Cody Garbrandt staked claim to a bantamweight title shot with a dominant technical knockout of veteran Takeya Mizugaki in the featured preliminary fight at UFC 202 Saturday.
Garbrandt improved to 10-0 as a professional as he blasted Mizugaki with several right hands before finishing him with strikes on the ground. The fight lasted a mere 48 seconds. Garbrandt has positioned himself as the clear-cut top contender in the 135-pound division and called out champion Dominick Cruz after the bout. Cruz, who was in the T-Mobile Arena watching and working as a FOX Sports analyst, appeared to enjoy the challenge.
Lorenz Larkin put on a striking clinic and stopped Neil Magny in the first round of a tilt between two rising welterweight contenders. Larkin, who holds a victory over former champion Robbie Lawler, wasn’t ranked in the top 15 at 170 pounds heading into the bout but beating the No. 7-ranked Magny puts his name on the map.
Canadian Randa Markos was submitted by fellow strawweight Cortney Casey. Markos landed a nice throw and had Casey in a headlock on the mat but the American was able to niftily transition to an advantageous position and eventually lock in an armbar that forced Markos to tap out in the first round. Markos has alternated wins and losses since debuting in the UFC in 2014. Casey has now won two straight by first-round stoppage.
Also on the preliminary card, Conor McGregor teammate Artem Lobov won a unanimous decision over Nate Diaz teammate Chris Avila.
Here are the complete results from the UFC 202 prelims:
— Cody Garbrandt def. Takeya Mizugaki by TKO
— Raquel Pennington def. Elizabeth Phillips by unanimous decision
— Artem Lobov def. Chris Avila by unanimous decision
— Cortney Casey def. Randa Markos by SUB (armbar)
— Lorenz Larkin def. Neil Magny by TKO
— Colby Covington def. Max Griffin by TKO
— Marvin Vettori def. Alberto Uda by SUB (guillotine choke)
