UFC Vegas 64 was chock-full of finishes. The strawweight headliner saw a potential title challenger emerge, and the welterweight co-headliner had a veteran etch his name in the UFC history books.
The preliminary portion of the card began with Tamires Vidal finishing Ramona Pascual with a flying knee to the body. The promotional newcomer found a home for a knee up the middle that folded her opponent, who fell to the canvas before referee Chris Tognoni stepped in and waved off the fight. Jake Hadley returned to the win column after suffering the first loss of his professional career in his previous Octagon appearance. Tonight, ‘White Kong’ got Carlos Candelario to the ground and tapped him with a triangle choke. Johnny Munoz Jr. defeated Liudvik Sholinian by unanimous decision. Polyana Viana wasted no time with Jinh Yu Frey! The Brazilian unleashed a flurry of punches that turned the lights off on Frey in 47 seconds. WOW! That was also the fourth fastest finish in UFC strawweight history, so good for Viana! Mario Bautista bullied Benito Lopez. The bantamweight was brutalizing Lopez with punches to the head and body before he switched gears and took his opponent to the ground. From there, Bautista worked his way to a triangle-armbar that forced Lopez to tap in the first round. Miranda Maverick dominated Shanna Young for a clean sweep on the judges’ scorecards. That was actually her second win over Young, who she defeated by first-round rear-naked choke under the Invicta FC banner three years ago.
The main portion of the card saw Grant Dawson bounce Mark O. Madsen from the ranks of the unbeaten with a third-round rear-naked choke. After being dropped early by the ‘Olympian,’ Dawson relied on his wrestling to control Madsen on the ground, where he snatched up the submission. In his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, ‘KGD’ called out Tony Ferguson. Tagir Ulanbekov nearly popped Nate Maness’ head off after locking him up in a scary standing guillotine choke. Following his win, the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) product used his time on the microphone to send this message to UFC president Dana White: ‘Hey Dana, give me my $50,000.’ Shayilan Nuerdanbieke earned his first UFC finish with a 67-second TKO of Darrick Minner. Within the first few seconds of the fight, Minner appeared to tweak his knee throwing a kick. The ‘Wolverine’ pounced, uncorking a knee to the head before securing the finish with some ground-and-pound. Neil Magny added Daniel Rodriguez to his resume and made UFC history in one fell swoop. The ‘Haitian Sensation’ subbed ‘D-Rod’ by third-round D’arce choke and became the all-team leader in wins in the welterweight division, surpassing former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. As for his next appearance, Magny called out Gilbert Burns for UFC 283 in Brazil next year.
Amanda Lemos stunned Marina Rodriguez to close out the show. Early in the third round, Lemos hurt Rodriguez with a right hand that began the fight-ending sequence. The Brazilian swarmed, stopping Rodriguez by standing TKO. With that being her second consecutive win, Lemos asked to be the backup fighter for the upcoming title fight between Carla Esparza and Zhang Weili at UFC 281 next Saturday.
Performance of the Night: Tamires Vidal, Polyana Viana, Mario Bautista and Neil Magny
Tamires Vidal def. Ramona Pascual by TKO (knees) at 3:06 of Round 1
Jake Hadley def. Carlos Candelario by submission (triangle choke) at 2:39 of Round 2
Polyana Viana def. Jinh Yu Frey by TKO (punches) at 0:47 of Round 1
Mario Bautista def. Benito Lopez by submission (triangle-armbar) at 4:54 of Round 1
Grant Dawson def. Mark O. Madsen by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:05 of Round 3
Tagir Ulanbekov def. Nate Maness by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:11 of Round 1
Shayilan Nuerdanbieke def. Darrick Minner by TKO (strikes) at 1:07 of Round 1
Neil Magny def. Daniel Rodriguez by submission (D’arce choke) at 3:33 of Round 3
Amanda Lemos def. Marina Rodriguez by TKO (punches) at 0:54 of Round 3
Fight of the Night: No FOTN
Johnny Munoz Jr. def. Liudvik Sholinian by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Miranda Maverick def. Shanna Young by unanimous decision (30-26 x3)
