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See the top Twitter reactions to Arnold Allen’s win over Dan Hooker at UFC Fight Night 204.
[autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag]’s flawless octagon tenure continued on Saturday when he spoiled [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag]’s featherweight return in the UFC Fight Night 204 co-main event.
Allen (18-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC) added to his featherweight division best winning streak with a first-round TKO victory over Hooker (21-12 MMA, 11-8 UFC) in their matchup at The 02 in London.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Allen’s victory over Hooker at UFC Fight Night 204.
Arnold Allen put the foot on the gas pedal and didn’t let up until he stopped Dan Hooker in the opening round at UFC Fight Night 204.
LONDON – [autotag]Arnold Allen[/autotag] put the foot on the gas pedal and didn’t let up until he stopped [autotag]Dan Hooker[/autotag] in the opening round of their featherweight co-main event at UFC Fight Night 204.
Allen (18-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC) cracked Hooker (21-12 MMA, 11-8 UFC) in the early stages of the first frame and continued to pursue to the point of a near stoppage. The fight wore on, but Hooker wasn’t out of danger.
The Brit kept on pressing with his pressure until the referee intervened at the 2:33 mark of Round 1.
ARNOLD IS NUMERO UNO. ☝️ #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/l0ZBgyE4Iv
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) March 19, 2022
The bout was the UFC Fight Night 204 co-main event at the O2 in London. It streamed on ESPN+.
A devastated Dan Hooker leaves the octagon with a towel over his head after dropping his featherweight return. #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/L4JEQcp1wG
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 19, 2022
After the stellar performance, Allen, who now has a divisional-best nine-fight winning streak, called for a matchup against Calvin Kattar next.
See the top Twitter reactions to Paddy Pimblett’s submission of Kazula Vargas at UFC Fight Night 204.
[autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag] added some more hype around his young UFC career on Saturday when he defeated [autotag]Kazula Vargas[/autotag] in the featured bout at UFC Fight Night 204.
Pimblett (18-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) remained unbeaten inside the octagon when, as the biggest favorite on the card, he secured a first-round submission victory over Vargas (12-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC) in their lightweight bout at The 02 in London.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Pimblett’s victory over Vargas at UFC Fight Night 204.
Paddy Pimblett stayed unbeaten in the UFC with a submission of Kazula Vargas at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 204.
[autotag]Paddy Pimblett[/autotag] got a big win on his home turf.
The UFC standout submitted [autotag]Kazula Vargas[/autotag] in his second UFC appearance at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 204 in London. After a shaky start, Pimblett (18-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) got into his groove and tapped Vargas (12-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) with a rear-naked choke at the 3:49 mark of Round 1.
The bout was part of the UFC Fight Night 204 main card at the O2 in London. It streamed on ESPN+.
Pimblett delivered in style, but first was faced with some adversity. He was caught early by Vargas, and then taken to the canvas. From there, Vargas landed solid ground-and-pound and controlled Pimblett.
The British fighter found his way back to the feet halfway through the round, then hit a sweep that had him in back mount. From there, Pimblett sank in a rear-naked choke and tapped the Mexican fighter.
The fans in the arena broke out in a chant of “Paddy the Baddy.”
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With the result, Pimblett successfully followed up on his UFC debut win. The 27-year-old first fought in the octagon this past September with a first-round knockout of Luigi Vendramini. Pimblett has 21 professional fights under his belt. He previously held titles at featherweight and lightweight under the Cage Warriors banner.
Vargas was unable to build momentum from his decision win over Rong Zhu in April 2021. He is 1-3 in his past four UFC fights.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 204 results include:
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Gunnar Nelson returned from the longest layoff of his career at UFC Fight Night 204 and outgrappled Takashi Sato to a decision.
LONDON – [autotag]Gunnar Nelson[/autotag] returned from a two-and-a-half year layoff at UFC Fight Night 204 and had his way with [autotag]Takashi Sato[/autotag].
After various circumstances kept him out of the cage for the longest stretch of his career, Nelson (18-5-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) came back and used his superior grappling to outwork Sato (16-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) and secure a unanimous decision victory by three 30-26 scores.
The welterweight bout was part of the UFC Fight Night 204 main card at the O2. It streamed on ESPN+.
After feeling each other out on the feet for the first few minutes, Nelson and Sato finally tangled up in a grappling exchange and within moments, Nelson had Sato’s back. He landed strikes from the back and methodically worked toward a choke. He couldn’t get it, though, and Sato survived the round.
It was more of the same in Round 2. Nelson was happy to stay standing with Sato, until he decided otherwise and secured the takedown. Nelson advanced to the back and spent almost the entire round working for the choke, but couldn’t get it done.
The action picked up where it left off in the final round. Nelson got the takedown on Sato at will, moved to the back and chipped away at attempts to finish the fight by submission. He couldn’t do it again, though, and cruised to the final bell to get the win on the scorecard.
“I wanted to do things differently on the ground and be a little more patient,” Nelson said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “It feels great (to be back). It’s awesome. (I’m) very happy to be here.”
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Watch Molly McCann score one of the best knockouts of 2022 so far.
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] has an early entry for Knockout of the Year.
