Brazilian Johnny Eduardo pulled off one of the biggest bantamweight upsets some time as he knocked out former WEC champion Eddie Wineland in a featured preliminary bout at UFC Fight Night 40.
After a four-minute feeling out process, Eduardo found his range late in the opening round when he landed a perfect overhand right that dazed Wineland, who somehow managed to stay on his feet. Eduardo followed up with an identical right hand that sent Wineland to the ground unconscious.
GIF from @Tap_Nap_Snap
Eduardo (27-9) has won 13 of his last 14 fights, but it had been 725 days since he last competed as he dealt with a variety of injuries. With the loss, Wineland fell to 3-4 in the UFC.
Kyoji Horiguchi continued his winning ways as he edged Darrell Montague in flyweight action. After a close first round, Horiguchi rocked Montague with several strong kicks to the body and follow-up punches that had Montague on wobbly legs at the end of the second frame. Horiguchi continued to outpace his opponent in the third en route to a unanimous decision victory. The rising Japanese star improved to 13-1 with his seventh consecutive win. Montague has lost both of his Octagon appearances since signing with the promotion last year.
Also on the prelims, veteran Ed Herman bounced back from a November loss to Thales Leites with a unanimous decision win over Rafael Natal. Both middleweights had positive moments in the fight, but it was Herman that ultimately did more to get the nod on the judges’ scorecards.
Featherweight contender Nik Lentz earned a unanimous decision over Manvel Gamburyan. The 29-year-old Lentz is now 4-1 since dropping to the 145-pound division.
Zak Cummings handed Yan Cabral his first career loss in an entertaining three-round scrap. Cummings, a veteran of TUF 17, overcame a triangle choke attempt from Cabral in the first round to take control of the fight and win the final two rounds. Cummings is 2-0 since dropping to the welterweight division.
In the opening bout of the night, Russia’s Albert Tumenov knocked out Anthony Lapsley with a crisp counter-left hook in the first round of their welterweight matchup.
Plus, Justin Salas knocked out fellow lightweight Ben Wall with a straight left hand.
