UFC Seattle prelims: Bahamondes bloodied by Musayev, Gibson wins big

Ignacio Bahamondes was left a bloody mess by Tofiq Musayev in the featured preliminary matchup Saturday night at a UFC Fight Night event in Seattle.

Musayev got away with a blatant headbutt and a separate cage grab in Round 2 after getting dropped by a straight left hand from Bahamondes, which changed the momentum of the lightweight contest.

Between the headbutt and a slew of heavy ground-and-pound strikes, Bahamondes went back to his corner covered in crimson due to a significant cut over his right eye.

Musayev, 36 from Azerbaijan, is a former standout in Japan’s RIZIN promotion who lost his UFC debut last year but managed to get his hand raised on Saturday by unanimous decision after a strong final round.

Chile’s Bahamondes, 28, is now on the first two-fight losing streak of his mixed martial arts career after he was coming off a decision loss to Rafael Fiziev nine months earlier.

Lance Gibson Jr. was born in Seattle, but the 30-year-old fights out of Port Moody, B.C., and the Canadian lightweight was a sizeable underdog against American jiu-jitsu whiz Chase Hooper.

Gibson lost his UFC debut by split decision to 52-fight veteran Bobby “King” Green in December in a matchup he accepted on just a few days’ notice. But on Saturday, he wobbled Hooper early with an elbow from the clinch and Hooper never fully recovered.

The referee came crashing over the two 155-pounders as Gibson connected on several knees from the clinch and Hooper tumbled to the canvas. Gibson is a second-generation UFC fighter and joined his father, Lance Gibson Sr., in recording a victory at the UFC level. They're the only father-son duo in UFC history to both record wins with the promotion.

Gibson followed up his first UFC victory with a passionate post-fight interview.

It took Navajo Stirling four tries to get his first UFC finish, but the undefeated New Zealander gave Brazil’s Bruno Lopes a rough time until he earned a second-round technical knockout victory.

The 28-year-old member of the City Kickboxing team improved to 9-0 in MMA and 4-0 in the UFC. Stirling had won consecutive decisions over Tuco Tokkos, Ivan Erslan and Rodolfo Bellato before UFC Seattle.

Lopes is now 14-3 in MMA overall but 3-3 in his past six outings, with all three losses coming via strikes.

Scotland’s Casey O'Neill, who now fights out of Queensland, Australia, hadn’t fought since the summer of 2024 but returned to action with an emphatic win over Gabriella Fernandes.

O’Neill connected on a counter punch that briefly stunned Fernandes and then pounced on her vulnerable opponent. She followed up with a furious punching combination along the cage until Fernandes’s legs gave out and the referee ended the fight.

Also on the preliminary card, bantamweights Ricky Simon and Adrian Yanez swung to the final horn and ultimately Simon was saved by the bell after being rocked and nearly finished by Yanez in the waning seconds of their three-round contest.

Yanez had lost the opening two rounds 10-9 on all three judges’ scorecards, but his last-second flurry was enough for two of the three judges to score the final round 10-8 in his favour, thus rendering their scores 28-28 and the result a majority draw. The one dissenting judge scored the final round 10-9 for Yanez and the fight 29-28 for Simon. Despite the strong finish to his night, Yanez only has one win in his past five fights dating back to 2022.

Tyrell Fortune was successful in his UFC debut by getting past veteran heavyweight Marcin Tybura by unanimous decision. The UFC’s in-cage announcer, Bruce Buffer, initially read the scorecards in favour of Tybura, whose name was announced as the winner. Fortune left the cage but was asked to return moments later once the mistake was rectified.

Fortune, 35, is a Bellator MMA and PFL veteran who replaced Valter Walker on short notice. Tybura, 40, entered the contest as the No. 9-ranked heavyweight contender, so Fortune will likely be ranked by next week. Tybura has now lost two in a row for the first time since 2019.

The prelims began with Alexia Thainara extending her winning streak to 12 and improving to 4-0 at the UFC level with a unanimous decision over fellow Brazilian Bruna Brasil, who dropped to 3-5 in the organization.