Stay tuned to https://mmainsight.com this evening for all the UFC 194 results live as they happen from Las Vegas.
The action is scheduled to get underway at aprox 6.30pm ET (11.30pm UK) with the main card going live at 10pm ET (3am UK).
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Main Card:
Conor McGregor KO’s Jose Aldo at 0.13mins of Rd1
Luke Rockhold defeats Chris Weidman by TKO at 3.12mins of Rd4
Yoel Romero defeats Ronaldo Souza by split decision (29-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Demian Maia defeats Gunnar Nelson by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25 x2)
Max Holloway defeats Jeremy Stephens by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Prelims:
Urijah Faber defeats Frankie Saenz by unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27)
Fun fight here that wasn’t as one-sided as you might have expected. Faber looked light on his feet in the opening round as he landed some solid strikes, but Saenz was showing a willingness to exchange, was showing some nice leg kicks and was surprisingly competitive in the grappling exchanges. In the second the fight suddenly swung heavily in Faber’s favor as he clocked Saenz with a big knee to the head, wobbling his opponent. Faber chased after him and poured on the offense against the cage, unleashing some very hard elbows in particular, but Saenz just refused to give up and kept competing. Faber had exerted a great deal of energy trying, but failing to put Saenz away and it showed in the remainder of the round as his level of offense dropped dramatically, while Saenz seemed to have recovered and was landing big leg kicks. Faber had to dig deep in the third round as Saenz landed more strikes and by the second half of it ‘The California Kid’ was starting to find his second wind, keeping Sanez at bay with a crisp jab and then scoring a couple of takedown late in the round. So, Faber gets the win, but that wasn’t as definitive a statement as he’d have liked to have made as he tries to put himself in the picture as the next title contender at 135lbs to face the winner of TJ Dillashaw Vs Dominick Cruz.
Tecia Torres defeats Jocelyn Lybarger by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Truth be told the first two rounds of this fight were a little dull with a lot of clinch work that Torres was getting the better of while also steadily picking apart Lybarger at striking range. Lybarger often adopted a pressure approach on the feet, but just wasn’t letting her hands go, perhaps finding it difficult to pinpoint the always in motion Torres. Things finally started to heat up in the second half of the final round as Torres suddenly lived up to her ‘Tiny Tornado’ nickname as she flowed into some very nice combinations of accurate punches and kicks. Lybarger was probably relieved when Torres then opted to go back to her grinding clinch work after a barrage of blows against the cage, but in the final few seconds of the fight they went back to striking and Lybarger landed a couple of solid strikes of her own, but it was definitely too little too late.
Warlley Alves defeats Colby Covington by submission (guillotine choke) at 1.26mins of Rd1
Alves makes short work of Covington here, wrapping in an early guillotine choke while his opponent was thinking about a takedown against the cage. Alves hopped onto him and pulled him to the mat while applying the choke. Convington stood while trying to escape, but Alves remained latched onto him and after Covington dropping back down to the mat failed to dislodge him he was forced to tap.
Leonardo Santos defeats Kevin Lee by TKO at 3.26mins of Rd1
Conventional wisdom suggested Santos would be looking to get this fight against talented striker Lee to the mat, and indeed he did so early in the opening round. However, when the action moved back to the feet the Brazilian produced an unexpected finish, flooring Lee with a well placed counter right hand. Lee was still dazed as Santos began drilling his head with ground and pound and despite his best efforts to get back up he was unable to, leading to the TKO finish. It’s safe to say Santos enjoyed that one as he immediately vaulted the cage and ran off into the crowd to celebrate!
Magomed Mustafaev defeats Joe Proctor by TKO at 1.54mins of Rd1
Mustafaev just blasted through Joe Proctor in under two minutes. His striking looked dangerous from the start and a slamming kick to the body hurt Proctor who tried to circle away against the cage, but was quickly hunted down as Mustafaev unleashed heavy knees, dropping him for a moment, then another as he stood that sunk him back down to the mat. Mustafaev followed up with rapid-fire right hands to his grounded opponent and that was a wrap.
Yancy Medeiros defeats John Makdessi by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29)
Hmm, not sure how Medeiros ended up with the split decision verdict here. It was close fight with neither fighter really going all out to stamp their authority in the fight in the early rounds, but Makdessi was the one who was regularly pressing forward most often. He wasn’t offering a great deal in terms of volume, but his punches were landing more frequently than Medeiros who was often left circling on the outside and not really committing fully to his strikes. Things livened up in the closing minute of the third round as Makdessi started to up his workrate, piecing together some nice combinations of punches ended with kicks, but he then got clocked by a well placed hook from Medeiros that dropped him. He was able to get back to his feet and finish the round, but that single punch could have swung the round in Medeiros’ favor and proved to be costly on the scorecards.
Court McGee defeats Marcio Alexandre Jr. by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2)
Alexandre Jr started this fight brightly enough with his fluid kicking game threatening the former TUF winner, but in true Court McGee fashion he continued to utilize his pressure heavy style and gradually began to wear down the Brazilian in the clinch and with the occasional takedown. By the third round McGee was in control and headed for a unanimous decision win.
