Jacobe
Smith managed to exceed the hype.
The undefeated Fortis MMA prospect filled in for Andreas
Gustafsson on short notice and flashed blue-chip talent in his
Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, as he punched out
Preston
Parsons in the first round of their
UFC Fight Night 249 welterweight prelim on Saturday at the UFC
Apex in Las Vegas.
Parsons (11-6, 2-4 UFC) checked out 73 seconds into Round
1.
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A onetime NCAA All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University,
Smith (10-0, 1-0 UFC) pressed forward behind leg and body kicks,
crisp punches and a stepping knee to the body. He lured Parsons
into range, set off an exchange in the center of the cage and
floored the Floridian with a sweeping left hook. Smith, 28, pounced
with a few more punches before referee Mike Beltran could arrive on
the scene to wave it off.
Meanwhile, Marco Tulio
put away former World Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder
Ihor
Potieria with punches in the first round of their light
heavyweight encounter.
Potieria (20-8, 2-6 UFC) succumbed to blows 3:04 into Round 1, as
he suffered his third consecutive setback.
Operating out of the Chute Boxe affiliate fronted by Diego Lima,
Tulio (13-1, 1-0 UFC) turned up the heat with accurate punches and
kicks while probing for weaknesses. One of his knees strayed below
the belt and offered Potieria a brief respite to recover. However,
Tulio picked up where he left off upon the restart. He jarred
Potieria sideways with a right cross, then dropped him with a right
hook. Tulio swarmed with punches and ultimately left the bloodied
Ukrainian facedown and semi-conscious, necessitating the
stoppage.
Tulio will ride a nine-fight winning streak into his next
assignment.
Further down the undercard, onetime Legacy Fighting Alliance
champion Felipe
Bunes tapped Jose
Johnson with an armbar in the first round of their flyweight
scrap.
Bunes (14-7, 1-1 UFC) drew the curtain 2:04 into Round
1.
The 6-foot Johnson (16-10, 1-3 UFC) used his height and length
advantages at the start, scoring with heavy kicks and sharp
punching combinations. He countered a takedown from Bunes, rolled
into top position and looked to throw his ground-and-pound into
gear. In his haste, Johnson left a limb exposed. Bunes caught the
armbar, readjusted his grip through a frantic exchange on the
ground and finished it along the base of the fence.
It was the 10th first-round finish of Bunes’ career.
Elsewhere, American Top Team mainstay Thiago
Moises rebounded from his June 8 defeat to Ludovit
Klein with a unanimous decision over Trey Ogden
in a three-round lightweight confrontation. All three cageside
judges scored it the same: 29-28 for Moises (19-8, 8-6 UFC).
Ogden (18-7, 3-3 UFC) initially called upon a potent jab and
repeated kicks to the inside leg but wore down over time. Moises
tore into his lower leg with kicks, then attacked his compromised
adversary on the ground across the final 10 minutes. The
ex-Resurrection Fighting Alliance champion scrambled into top
position early in Round 3, hacked open a cut with a slicing elbow
strike and kept a frustrated Ogden pinned to the canvas for the
duration.
The loss snapped Ogden’s two-fight winning streak.
Finally, former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder
Fatima
Kline disposed of Victoria
Dudakova with punches and elbows in the second round of their
women’s strawweight pairing.
Kline (7-1, 1-1 UFC) drew the curtain 4:27 into Round
2.
Dudakova (8-2, 2-2 UFC) leaned almost exclusively on takedowns and
scrambles, but all the effort proved ineffective and came at a
physical cost. Kline executed a takedown late in the second round,
opened a significant cut with an elbow strike and forced her
fatigued counterpart to shield herself from further contact. She
then postured with unanswered punches and elbows, prompting the
stoppage.
The 25-year-old Dudakova has suffered back-to-back defeats.
In other action, Ernesta
Kareckaite (6-1-1, 1-1 UFC) eked out a split decision—28-29,
29-28, 29-28 against Nicolle
Caliari (8-3, 0-1 UFC) in a three-round women’s strawweight
affair; Bruno Lopes
(14-1, 1-0 UFC) outgrappled Magomed
Gadzhiyasulov (9-1, 1-1 UFC) to a unanimous decision in a
three-round light heavyweight tilt; and Nurullo
Aliev (10-0, 2-0 UFC) returned from close to a two-year layoff
and took a unanimous decision from Joe Solecki
(13-6, 5-4 UFC) in a three-round lightweight clash, earning 30-27,
29-28 and 29-28 scores from the cageside judges.