Heavyweight Derrick Lewis wanted solely 35 seconds to finish the undefeated run of Tallison Teixeira with a left hook in the primary occasion of UFC Combat Evening on Saturday night time in Nashville.
The 40-year-old Lewis (29-12 MMA, 20-10 UFC) secured the TKO within the first spherical to earn back-to-back stoppage victories and hand Teixeira, 25, his first loss in 9 MMA bouts.
Lewis mentioned that instantly following the combat, earlier than his interview within the Octagon, he obtained a congratulatory name from President Donald Trump, and the combat might barely put his response into phrases.
As for the combat itself, Lewis didn’t have too many form phrases for Teixeira, a Brazilian who entered the competition as one of many promotion’s rising heavyweight prospects.
“I simply knew he had been combating tomato cans,” Lewis mentioned.
Brazilian welterweight Gabriel Bonfim squeaked out a break up choice towards former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson within the co-headliner. Bonfim gained on two of the three judges’ scorecards — 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 in a back-and-forth affair.
The 27-year-old Bonfim (18-1 MMA) has gained six of his final UFC seven bouts, whereas the 42-year-old Thompson (17-9-1 MMA) noticed his dropping skid improve to 3.
Featherweight Steve Garcia prolonged his win streak to 6, defeating Calvin Kattar by unanimous choice, 30-27 on each scorecard.
Utilizing productive putting and unorthodox angles, Garcia (18-5) landed 34 % of his mixtures in comparison with 21 % for Kattars (23-10). The Massachusetts native has dropped 5 consecutive fights.
French featherweight Morgan Charriere silenced the Bridgestone Area viewers by knocking out home-state fan favourite Nate Landwehr 27 seconds into Spherical 3.
Charriere (21-11-1) has gained six of his final eight, securing his thirteenth KO/TKO victory. Landwehr (18-7 MMA) has dropped three of his earlier 4 amid back-to-back defeats.
In his first combat since shifting from mild heavyweight to heavyweight, Brazil’s Vitor Petrino wanted underneath a spherical to submit former NFL defensive finish Austen Lane by rear-naked choke at 4:16.
Petrino (12-2) now has 9 finishes in his profession, whereas Lane (13-7) has misplaced back-to-back fights to fall to 1-4 within the UFC.
Mild heavyweights kicked off the UFC Nashville predominant card, as England’s Tuco Tukkos secured a head-and-arm choke at 4:25 of Spherical 2 towards Australian Junior Tafa. The win marked Tukkos’ (11-5 MMA) first UFC win in three matcheds, securing his third profession MMA victory by submission. Tafa (6-4 MMA) has dropped 4 of his final six, nonetheless looking for back-to-back wins for the primary time since 2022.
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