The UFC Fight Night main event between Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum on Saturday night in Las Vegas is a pivotal one in the 185-pound division. The winner will remain a top contender, while the loser will slide down the rankings. ESPN has Cannonier ranked No. 5 at middleweight. Gastelum is currently unranked, but he also has given champion Israel Adesanya arguably the toughest test at middleweight of Adesanya’s UFC career.
Cannonier (13-4) would have earned a title shot with a win in his previous bout, but he fell to former champ Robert Whittaker via unanimous decision last October. The Texas native, who fights out of Arizona, was on a three-fight winning streak prior to that loss. Cannonier, 37, is one of only two men (Conor McGregor being the other) to win via KO/TKO in three different UFC divisions. He started his UFC run at heavyweight, then moved to light heavyweight and now competes at middleweight.
Gastelum (16-7, 1 NC) has come from the other direction, beginning his UFC career as a welterweight prospect after winning the Ultimate Fighter middleweight crown in 2013. The California native moved to middleweight after struggles on the scale in 2016 and emerged as a contender, facing Adesanya for the interim title in 2019. It was a losing effort, but it was an all-action bout that was perhaps the best of that year. Gastelum, 29, has lost four of his past five fights, including that barnburner against Adesanya.
In the co-main event, undefeated wrestling standout Mark O. Madsen meets wily veteran Clay Guida. Madsen (10-0), a 36-year-old from Denmark, is a former Olympic silver medalist in Greco Roman wrestling. Guida (36-20), a 39-year-old fighting out of California’s Team Alpha Male, snapped a two-fight losing streak in his past bout. Guida is a 15-year UFC veteran and his fight with Diego Sanchez is in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Also on the card, Alexandre Pantoja takes on Brandon Royval in an important flyweight contender matchup, Chase Sherman faces Parker Porter in a battle of heavyweight sluggers and grizzled veteran Vinc Pichel meets the up-and-coming Austin Hubbard in a lightweight scrap.
Fight in progress:
Men’s bantamweight: Brian Kelleher (22-12, -175) vs. Domingo Pilarte (8-2 1 NC, 0-1 1 NC UFC, +150)
Results:
Women’s bantamweight: Josiane Nunes (8-1, 1-0 UFC) defeats Bea Malecki (4-1, 2-1 UFC) by first-round KO
WOOOOW! WELCOME TO THE UFC Josiane Nunes!!!
[#UFCVegas34 | Prelims are LIVE on ESPN2 & @ESPNPlus] pic.twitter.com/lRpjDI7nOx
— UFC (@ufc) August 22, 2021
Recap to come.
Light Heavyweight: William Knight (10-2, 3-1 UFC) defeats Fabio Cherant (7-3, 0-2 UFC) by first-round KO
Knight won a feisty battle of New Englanders by waiting for his opponent to come to him, then making that foe wish he hadn’t.
Cherant had found a home for a couple of overhand punches and had just missed with several others. The 26-year-old from Wrentham, Massachusetts, was emboldened, so he moved forward with strikes and landed one. Then he fell face-forward to the canvas.
“How’d you get the nickname @Knightmare205?” 😰 #UFCVegas34 pic.twitter.com/jzdrhBvydv
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 22, 2021
Knight, who is 33 and from East Hartford, Connecticut, absorbed the punch and clipped his oncoming opponent with a short left hook that dropped him. As Cherant lay motionless on the canvas, referee Chris Tognoni jumped in to end it at 3:58.
Knight came into the fight unhappy with Cherant for suggesting he has no striking skills. “I ate an overhand and threw my left hook,” said Knight. “It is what it is. You speak on what you don’t see. But that’s the most dangerous thing.”
Knight has won three of his last four. Cherant has lost both of his UFC bouts.
— Wagenheim
Lightweight: Ignacio Bahamondes (12-4, 1-1 UFC) defeats Roosevelt Roberts (10-3 1 NC, 4-3 1 NC UFC) by third-round KO
The UFC might have a bonafide blue-chip prospect on its hands from Latin America.
Bahamondes blasted Roberts with a spinning back kick knockout at 4:55 of the third and final round after an impressive performance throughout. Bahamondes looked worse for wear — his face was covered in blood — but he was the more aggressive and effective fighter in each round. The spinning back kick finish was one of the year’s best KOs.
Woooow with 6 seconds left lands the KO of the year!!!#ufcVegas
— Jamahal Hill (@JamahalH) August 22, 2021
“I know I hit him in the body a couple of times,” Bahamondes said in his postfight interview. “I was trying to throw the spinning heel kick to his body and get his attention down. … Thank God I got it.”
Bahamondes went to the body with kicks in every round. He also mixed in a ton of volume with his hands in the form of boxing combinations. Roberts had some moments, too. He landed a hard right-hand counter in the first round and a big uppercut in the second. Bahamondes, though, poured it on with punches in bunches and finished with an absolute flourish.
Bahamondes, who is just 23 years old, picked up his first UFC victory. The Chile native trains out of Chicago with highly regarded striking coach Mike Valle. Roberts, a 27-year-old Miami native fighting out of California, is winless in three straight.
— Raimondi
Welterweight: Ramiz Brahimaj (9-3, 1-1 UFC) defeats Sasha Palatnikov (6-4, 1-2 UFC) by first-round submission
1:12
Sasha Palatnikov refuses to tap out, but it’s too little too late as Ramiz Brahimaj forces Palatnikov to go out cold.
Brahimaj earned his first UFC victory with efficient urgency, getting a takedown 20 seconds into the fight, quickly moving into half guard, then full mount and clamping on a rear-naked choke to get the finish two minutes, 33 seconds into the fight. All nine of his career wins have come by submission.
Ramiz is a beast! Heavy hands and a brutally offensive ground game! Great fight to kickoff this fight card. Let’s go!!! #UFCVegas34
— Alex Morono (@alexmoronomma) August 21, 2021
The 28-year-old native of the Bronx, New York, now fighting out of Fortis MMA in Dallas, lost his UFC debut last November by doctor stoppage. But this time it was a referee who stopped the fight, as Palatnikov went unconscious after trying to fight off the choke.
Palatnikov, 32, who was born in Hong Kong and fights out of Las Vegas, is 1-2 in the UFC.
— Wagenheim
Still to come:
Middleweight: Jared Cannonier (13-5, 6-5 UFC, -140) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (17-7 1 NC, 11-7 1 NC UFC, +120)
Lightweight: Clay Guida (36-17, 16-14 UFC, +140) vs. Mark O. Madsen (10-0, 2-0 UFC, -165)
Heavyweight: Chase Sherman (15-7, 1-1 UFC, -195) vs. Parker Porter (11-6, 1-1 UFC, +165)
Men’s bantamweight: Saidyokub Kakhramonov (8-2, 0-0 UFC) vs. Trevin Jones (13-6 1 NC, 1-0 1 NC UFC)
Lightweight: Vinc Pichel (13-2, 6-2 UFC, -115) vs. Austin Hubbard (13-5, 3-3 UFC, -105)
Flyweight: Alexandre Pantoja (23-5, 7-3 UFC, -175) vs. Brandon Royval (12-5, 2-1 UFC, +150)
Men’s featherweight: Austin Lingo (8-1, 1-1 UFC, +105) vs. Luis Saldana (15-6, 1-0 UFC, -125)
