Thales Leites extended his win streak to six with a 45-second TKO of Trevor Smith at UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Nelson in Abu Dhabi Friday. The win was Leites’ first TKO since 2005 and just the third of his career – his previous two were by either doctor or corner stoppage.
The submission specialist is now 3-0 since returning to the UFC last August following a seven-fight stint competing in other promotions. Leites (23-4) dedicated the win to his late grandfather and asked for a top-10 opponent in his next outing. The loss dropped Smith to 11-5 and it was the fourth loss in his last six bouts.
In heavyweight action, Jared Rosholt picked up a unanimous decision win over Daniel Omielanczuk to improve to 2-0 in the UFC and 10-1 as a pro. Omielanczuk had a 12-fight winning streak snapped.
Jim Alers defeated Alan Omer in a fan friendly featherweight bout as both men made their UFC debuts. Alers proceeded to call out rising star Conor McGregor following the win. Alers and McGregor were scheduled to fight one another in Cage Warriors but the bout never came to fruition.
In the opening bout of the night, bantamweights Johnny Bedford and Rani Yahya fought to a no contest after an unintentional clash of heads resulted in Yahya being unable to continue. Bedford believed he won the fight and was shocked when the bout was called a no contest. The two confronted one another in the cage following the fight and both men called for a rematch as soon as possible.
