KO AT THE BUZZER :exploding_head:
#UFCVegas70 pic.twitter.com/Itgpoi5dxS— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
February 25, 2023
Trevor
Peek hits like a truck.
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The intriguing but unrefined Agoge Combatives prospect made a
successful
Ultimate Fighting Championship debut, as he took out Erick
Gonzalez with punches in the first round of their featured
UFC Fight Night 220 lightweight prelim on Saturday at the UFC
Apex in Las Vegas. The undefeated Peek (8-0, 1-0 UFC)
brought it to an emphatic close 4:59 into Round 1.
Gonzalez (14-8, 0-3 UFC) tried to counter the 2022
Dana White’s Contender Series graduate with takedowns but
failed to keep him bottled up for any meaningful period of time.
Peek cut loose with sloppy but powerful punches near the end of
Round 1—he even mixed in a few standing hammerfists to the
head—before he sat down the Combate
Global veteran with a clubbing right. Gonzalez ate multiple
left hands to the face before referee Kerry Hatley could arrive on
the scene to call for the stoppage.
Meanwhile, Niagara Top Team product Jasmine
Jasudavicius leaned on repeated takedowns, positional dominance
and damaging ground-and-pound in claiming a one-sided unanimous
decision over Gabriella
Fernandes in a three-round women’s flyweight scrap. All three
cageside judges scored it the same: 30-26 for Jasudavicius (8-2,
2-1 UFC).
A short-notice substitution for Cortney
Casey, Fernandes (8-2, 0-1 UFC) was effective for as long as
she was upright. However, Jasudavicius delivered takedowns in all
three rounds to erase the Brazilian’s minimal gains. She was
particularly dominant in Round 2, where she moved to a mounted
crucifix and unleashed a sustained burst of unabated elbows to
Fernandes’ face.
Jasudavicius has rattled off four victories across her past five
assignments.
Elsewhere, Syndicate MMA standout Jordan
Leavitt cut down former Fury Fighting Championship titleholder
Victor
Martinez with
a volley of close-range knee strikes and follow-up punches in the
first round of their lightweight affair. Martinez
(13-5, 0-1 UFC), who entered the cage on a seven-fight winning
streak, succumbed to blows 2:33 into Round 1 and suffered his first
setback since April 25, 2016.
Leavitt (11-2, 4-2 UFC) closed the distance, trapped the Fortis MMA
rep in the Thai clinch and fired three knees through his defenses.
Martinez buckled before collapsing at the base of the cage, where
he was in no condition to shield himself from the punches that
followed.
The 27-year-old Leavitt has won three of his past four bouts.
Finally, Gym-O export Joe Solecki
put promotional newcomer Carl Deaton
to sleep with
a rear-naked choke in the second round of their lightweight
encounter. Solecki (13-3, 5-1 UFC) drew the curtain
4:55 into Round 2, as he won for the eighth time in nine
outings.
Deaton (17-6, 0-1 UFC) was in peril for much of the match. Solecki
executed a double-leg takedown in the first round, climbed to the
back and then ran through a series of submission attempts, from
rear-naked chokes to neck cranks and face cranks. Deaton survived
but only prolonged the inevitable. Solecki struck for another
takedown in the middle stanza, progressed to the back yet again,
softened the American Top Team rep with ground-and-pound and
slipped his arms in place for the fight-ending choke.
The loss snapped Deaton’s modest two-fight winning streak.
In other action, Ode
Osbourne (12-5, 4-3 UFC) eked out a split decision—28-29,
29-28, 29-28—over onetime Legacy Fighting Alliance titleholder
Charles
Johnson (13-4, 2-2 UFC) in their three-round catchweight
confrontation at 130 pounds; and Nurullo
Aliev (9-0, 1-0 UFC) kept his perfect professional record
intact with a majority decision—29-27, 29-27, 28-28—over former
Titan Fighting Championship titleholder Rafael
Alves (20-12, 1-3 UFC) in their three-round lightweight clash.