The former Cage Warriors champion had the best finish of her career at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 204 in London. McCann (12-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC) starched Brazil’s Luana Carolina with a spinning elbow that sent her crashing to the canvas in their women’s flyweight contest.
The official stoppage came at the 1:52 mark of Round 3.
It was a dominant showing throughout for McCann. She swarmed Carolina (8-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) early in the first round with numerous combinations. The second and third rounds were similar with McCann pushing the action and doing the most damage. It was in a breakaway from the clinch that McCann was able to land a spinning elbow.
Watch McCann’s impressive KO below.
SPINNING ELBOW FROM @MEATBALLMOLLY 😱 #UFCLONDON pic.twitter.com/RbagwQXrKX
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 19, 2022
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McCann now is on a two-fight winning streak and 5-2 in her past seven trips to the octagon.
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Watch Ilia Topuria score a massive KO win in his lightweight debut at UFC Fight Night 204.
[autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] made a statement in his first fight at 155 pounds.
The rising UFC contender made his lightweight debut Saturday and knockedd out Jai Herbert in the opening bout of the UFC Fight Night 204 main card in London. The official stoppage came at the 1:07 mark of Round 2.
Topuria (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) had to fight back from adversity after he was dropped in the first round. The 25-year-old fought back and managed to recover by taking the fight to the ground. Topuria came out in the second and pressured Herbert, then connected with a right hand that sent Herbert straight to the canvas.
Watch Topuria’s KO win below.
PERFECT right hand by @Topuriailia put him to SLEEP 😳 #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/zIv27aUg0O
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 19, 2022
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Topuria remains undefeated in his professional MMA career. He debuted in the UFC in late 2020 and racked up three wins at 145 pounds before his move to 155. Topuria told MMA Junkie he plans to compete both at featherweight and lightweight in order to remain more active.
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Makwan Amirkhani needed less than a minute to put Mike Grundy to sleep in a critical career bout for both men at UFC Fight Night 204.
LONDON – [autotag]Makwan Amirkhani[/autotag] needed less than a minute to put [autotag]Mike Grundy[/autotag] to sleep in an absolutely critical career bout for both men at UFC Fight Night 204.
In a matchup in which both fighters entered on losing skids and highly motivated to get the job done, Amirkhani (13-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) locked in his patented anaconda choke on Grundy (16-8 MMA, 6-6 UFC) just 57 seconds into the featherweight fight at The 02.
Grundy was determined to get the win after revealing pre-fight his father was terminally ill. They showed his father cageside on the broadcast just before the bout began, but things didn’t play out the way that side hoped when Amirkhani locked in his technique early and squeezed until Grundy went out cold.
Check out the replay of the finish (via Twitter):
.@MakwanAmirkhani locked up the first round submission QUICK 😬 #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/KcVyfpRUni
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 19, 2022
Amirkhani said post-fight that he’s a soon-to-be father and now that he’s back in the win column, hopes he can get a quick turnaround.
“Dana White and Sean Shelby: Put me back in next week,” Amirkhani pleaded in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping.
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Paul Craig did it again at UFC Fight Night 204.
LONDON – [autotag]Paul Craig[/autotag] did it again at UFC Fight Night 204.
Craig (16-4-1 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) added another brilliant, unexpected submission to his resume Saturday when he locked in a slick triangle choke to tap out Nikita Krylov (26-9 MMA, 8-7 UFC) in the opening round of their light heavyweight fight at The 02.
The Scottish fighter has made a career of pulling rabbits out of his hat when it seems like he’s in serious peril. That’s what he did once more against Krylov, and he’s now just one submission shy of tying Glover Teixeira’s all-time divisional record.
Check out the replay of the finish below (via Twitter):
Never count out @PCraigmma 😳 #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/PSY1sgJswP
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 19, 2022
After the fight, Craig said it went down exactly as he’d hoped and called for a UFC return to Glasgow in his home country of Scotland this summer.
“What I had to do was allow him to punch me in the face,” Craig said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “What that did was open him up and I wanted to find that triangle.”
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Watch Muhammad Mokaev make his highly anticipated UFC debut with quick submission finish at UFC Fight Night 204.
[autotag]Muhammad Mokaev[/autotag] had big expectations for his UFC debut and he made sure to deliver.
The highly touted flyweight prospect needed less than a minute to lock in his first win under the UFC lights. Mokaev (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made his UFC debut Saturday in the opening bout of UFC Fight Night 204 in London.
Both Mokaev and Cody Durden (12-4-1 MMA, 1-2-1 UFC) started hot in a high-paced bout. Shortly after the fight started, Mokaev connected a knee on Durden, dropped him, then quickly locked a guillotine and finished the fight shortly after. The official stoppage came at the 0:58 mark of Round 1.
https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1505239828169822210?s=20&t=H-0XvHNQ6U-D8tnh0ENFSA
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Mokaev is undefeated in his professional MMA career. The 21-year-old made his professional MMA debut in late 2020 on the back of an amateur career where he went 22-0. Mokaev fought amateur for five years, which expanded from 2015 to 2020.
Muhammad Mokaev gets #UFCLondon off to an ELECTRIC start with a 58-second finish 🔥 pic.twitter.com/j4KMwgnkVE
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) March 19, 2022
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