UFC 245 early prelims results & video: Hooper, Soriano impress

Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Check out the results and highlights from the UFC 245 Fight Pass prelims, including 20-year-old Chase Hooper stopping Daniel Teymur in the first round.

UFC 245 is in progress, and the early preliminary card just closed out with 20-year-old, Chase Hooper, stopping UFC veteran, Daniel Teymur, with ground strikes in the first round. Now at 9-0-1, Hooper has yet to taste defeat in his young career. What a way to make a UFC debut. Before that, the promotion’s #5 ranked flyweight, Brandon Moreno, took an exciting decision over the #6 ranked, Kai Kara-France. After his opponent got off to a strong opening five-minutes, Moreno started to push the pace in the later rounds. Moreno is now 1-0-1 since his return to the UFC.

The UFC’s #2 ranked flyweight Jessica Eye took a tight decision win over the #5 ranked Viviane Araujo. Eye used a varied striking attack to get ahead on the scorecards, and now finds herself back in the win column. It should also be noted that Eye missed weight by five pounds. Opening up the event, Punahele Soriano made his promotional debut in spectacular fashion. He let his hands go and knocked out Oskar Piechota in the first round to remain undefeated. Now at 7-0, Hawaii has some new blood in the UFC.

Early prelims:

Chase Hooper def. Daniel Teymur by TKO at 4:34 of round 1: Featherweight

Teymur attacked with a standing anaconda right away. Hooper made his way out and then pulled guard. Teymur stood back to his feet and landed a bomb, prompting his foe to shoot in. Hooper ended up taking the back where he landed quite a number of punches. Teymur fought off a tight RNC attempt, but found himself in a mounted triangle. Hooper pounded away until the referee had seen enough.

Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Flyweight

A feeling pout process was not needed for this one. The fighters stood right in front of one another exchanging strikes. Kara-France was the one that was landing the more significant blows. He wobbled Moreno with a crisp right hand, and was peppering the legs with kicks. Moreno turned up the pace in the second round. He started pressing Kara-France behind his strikes. Whenever Kara-France would attack, Moreno would respond right away with a better combo. Kara-France started to slow down a bit in the final frame. His punches didn’t have as much sting on them as they did in the earlier rounds. Moreno definitely seemed to be the fresher fighter, and started to showboat a bit.

Jessica Eye def. Viviane Araujo by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): (W) Flyweight

The fighters started training right away. Both were scoring, with Araujo seeming to have a little more pop on her punches. Araujo was the one who got the takedown, but Eye got back to her feet without sustains much of any damage. Back on the feet, Eye started to land some heavy blows of her own.

The standup battle continued into the second round. Eye was mixing up her attack, throwing punches and kicks alike. Araujo switched levels and scored herself a takedown, but Eye was again able to stand back up without issue. Eye kept finding success with her varied striking. She was doing a great job of attacking the legs and was also stuffing the takedowns. Araujo seemed to get poked in the eye, but the referee didn’t see it and instructor the athletes to fight on. Araujo was throwing her hands, but not mixing it up in the same way as her counterpart.

** It should be noted that Eye missed weight by five pounds

Punahele Soriano def. Oskar Piechota by KO at 3:17 of round 1: Middleweight

It didn’t take very long for Soriano to land a big bomb that dropped Piechota. Soriano opted to take the back, but ended up letting Piechota get back to his feet. Back o n the feet, it was only a matter of time. Soriano continued to unleash his heat, and ultimately slumped Piechota against the cage.