Nice knee to the body from Tom Nolan
#UFCVegas92 pic.twitter.com/NpshMdOM2U— TakeruCigarra (@TakeruCigarra)
May 18, 2024
A bloodied Tom Nolan
(7-1) closed out the
UFC Fight Night 241 prelims in violent fashion with a
first-round TKO win (3:50) over Victor
Martinez (13-6). Coming in with 13 knockouts between them, the
lightweights did not disappoint. Martinez dropped Nolan with a
clean left hook and almost found the finish before Nolan ultimately
closed the show with a debilitating knee to the body. It only took
a few shots for good mesure for referee Mark Smith to
intervene.
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Two UFC newcomers shared the Octagon for the first time as
undefeated French light heavyweight Oumar Sy
(10-0) matched up against Bellator
MMA veteran George
Tokkos (10-4). After escaping from a few of Sy’s sprawls,
Tokkos decided to tease the Frenchman. Tokkos’ constant reminders
of “you’re heavier than me” didn’t faze Sy at all and ultimately
backfired as Sy sunk in a face crank that ended the fight 3:43 into
the first round.
Tamires
Vidal had no answers for Melissa
Gatto in their bantamweight tilt. Gatto stifled the
heavy-handed Brazillian on the ground early and nearly submitted
her in the second round with an armbar. Down two rounds to nil,
Vidal needed to explode out of her corner to push the pace, but it
was Gatto who brought the surge. Just 37 seconds into the final
frame, Gatto (10-2-2) polished off her performance with a flurry of
shots to Vidal’s body until she was down and out. The win gave
Gatto her eighth career stoppage.
After suffering back-to-back losses to Sean
Strickland and Caio
Borralho, middleweight contender Abus
Magomedov rediscovered the winner’s circle with a unanimous
decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26) over Warlley
Alves. Alves (14-8) entered the bout on a three-fight skid and
looked to lure Magomedov into a brawl. Magomedov exchanged with
Alves for most of the first round but quickly altered his gameplan.
Once Magomedov realized he could get Alves to the mat at will the
fight shifted in his favor. Alves through up prayers on his back
that Magomedov laughed off and responded with punishing
ground-and-pound. Alves was left cut and bloodied as Magomedov
(26-6-1) took home his first win since September 2022.
Piera
Rodriguez used her head a little too literally in her flyweight
scrap against Ariane
Carnelossi. After a solid first round, the Venezuelan slugger
was warned for leading with her head by referee Mark Smith, but the
message was not received. While trying to pass Carnelossi’s guard,
Rodriguez speared the former with the top of her skull, resulting
in a disqualification. With the loss, Rodriguez (9-2) drops her
second straight after ripping off nine straight wins to begin her
career.
Heili
Alateng (17-9-2) rebounded from a loss in his last time out
with a clear unanimous decision over Kleydson
Rodrigues (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) in bantamweight action.
Rodrigues brought the flash and tried to catch Alateng with
spinning back kicks but “The Mongolian Knight” kept him a step
behind with his wrestling and ground-and-pound. Alateng ended all
three rounds on top of Rodrigues (8-4) and never let the
Team Nogueira prospect find his rhythm.
Two strawweights looking to build momentum off their last win
kicked off UFC Fight Night 241 as Vanessa
Demopoulos squared off against former
Invicta Fighting Championships champion Emily
Ducote. Ducote and Demopoulous didn’t give each other an inch
and the fight was a 15-minute barnburner. Ducote’s right-hand
counters routinely snapped Demopoulos’ head back, but the Factory
X prospect returned the favor and hurt Ducote in rounds two and
three. Despite a late takedown from Ducote, the judges favored
Demopoulos’s heavy shots in the split decision verdict (28-29,
29-28, 29-28).