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After a two-fight stint at flyweight, former UFC strawweight champion Jessica made an impressive return to 115 pounds Saturday night in Las Vegas as she put an end to the five-fight winning streak of fellow Brazilian Amanda Lemos in the UFC Fight Night Main Event at the APEX. Walking through some impressive strikes from Lemos, Andrade closed the distance and made it count, scoring the first standing arm triangle choke submission in UFC history as she finished the bout 3:13 into the opening round to improve to 23-9. | Official Scorecards
The wild UFC ride of Mike Jackson continued in the welterweight opener, as he scored his first UFC win via disqualification over Dublin newcomer Dean Barry.
Jackson started strong, making Barry miss and pay with sharp counters. But after a couple low kicks from Barry, the second drawing a hard warning from referee Chris Tognoni, the Irishman began to find his groove, knocking Jackson down with two minutes left. Jackson rose, but then caught an eye poke, halting the bout once more, this time for good, with Tognoni disqualifying Barry at the 3:52 mark.
Jackson, who has had all three of his pro MMA fights in the UFC, moves to 1-1-1. Barry falls to 4-2.
Philipe Lins’ move back to the light heavyweight division was a successful one, as he won a hard-fought three-round unanimous decision over Marcin Prachnio.
Scores were 29-28 across the board for Lins, now 15-5. Prachnio falls to 15-6.
Lins put the fight on the mat in the second minute, but Prachnio got free fairly quickly and went back to work with his standup attack, landing a couple head kicks that prompted another grappling exchange from Lins.
Prachnio cut Lins early in the second round, but it was the Brazilian who was landing the harder shots as the frame progressed, rocking his foe on a few occasions.
In the third, fatigue had set in for both men, and while Prachnio had his moments, Lins’ grappling proved to be the difference on the scorecards.
Preston Parsons got his first UFC win in his second try, decisioning short notice newcomer Evan Elder unanimously over three rounds.
Scores were 30-26, 30-27, 30-27 for Parsons, now 10-3. Elder, who replaced Louis Cosce, falls to 7-1.
Parsons locked up with his foe immediately, but as they went to the mat, Elder shook himself loose and got back to his feet. While standing, Parsons was sharp, and when he decided to take the fight to the mat with a little over a minute left, he got it. Two arm triangle choke attempts followed, but Elder made it out of the round.
Parsons grounded Elder early in round two and moved into the mount position, where he looked for the arm triangle again. Elder found daylight, though, and in the second minute he rose to his feet. A Parsons takedown followed, and while he came close to finishing Elder again, the Missouri native wasn’t going anywhere.
The Parsons onslaught continued in the third, and while Elder was ultra-game, this was the Floridian’s night.
“The Mongolian Murderer,” was in fine form in his move from 125 to 135 pounds, as Aoriqileng halted Cameron Else in less than three minutes.
Aoriqileng (19-9) was on the attack from the start, and soon, a left punch to the body knocked Else (10-6) down. The Brit tried to recover, but Aoriqileng’s attack was relentless, and after an unanswered series of ground strikes, referee Keith Peterson stopped the fight. The official time was 2:48 of round one.
Back in action for the first time since December 2018, Australia’s Tyson Pedro had a successful return, as he stopped Ike Villanueva in the first round of their light heavyweight bout.
Pedro didn’t show any signs of ring rust as the fight began, but he did ease his way unto the fight. Unfortunately, as he upped his work rate, a pair of low shots brought momentary halts to the action. By the final minute, though, Pedro’s kicks to the legs had Villanueva compromised, and after one put the Texan on the mat, a couple follow-up shots brought in referee Mark Smith to halt the fight at 4:55 of round one.
Pedro moves to 8-3 with the win. Villanueva falls to 18-14.
More than two years away wasn’t ideal for welterweight Sergey Khandozhko, but in his return, he got the win, making up for lost time with a second-round stoppage of Dwight Grant.
Making his first start since November 2019, Khandozhko got off to a promising beginning, dropping Grant with a left hand in the second minute. Grant recovered and returned the favor with a little over a minute left in the frame thanks to a right hand that dropped the Russian.
Grant was content to take his foot off the gas in the second, and it worked well for him, as he countered his for with crisp shots, but his luck ran out late, as Khandozhko kept pressing until he landed the left hook that spelled the beginning of the end for Grant, who was rescued by referee Chris Tognoni at 4:15 of round two.
With the win, Khandozhko moves to 28-6-1. Grant falls to 11-5.
In the main card opener, held at a catchweight of 190 pounds, Marc-Andre Barriault submitted Jordan Wright in the first round.
After some good exchanges in the clinch, Wright took Barriault down briefly in the second minute. And while Barriault rose quickly, Wright kept the pressure on, but that aggression backfired, as Barriault sunk in a guillotine choke that got tighter as the pair went to the mat, forcing a tap out at 2:36 of the opening stanza.
With the win, Barriault, who stepped in for Roman Kopylov on short notice, moves to 13-2, 1 NC. Wright falls to 13-6, 1 NC
The expected war between featherweight action heroes Charles Jourdain and Lando Vannata didn’t materialize, but that was just fine with Canada’s Jourdain, who submitted Vannata in less than a round.
Vannata (12-6-2) scored well with his kicks in the early going, but Jourdain (13-4-1) responded with a straight left punch upstairs that floored the New Jersey native. As he tried to rise, Jourdain locked in a guillotine choke, and moments later, Vannata was forced to tap out. The official time of the finish was 2:32 of round one.
No. 14-ranked flyweight contender Maycee Barber kept her number intact as she defeated Montana De La Rosa via unanimous decision.
Barber (10-2) used her strikes to set up a grappling system early in round one, but when the pair went to the mat, Barber rose immediately, remaining clinched up with De La Rosa (12-7-1). The two continued to battle against the fence, Barber getting in some hard shots when she got a hand free.
Back to the clinch for the first two minutes of round two, De La Rosa put Barber on the mat with three to go and took her opponent’s back. Barber fought her way out of immediate danger, but De La Rosa was still looking for a sub from her back. As the round progressed, Barber landed several ground strikes, but it was De La Rosa on top at round’s end.
In the third, Barber put a stamp on the win with another solid frame that earned her the nod by way of a trio of 30-27 scores.
Peruvian lightweight prospect Claudio Puelles made it five straight wins in the co-main event, as he submitted Clay Guida in the opening round.
The fight went to the mat in the opening minute, Guida on top but Puelles aggressively going after submissions. Guida defended well and scrambled his way out of trouble, but only momentarily, as Puelles locked in the kneebar that forced the tap out at 3:01 of the first round.
Puelles moves to 13-2. Guida falls to 37-19.
Former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade made a successful return to 115 pounds in the UFC Fight Night main event, as she submitted Amanda Lemos in the first round.
Lemos was the clear aggressor as the fight began and she landed several hard kicks until midway through the round, when Andrade locked in the standing arm triangle choke that ended Lemos’ night at 3:13 of the first round.
Andrade moves to 23-9 with the win. The No. 10-ranked Lemos falls to 11-2-1.
UFC Fight Night: Lemos vs Andrade, took place on Saturday, April 23, 2022, live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses — and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!