The UFC was back in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday night. Things started slowly, but the finishes heated up just before the main card started and kept flowing through the end of an explosive night.
In the main event, Nassourdine Imavov scored the biggest win of his career, but it didn’t come without controversy. Imavov got the fourth-round TKO win over Jared Cannonier when Jason Herzog appeared to call for a premature stoppage.
Imavov hurt Cannonier with a right hand to the jaw that rocked the latter. Cannonier stumbled about in the Octagon, but he was trying to regain his bearings. Imavov was attempting to land follow-up shots to put Cannonier away.
It didn’t look like he’d done enough follow-up damage to warrant the stoppage, and Cannonier even threw a right hand, but Herzog pulled the plug. The Louisville crowd booed loudly, and Laura Sanko and Paul Felder, who worked the fight for UFC and ESPN, agreed the stoppage was a bit too quick.
The fight was competitive.
In fact, Cannonier was up two rounds to one on two of the three judges’ scorecards.
However, even if Cannonier had survived the round, the fight would have been even on two cards, with Imavov up on the third heading into the fifth round.
After the fight, Imavov called Sean Strickland out for a fight in Paris, but the latter said he wanted to wait for a title shot in his next fight. It seems unlikely he’d risk his standing for a fight against Imavov. In the co-main event, Dominick Reyes finally found his way back to the winner’s circle.
Reyes scored a first-round TKO win over Dustin Jacoby. The victory was Reyes’ first since 2019, stopping a four-fight losing streak that began when he lost a controversial unanimous decision to Jon Jones at UFC 247.
Reyes looked fast, elusive, and powerful as he dropped Jacoby twice, pounded him into the TKO, and pressed his opponent against the cage.
Here is a look at the finish:
Unfortunately for Reyes, he didn’t claim one of the four performance bonuses awarded on Saturday.
The $50,000 bonuses went to Raul Rosas Jr., Brunno Ferreira, Zachary Reese, and Carlos Prates. Each man finished their opponents convincingly.
Rosas wrapped up Ricky Turcios with a beautiful rear-naked choke to secure the submission victory in the second round of their spirited scrap.
Here is a look at the finish:
The submission win for Rosas came after Turcios refused to shake hands with his opponent to start the fight.
Turcios responded to the gesture with an expletive and immediately tried to land a kick. Rosas got the last laugh.
Ferreira may have had the most spectacular finish of the night. Ferreira’s spinning elbow led to the first-round finish of Dustin Stoltzfus with just nine seconds remaining in the opening frame.
Here is a look at the finish:
Zachary Reese made quick work of Julian Marquez. It took Reese just 20 seconds to finish Marquez.
The strike that did the most damage was a left body kick, and it was all downhill for Marquez after that blow had landed. Here is a look at the finish:
Last but not least, Carlos Prates’ measured knee to Charles Radtke gave Reese and Ferreira a run for their money for the most dynamic finish.
Rarely will you see a fighter measure a shot at the top level before ending a fight at the second level with a knee. That’s what Prates did with this finish.
Here is a look at all of the results from Louisville.
Main Card
- Main Event: Nassourdine Imavov defeats Jared Cannonier by TKO (strikes) at 1:34 of Round 4
- Co-Main Event: Dominick Reyes defeats Dustin Jacoby by KO (strikes) at 2:00 of Round 1
- Raul Rosas Jr. defeats Ricky Turcios by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:22 of Round 2
- Brunno Ferreira defeats Dustin Stoltzfus by TKO (spinning back elbow) at 4:51 of Round 1
- Zachary Reese defeats Julian Marquez TKO (uppercut) at 0:20 of Round 1
- Punahele Soriano defeats Miguel Baeza by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-27)
Prelims
- Ludovit Klein defeats Thiago Moisés by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Carlos Prates defeats Charles Radtke by TKO (knee to liver) at 4:47 of Round 1
- Brad Katona defeats Jesse Butler by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
- Montana De La Rosa (29-28, 29-28) defeats Andrea Lee by split decision (29-28)
- Daniel Marcos defeats John Castañeda by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Denise Gomes (30-27, 30-27) defeats Eduarda Moura (29-28) by split decision
- Taylor Lapilus defeats Cody Stamann by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Puja Tomar (30-27, 29-28) defeats Rayanne dos Santos by split decision (30-27)
