The UFC held a rare Sunday night event and fans that tuned in were treated to one of the more exciting cards of 2016.
Cody Garbrandt knocked out Thomas Almeida in the main event, which pitted two of the top bantamweights prospects in the sport against one another. Almeida was the favourite heading into the fight, but Garbrandt was the aggressor, never letting the Brazilian get settled. Garbrandt backed Almeida up with a series of punches midway through the opening round and put him away with a monster right hand against the cage.
Garbrandt improved to 9-0 as a pro, handing Almeida (21-1) his first loss.
Veteran brawler Jeremy Stephens picked up the biggest win of his career, earning a unanimous decision over Renan Barao in the co-main event. It was Barao’s first fight in the featherweight division. The former bantamweight champion consistently had difficulty cutting to 135 pounds and after being stopped twice by former champion T.J. Dillashaw decided to move up. Stephens, who also boasts a knockout win over current lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos, is regarded as one of the heaviest hitters at 145 pounds, although he hasn’t registered back-to-back wins since 2013.
Also on the main card, Rick Story and Lorenz Larkin picked up wins over Tarec Saffiedine and Jorge Masvidal, respectively, in a pair of quality welterweight tilts. Bryan Caraway handed rising bantamweight star Aljamain Sterling the first loss of his career in a featured preliminary bout.
Here are the full results:
MAIN CARD
— Cody Garbrandt def. Thomas Almeida by KO
— Jeremy Stephens def. Renan Barao by UD
— Rick Story def. Tarec Saffiedine by UD
— Chris Camozzi def. Vitor Miranda by UD
— Lorenz Larkin def. Jorge Masvidal by SD
— Paul Felder def. Josh Burkman by UD
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Sara McMann def. Jessica Eye by UD
— Abel Trujillo def. Jordan Rinaldi by UD
— Jake Collier def. Alberto Uda by TKO
— Erik Koch def. Shane Campbell by SUB
— Bryan Caraway def. Aljamain Sterling by SD
— Adam Milstead def. Chris De La Rocha by TKO
