The second verse was different from the first.
Mackenzie Dern avenged her 2019 decision loss to Amanda Rivas, defeating the Brazilian with an armbar in the third round of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 249 headliner at the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She continued to reaffirm that she is a strong candidate in the women’s strawweight division. UFC Apex held in Las Vegas. Rivas (13-6, 7-5 UFC) raised the white flag 4:56 into the third round.
The rivals traded strikes, takedowns and positional control throughout two competitive rounds. Rivas grounded the 2015 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Fighting World Championship medalist early in the third, but gradually became dangerous. Dern dives into mount under the threat of an armbar and slams away with elbows and punches, severing his limbs again. She sits in an armbar, moves her hips as time expires, and Rivas has no choice but to surrender.
Meanwhile, American Top Team mainstay Santiago Ponzinibbio eliminated Carlston Harris with punches in the third round of the welterweight co-main event. As a dazed Harris (19-7, 4-3 UFC) fought back, referee Kelly Hatley called for a standing stoppage.
Ponzinibbio (30-8, 12-7 UFC) withstood a brutal attack from the former Brave Combat Federation titleholder in the first round, overcoming multiple knockdowns. Harris combined a left hook with a clubbing overhand right, sending the Argentine into fits with an awkward blow. Ponzinibbio stayed the course and relied on his experience to mark the Renovacao Fight Team representative with his own fierce punches, slowly turning the tide in his favor. In the third round, he clipped Harris with three right crosses, knocked him to the canvas and sent him flying with punches. At first it wasn’t enough. Harris returned to his standing position and hit the deck again at the end of a left hook, rising to his feet and absorbing further punishment along the fence, but at that point Hatley intervened.
It was Ponzinibbio’s first win since December 2022.
Further down the card, Dana White’s Contender Series alum Cesar Almeida put Abdul Razak Alhassan short with a strong counter left hook in the first round of a middleweight shootout. Almeida (7-1, 3-1 UFC) was shut out 4 minutes and 16 seconds into the first round.
Alhassan (12-7, 6-7 UFC) hit the Brazilian with a surgical right cross with just over a minute left in the opening period and scrambled with ground and pound for a possible finish. Almeida returned to an upright position, at which point he was subjected to further attacks from “Judo Thunder”. Alhassan threw wild power punches, exposed himself, and paid dearly. Almeida exploded with a vicious left hook to the jaw, sending the 39-year-old Elevation Fight Team product crashing hard into the canvas, leaving him stiff, unconscious, and on his back.
Five of Almeida’s seven career wins have come by knockout or technical knockout, with four of those wins coming within one round.
Elsewhere, former Fight Nights Global Champion Roman Kopylov knocked down Chris Curtis with a head kick with two seconds remaining in the third round of the middleweight bout. Curtis (31-12, 5-4 UFC) suffered his second loss in as many fights, ending the fight 4 minutes, 59 seconds into the third round.
They fought back with punches and kicks for a full 15 minutes, keeping an eye on their health. Kopylov (14-3, 6-3 UFC) had more variety in his attack, but had trouble keeping the Extreme Couture veteran at bay. Curtis delivered doubles and triples with his jab, cutting above his opponent’s right eye in the second round and dealing with each advance, often tearing the body apart with two-handed hooks. Kopylov felt a second wind in the third round, staggering the former CES MMA champion multiple times. As time expired, he took Curtis down with a head kick, prompting an inexplicable stoppage by referee Mark Smith, despite taking no further shots. Curtis became furious with Smith shortly afterward.
Kopylov has won six of his past seven starts.
Late in the draw, in a three-round featherweight attraction, Loufsport’s Cristian Rodriguez defeated undefeated Austin Basi by unanimous decision. All three cageside judges had the same score, 29-28 for Rodriguez (12-2, 5-2 UFC).
Basi (13-1, 0-1 UFC) endured a difficult first round in which the Octagon debutant was greeted with a variety of attacks and was threatened with a guillotine choke. The prospect stayed calm and fought back in the midfield, scoring multiple takedowns, racking up significant control time and scoring with intermittent ground-and-pound. It wasn’t enough to take Rodriguez off the mark. The Duke Rufus disciple ramped up his takedowns in the final five minutes, landing multiple punch volleys followed by crashing knees to the middle, doing more than enough damage to garner the necessary favor on the scorecards.
Rodriguez, 27, has won five of his past six fights.
Finally, Extreme Couture standout Punahele Soriano punched away Uros Medic in the first round of the welterweight appetizer. Medic (10-3, 4-3 UFC) checked out 31 seconds into the first round, suffering the first knockout loss of his 13-fight career.
Soriano (11-4, 5-4 UFC) ignored his opponent’s skill. He absorbed a left straight to the body, flashed a left hand to back Medic up, and took him down with a clean right hook. Soriano followed him to the canvas, polishing off his third sub-minute finish as a pro.
Soriano, 32, has been on a winning streak since moving to 170 pounds.
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