, but rallied to claim the final two, hurting Prachnio on the feet in the second and grinding out the final five minutes with do-nothing takedowns and clinch control. He was out-gunned in the big boy ranks, but could be a steady addition to the lower tier of the light heavyweight ranks going forward.
Last weekend’s card was plagued by fouls and this week’s event started the same way, as Dean Barry was disqualified after a grizzly eye gauge in his debut bout opposite Mike Jackson.
The Irish newcomer committed a pair of fouls earlier in the contest — grazing Jackson low with a kick where the fight wasn’t paused, and then burying a spinning back kick below the belt to halt the bout momentarily. Soon after the re-start, Barry started landing and looked to be building momentum, only to dig his fingers into the eyes of “The Truth” with a little more than a minute remaining in the round. Jackson was unable to continue and referee Chris Tognoni rightfully disqualified Barry.
This was a no-win situation for the Irishman heading in, yet somehow turned out even worse than anyone could have anticipated. He looked wild and sloppy even when he had Jackson hurt, and the fouls were egregious, combining to saddle him with a DQ loss in his debut and nothing that makes you think he has a real future on this stage. As for Jackson, despite getting his first UFC victory, Saturday’s contest provided no reason to call him into the cage again — he’s 37 and he had little to offer against Barry; let’s just call it a day already and move on.
Just a complete mess to start the evening.