Gegard Mousasi put Uriah Hall away within one round in the main event of a UFC Fight Night event Saturday in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The two top-10 middleweight contenders felt one another out on the feet for four minutes before Mousasi was able to drag Hall to the ground. He trapped Hall’s left arm and teed off with heavy right hands that Hall couldn’t block and the referee called a stop to the action.
This was a rematch of a September 2015 bout that saw Hall upset Mousasi with a brilliant finishing combination.
Since that fight, Mousasi has now gone 4-0 including wins over Thales Leites, Thiago Santos and Vitor Belfort, while Hall lost three straight bouts to Mousasi, Robert Whittaker and Derek Brunson.
Alexander Volkov made an early impression in his UFC debut against No. 14-ranked heavyweight contender Timothy Johnson. The former Bellator MMA champion came out strong, peppering Johnson with pressure combinations, but was caught with a thunderous uppercut right on the chin that put him on his back.
The Russian was able to survive the round, though, and ultimately walked away with a split decision win.
Conor McGregor’s favourite training partner, Artem Lobov, earned a fan-friendly unanimous decision victory over Teruto Ishihara with McGregor sitting cageside.
Scotland’s Stevie Ray picked up the biggest win of his career, edging popular veteran Ross Pearson in a technical, tactical, tightly-contested split decision. This was Pearson’s fifth fight of 2016. He has 1-4 during that stretch.
In preliminary action, Kyoji Horiguchi overcame a slow start and walked away with a unanimous decision victory over Ali Bagautinov in a battle of former flyweight title challengers.
Brett Johns and Jack Marshman became the first two fighters from Wales to compete in the UFC and both were victorious. Johns beat Kwan Ho Kwak in a fight that lasted all three rounds, while Marshman upset Sweden’s Magnus Cedenblad with a second-round TKO.
Abdul Razak Alhassan knocked out Charlie Ward, another teammate of McGregor, in 53 seconds to kick off the night.
Here are the complete results from UFC Belfast:
MAIN CARD
— Gegard Mousasi def. Uriah Hall by TKO
— Stevie Ray def. Ross Pearson by split decision
— Alexander Volkov def. Timothy Johnson by split decision
— Artem Lobov def. Teruto Ishihara by unanimous decision
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Jack Marshman def. Magnus Cedenblad by TKO
— Kyoji Horiguchi def. Ali Bagautinov by unanimous decision
— Kevin Lee def. Magomed Mustafaev by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Amanda Cooper def Anna Elmose by unanimous decision
— Justin Ledet def. Mark Godbeer by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Zak Cummings def. Alexander Yakovlev by submission (straight armbar)
— Marion Reneau def. Milana Dudieva TKO (punches and elbows)
— Brett Johns def. Kwan Ho Kwak by unanimous decision
— Abdul Razak Alhassan def. Charlie Ward by knockout
