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Charles Johnson has a message for Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights: “Trust him at your own peril.”
Eleven days earlier, Johnson (16-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) had come from the brink of defeat to defeat the in-form phenom Joshua Vang (10-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in a spectacular knockout victory on the undercard of UFC on ESPN 59, handing Vang his first loss inside the Octagon. “Inner G” got off to a good start, taking advantage of Vang’s tendency to start slow and attack his lead leg. But Vang gradually gained the upper hand as the rounds progressed, staying in a compact stance and landing a flurry of his signature body punches and two straight right punches that hurt Johnson. Vang continued to build momentum in the middle rounds, moving forward against the taller fighter and landing clean punches. Johnson was fired up, withstanding Vang’s attacks and landing some hard strikes of his own, but the fight was clearly leaning in favor of the 22-year-old Burma-born Houston native. But things changed in the third round. Johnson came out strong, hitting Vann with an overhand right and then an incredibly long right uppercut that connected with Vann’s jaw and knocked him unconscious to the canvas. Referee Joe Coca was on the scene and scored the victory by TKO 20 seconds into the third round. It was Johnson’s third win of 2024 and a stunning comeback victory after three straight losses last year.
Jasdavicius beats Klein in a big win
Jasmine Yasdavicius (11-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) jumped into a high-risk, low-reward scenario and made the most of it, using superior strength and wrestling to defeat last-minute opponent Fatima Klein (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC). Klein, a strawweight regular who replaced Vivienne Araujo, immediately went at Yasdavicius and took down the wrestler with a perfectly timed double-leg takedown. Yasdavicius quickly swept her off her feet, lifted her up, and dragged her back to the mat. From there, Yasdavicius’ size and grappling acumen came into play, as she attempted a light face crank, but ended the round by landing an elbow on Klein from top position.The second round played out in a similar fashion, with Klein willingly fighting Yasdavicius and finding some success, but the bigger woman gained the upper hand with purposeful and powerful groundwork, again pounding Klein at the base of the fence to close the round. Clearly outmatched in round two, Klein went all out in the third, successfully backing Yasdavicius down with aggressive lunges and a few clean punches to the head. However, Yasdavicius again gained the upper hand around the middle of the round, getting behind Klein while standing and dragging him to the canvas as she had done in the first two rounds and beginning her attack. After a big mat return and a rear-naked choke attempt, the final horn sounded and the trio was awarded a formal score of 30-27. Jasdavicius’ win marks her second straight victory since losing to “UFC Denver” headliner Tracy Cortez last fall, while Klein showed some spirited play in the loss and has made a name for herself as a durable contender in the UFC 115-pound division.
Jackson takes down Blackshear “quickly”
Montel Jackson lived up to his nickname and is a contender for “Knockout of the Year.” He knocked Damon Blackshear down with a thunderous left punch just seconds into their bantamweight premiership bout. “Quick” (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) and “Da Monster” (14-7-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC) were awkward due to the opposing stances of two lanky kickboxers, but southpaw Jackson benefited from it. He caught Blackshear on the way there with a thunderous left punch, knocking him down for good. Blackshear’s head bounced off the canvas as he went down, and referee Nick Berens stepped in seconds later to stop him from needlessly trying to follow up. The knockout, which took place 0:18 into the first round, was one of the quickest bouts of the UFC season and extended Jackson’s winning streak to five.
Santos strangles Agapova
Luana Santos continues to climb the flyweight rankings, decisively spoiling Maria Agapova’s return to the Octagon, dumping “Money Mashukka” on her head and bombarding her with submission moves before solving the mystery with a first-round choke. Agapova (10-5 MMA, 2-4 UFC), fighting for the first time since September 2022, was hesitant early on, landing single jabs and kicks that fell just a few feet short, but Santos (8-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) didn’t give her any time to shake off her rust, stepping into the pocket and dropping Agapova with a right hand. When Agapova got to her feet, Santos tossed her with a judo throw and then spent the next minute working an arm-triangle choke from mount. Agapova survived the flurry and managed to get to her knees, but Santos got behind her and sunk a hook for a rear-naked choke. Agapova was caught completely off guard by the speed of the transition, immediately spitting out her mouthpiece and starting to frantically pound away with both hands a second later. Referee Joe Coca stepped in to rescue the fight at 3:27 of the first round, giving Santos her third consecutive win in her UFC debut.
Petroski chokes Friend to death
Andre Petroski’s wrestling and top control were just too much for Josh Fremd to handle. The Renzo Gracie Philadelphia star overcame takedowns, cautious ground-and-pound and sporadic submission attempts to earn a one-sided decision victory on the middleweight undercard. Petroski (11-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) sat Fremd (11-6 MMA, 2-4 UFC) down early in the first round with a devastating right hand. Fremd quickly got up, more off-balance than in pain, but Petroski quickly took him to the ground with a powerful double leg strike. This set up a pattern for the rest of the bout, with Fremd simply having no answer to Petroski’s relentless takedown attempts. He moved well on the ground, dodging Petroski’s hardest punches and elbows and moving well enough to avoid a complete rout, but he rarely had a chance to launch an attack of his own. As the final horn sounded, the judges quickly scored the bout 30-27 in Petroski’s favor, putting his first career losing streak behind him with the win.
Elder Wilts Flowers 2nd Round Arm Triangle
In their opening welterweight bout, Evan Elder (9-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) got a leg up on Darius Flowers (12-8-1 MMA, 0-3 UFC), dominating the striking and wrestling battle to win by submission in the second round. In a nearly entirely stand-up first round, Flowers attempted to distract Elder with an impressive array of shenanigans, including exaggeratedly staggering on the spot, mimicking basketball dribbles and chattering incessantly, but Elder didn’t fight back. The bout was relatively quick for both fighters, but it seemed to take a toll on Flowers, who was clearly exhausted by the end of the first round. A kick to the groin by Elder early in the second round briefly took a breather, but once Flowers recovered, the end was not far off. Elder took Flowers down with a well-timed double leg takedown, escaped a leg lock, struck Flowers’ body and slid into full mount, from which Elder applied an arm triangle choke and forced Flowers to tap at 1 minute, 46 seconds into the second round.
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