UFC Vancouver
September 14, 2019
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
ESPN+
UFC Vancouver live report
Good evening MMA world. Your regularly scheduled main event reporter Cole Henry has found himself otherwise occupied, so I’ll be pinch-hitting tonight. It’s only appropriate as UFC returns to my home and native land, this time in Vancouver of course. I missed the prelims, but I’ll get some quick results up shortly. I may break from the typical format and condense my thoughts rather than give blow by blow details but we’ll see how the night goes. Enjoy the fights!
Prelim Results
Austin Hubbard def. Kyle Prepolec by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Louis Smolka def. Ryan MacDonald by TKO at 4:43 of round one
Chas Skelly def. Jordan Griffin by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Hunter Azure def. Brad Katona by unanimous decision (29-28 x 2, 30-27)
Miles Johns def. Cole Smith by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Augusto Sakai def. Marcin Tybura by KO at :59 of round one
Main Card
(1) Misha Cirkunov vs. Jimmy Crute (Light Heavyweight)
Cirkunov was on the bottom getting pounded on when he was able to reverse position and secure a Peruvian necktie from the top, flipped Crute over and got the tap. It was a beautiful submission.
Result: Cirkunov by submission at 3:38 of round 1
(2) Uriah Hall vs. Antonio Carlos Junior (Middleweight)
No one is more consistently inconsistent than Uriah Hall. He’s coming off of a win late last year so he should be due to lay an egg here. Shoeface book his back early on and had Hall in the backpack position. Hall eventually got out and they went back and forth for a bit before Carlos Junior took him down again late in the first round.
Carlos Junior spent much of the second round throwing knees in the clinch against the cage. Once they broke from that, Hall clocked him and put him down. Carlos Junior was looking for submissions while getting pounded on so Hall let him stand up and Carlos Junior put him up against the cage again. He took him down briefly but Hall got back up. It’s not quite Khabib level of smothering and not giving the guy a break but it’s close.
Third round saw Carlos Junior trip Hall down and take his back. He worked the entire round for the submission but he never got it. I have it 29-28 Carlos Junior but we’ll see what the judges have to say.
Result: 29-28 Hall, 29-28 Carlos Junior, 29-28 Hall by split decision
Hall called out Israel Adesanya after the fight which is an ambitious callout. Another win or two though, and who knows?
(3) Michel Pereira vs. Tristan Connelly (Welterweight)
Pereira and his cornermen did a choreographed dance during the walkout, which has to be a first. Peireira missed weight but came in at 172, so not by much.
This guy is literally doing backflips in the cage. That’s definitely a first. Connely is shooting for takedowns from the stands and Pereira had no trouble stuffing them. Pereira went for rolling thunder followed by a flying knee. These are solid Street Fighter combos, but I’m not too sure about MMA. It’s fun to watch though. Connely was on his back and Pereira did a backflip foot stomp on him. The crowd loves it but not he’s on the bottom with Connelly landing punches. He got up and they traded punches. Connelly had a late guillotine attempt as the round ended.
Pereira stuck to some more traditional boxing early on in the second and stuffed another takedown. Pereira was visibly slowing down and backing off of Connelly who started to come on strong and throw some big shots. Pereira went for a weak takedown attempt. Pereira did end up on top and landed some punches while Connelly tried to work his way up.
Connelly locked in a tight guillotine early on but Pereira was able to wiggle free. Connelly was still pressing forward though on a clearly exhausted Pereira. Connelly took him down and was landing. Connelly pounded on him from the top for the rest of the fight, scoring a 10-8 on my card. I have it 29-27 for Connelly.
Result: 29-28, 29-27 x 2 for Tristan Connelly by unanimous decision
(4) Todd Duffee vs. Jeff Hughes (Heavyweight)
Duffee is returning after four years away from fighting. Duffee came out swinging as he often does and landed some shots and pushed Hughes back to the cage but he ate some shots in the process. Duffee knocked him down with a fight midway through the first round. Hughes suffered a cut and Duffee then rocked him hard with about 90 seconds to go. Hughes was hurt but Duffee was running out of gas. Duffee got poked in the eye and he said he’s seeing double. The doc came in and seemed to be ready to restart the fight until he got word that Duffee said he was seeing double. At that point, there was nothing he could do and he called off the fight.
Result: No contest
(5) Glover Teixeira vs. Nikita Krylov (Light Heavyweight)
Teixeira got him down early. Krylov tried to get out of Teixeira’s guard but instead, Teixeira took his back. He mounted his back and looked for a choke but Krylov shook him off. Krylov then mounted him and landed a nice elbow. Teixeira stood up but Krylov had an arm around his neck and was able to turn that into a rear-naked choke. Teixeira got out of that and they both stood up.
Second round saw Krylov circle the cage and pepper in some punches. Teixeira started to get frustrated and landed a big high kick. Not a tonne else happened in the round.
Glover got a deep guillotine early in the third but Krylov pulled Glover’s hands out and then he was on top. Teixeira reversed and took top position and landed some short punches from half guard up against the cage. Back on their feed, Krylov worked for a takedown and got it but found himself in another guillotine but it wasn’t too tight and he got out. Krylov worked from guard for the remainder of the fight. I have it 30-27 Krylov, but it was a closer fight than that score looks.
Result: 29-28 Krylov, 29-28 Teixeira, 29-28 Teixeira by split decision
That was a close fight so you can’t complain about that decision.
(6) Donald Cerrone vs. Justin Gaethje
Gaethje using leg kicks and Cerrone using push kicks to keep Gaethje at a distance. The early minutes were not as wild as we might have expected, but Gaethje still landed some big shots mixed in with the leg kicks. Cerrone was having trouble getting a rhythm going and the leg kicks seemed to be what was throwing him off.
With less than a minute left, Gaethje landed a big right hand that dropped Cerrone to his knee. Gaethje followed up on the ground while Cerrone turtled up. Gaethje looked at the ref a couple of times but he let it go for a while but Cerrone wasn’t defending and Gaethje got the TKO win.
Result: Justin Gaethje by TKO at 4:18 of round one
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