
Annonces
The UFC returned to Denver for the first time in nearly five years on Saturday night, with the preliminary card action at Ball Arena consisting of six fights across five divisions, capped by pivotal contests in the men’s and women’s flyweight divisions.
And it was all kinds of electric.
Evan Elder’s second-round submission win in the opener set the tone for an all-action slate that saw Luana Santos and Jasmine Jasudavicius earn impressive wins in the flyweight division, Montel Jackson collect the second-fastest knockout win in bantamweight history, and Charles Johnson close things out in spectacular fashion.
It was an all-action slate to kick things off in Denver, and we’ve got all the details for you below. | Official Scorecards | Main Card Results
Evan Elder and Darrius Flowers opened the night working at a torrid clip, with Elder turning in a dominant effort to collect his second straight UFC victory.
Both men came out swinging for the fences in the first, with Elder landing the more effective blows while Flowers did a modest Bobby Green impression, talking at Elder and waving off strike attempts. After a brief pause early in the second following an errant low blow, Flowers got the fight to the ground, only for Elder to reverse the position, climb into mount, and quickly clamp down on the fight-ending submission.
After landing on the wrong side of the results in each of his first two UFC appearances, “The Phenom” has now collected back-to-back wins to climb to 2-2 inside the Octagon and 9-2 overall. Not bad for four days notice and up a division!
Andre Petroski put on a grappling clinic against Josh Fremd, securing a takedown early in each round en route to a clean sweep of the scorecards.
In both the first and second rounds, Petroski was able to ground Fremd early and methodically work his way to mount, keeping the Factory X man stapled to the canvas. While Fremd came out swinging to begin the third, Petroski weathered the early onslaught, dragged the fight to the canvas, against floated into mount.
After suffering an odd knockout loss against Jacob Malkoun last time out in Atlantic City, this was a sharp return to form for Petroski, who snapped a two-fight slide and moved to 6-2 inside the Octagon with the win. For Fremd, it’s a second straight loss, dropping his record to 2-4 in six UFC appearances.
Dominant showing for Luana Santos, who gets back to her finishing ways with a first-round submission win over Mariya Agapova.
The talented Brazilian rifled Agapova to the canvas early in the contest and quickly worked to mount, searching for an arm-triangle choke. When Agapova rolled to defend, offering up her back, Santos pounds, sinking her forearm under the neck before fully securing the position. From there, it was only a matter of time before Agapova was forced to tap.
The 24-year-old Santos is now 3-0 in the UFC, but this was a brilliant return to form after a tough showing last time out, where she missed weight up a division. Count the judoka amongst the ever-growing group of promising, young talents pushing forward in the flyweight division.
Montel Jackson just keeps levelling up!
“Quik” lived up to his nickname on Saturday, flooring Da’Mon Blackshear with a massive left hand that ended the fight in an instant.
A member of the Dana White’s Contender Series Class of ’18, Jackson has now won five straight inside the Octagon, with each of the last two coming by way of first-round knockout. Now 8-2 in the UFC, the quiet Milwaukee native’s work continues to speak volumes.
Canadian Jasmine Jasudavicius picked up her second win of the year on Saturday, handing highly regarded prospect Fatima Kline the first loss of her professional career.
Jasudavicius, who entered the contests ranked No. 15 in the flyweight division, used her superior physicality and size to get the better of things in the first two rounds, doing the majority of her damage when the fight hit the canvas. After slugging it out for the first half of the third, Jasudavicius was able to drag Kline to the mat, and continue to out-physical the future strawweight competitor.
This was a grimy effort from the continually improving Canadian, who moved to 4-1 in her last five fights with the victory. For Kline, this is a solid showing on short notice, up a division, against a ranked opponent, and shouldn’t do anything to diminish her stock going forward.
Charles Johnson made sure to leave the judges out of things in his clash with Joshua Van to close out the prelims, ending things in the early moments of the third round.
The veteran from St. Louis started well, taking the fight to Van in the early moments of the first before the talented prospect began to warm into the fight. Knowing things were close, Johnson came out like a man on fire to start the third, wobbling Van with a right hand behind the ear before sending him to the canvas with a sharp uppercut that ended the fight.
Johnson has been one of the most active fighters on the roster since coming into the UFC, and has already posted three victories this year. The 33-year-old is a vital member of the flyweight ecosystem, and is undoubtedly going to look to continue to remain as active as possible going forward.
UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs Cortez took place live from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on July 13, 2024. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!