Author: Dan Hiergesell

Rising welterweight prospect Carlston Harris scored another first-round stoppage earlier tonight (Sat., Sept. 18, 2021) at UFC Vegas 37 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, when ‘Mocambique’ ended Impa Kasanganay with a vicious TKO stoppage.

Kasanganay came out confident as he tried to close the gap and land some punches inside. Harris was game to exchange and seemed to have a little more pop on his shots. Out of nowhere, Harris caught Kasanganay with a counter combination that wobbled Impa. Harris followed up with a flurry of punches and some vicious ground-and-pound to score the stoppage.

Check out the video highlights above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.

Harris, 34, has now won his last five fights all by way of knockout or submission. The talented fighter from Guyana seems to be a great addition to an already-stacked welterweight division, but he’ll have to tighten up his whole game as he fights his way up the proverbial ladder.

For complete UFC Vegas 37 results and coverage click HERE.

Boxing witnessed another circus matchup earlier today (Sat., Sept. 18, 2021) live on pay-per-view (PPV) from Abu Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as former World’s Strongest Man and “The Mountain” from Game of Thrones, Hafthor “Thor” Bjornsson, took on arm wrestling legend Devon Larratt in the main event.

As expected, Bjornsson overwhelmed Larratt from the opening bell. The all-time great arm wrestler only accepted this fight about four weeks ago and has zero combat experience. “Thor” has at least stepped inside of the boxing ring before and it showed. The former World’s Strongest Man hunted Larratt down, landed punches at will, and put the finishing touches on a lopsided main event win with a final hook.

Check out the video highlights above.

For complete ‘Thor vs. Larratt’ results and coverage click HERE.

Hannah Goldy set things off earlier tonight (Sat., Sept. 18, 2021) at UFC Vegas 37 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, when “24K” finished veteran Emily Whitmire via first-round submission (armbar).

Whitmire was in control in the early going after scoring two sweeping takedowns. Goldy was able to keep Whitmire off her back and regained full mount. That’s when Goldy was able to throw up the armbar attempt and start cranking on Whitmire’s arm. Whitmire tried to defend, but she eventually gave up.

Check out the video highlights above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.

Goldy, who came into this matchup riding a two-fight losing streak, now has her first win since 2019. She also nabs her first UFC victory and finish. The 29-year-old prospect is pretty talented so it will be interesting to see if she can use this performance to find some sort of consistency inside of the Octagon.

For complete UFC Vegas 37 results and coverage click HERE.

Rising UFC light heavyweight contender Ryan Spann revealed earlier this week that former NBA star Deron Williams once “whooped” him in training.

Spann, who will meet Anthony Smith in UFC Vegas 37’s main event later tonight (Sat., Sept. 18, 2021) live on ESPN+ in Las Vegas, is one of the very best light heavyweight fighters in the world today. Heck, a victory over “Lionheart” tonight at UFC Vegas 37 may land Spann a fight or two away from a shot at UFC gold.

All of that said, it’s surprising to learn that Williams, a three-time NBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, got the best of Spann in a past training session. The exchange took place a while back, but it goes to show that other elite athletes around the world have some fighting capability as well.

“Deron whooped my ass one day. I’m dead serious. You can call him and ask him,” Spann told TMZ Sports.

“I was training for a fight, and coach was like, ‘Deron, get in,’” Spann explained. “And, I already knew he hooped, and I knew who he was, but I never got to go with him. I think it was my second or my third round with a fresh body, and you put Deron in, I was like, ‘Oh shit, nice, I get a round off.’ Little did I know Deron used to wrestle. And, he was about 230 at the time.

“It wasn’t until Deron was on top of me and me struggling to get up, and coach gonna look at me and say ‘I’ve been working with him for the last couple of years. You thought you were gonna get this round off?’ He got me, but the next round I hit him with the right hand and he hasn’t sparred me since.”

Luckily for Spann, he was able to even the score in sparring and save some face opposite Williams. No wonder Williams hasn’t returned to the sparring. Spann is a proven power puncher at the light heavyweight level and probably cracked the former NBA point guard pretty good.

Spann, who is coming off a first-round TKO finish over Misha Cirkunov back in March, will be making his UFC main event debut later tonight against “Lionheart.” If all goes well for Spann, Williams will be able to say he got the best of a top contender in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 37 fight card HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

It all goes down later tonight (Sat., Sept. 18, 2021) at UFC Vegas 37 live on ESPN+ from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a main event clash between light heavyweight contenders Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann.

In addition to the 205-pound headliner, fellow light heavyweight hopefuls Ion Cutelaba and Devin Clark will square off in co-main event action, lightweight sensation Arman Tsarukyan will make his return to the cage, top-flight finisher Joaquin Buckley will be back in action, and a slew of young fighters will test their luck on the “Prelims” undercard.

Take a look below at UFC Vegas 37’s complete fight card line up and start times:

Main Card (ESPN+)
7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT

Anthony Smith vs. Ryan Spann
Ion Cu?elaba vs. Devin Clark
Ariane Lipski vs. Mandy Bohm
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Christos Giagos
Nate Maness vs. Tony Gravely
Joaquin Buckley vs. Antonio Arroyo

‘Prelims’ Undercard (ESPN+)
4:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. PT

Mike Rodríguez vs. Tafon Nchukwi
Pannie Kianzad vs. Raquel Pennington
Zhu Rong vs. Brandon Jenkins
Montel Jackson vs. JP Buys
Erin Blanchfield vs. Sarah Alpar
Impa Kasanganay vs. Carlston Harris
Gustavo Lopez vs. Heili Alateng
Emily Whitmire vs. Hannah Goldy

Here are all the ways to catch the action:

Online

• UFC Vegas 37: ‘Smith vs. Spann’ entire fight card can be viewed via the ESPN+ streaming app.
• Subscriptions cost $5.99 per month.

Television

• UFC Vegas 37: ‘Smith vs. Spann’ entire fight card can also be streamed via Xbox One, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, and ChromeCast.

Tablet/Mobile

• UFC Vegas 37: ‘Smith vs. Spann’ entire fight card can be viewed via ESPN+ streaming app through Google Play and iTunes stores.

Bars

• Check out a list of sports bars and pubs near you that will most likely be showing tonight’s fights CLICK HERE.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 37 fight card HERE, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

Deja vu all over again?

The UFC chopping block is like a revolving door these days, especially for fighters coming off a few distinct losses.

We are not even one month removed from seeing the promotion release the likes of Yancy Medeiros and Ryan Benoit, but UFC is back to its cutting ways. This time around, Roosevelt Roberts, Anderson dos Santos, Drako Rodriguez and Jamey Simmons were given their walking papers. This is according to a recent report by MMA Fighting.

Roberts, 27, is the most recognizable name out of the group. The talented submission specialist was expected to be a significant addition to the lightweight division after coming over from Dana White’s Contender Series back in 2015. After posting a 4-1 record in his first five trips to the Octagon Roberts hit a bit of a roadblock. He was quickly submitted by Jim Miller, struggled against last-second replacement Kevin Croom, and most recently finished by Ignacio Bahamondes with one of the best knockouts of 2021.

The other notable fighter out of this group is Rodriguez. At just 25 years of age “The Great Drakolini” carried a lot of hype with him coming out of Dana White’s Contender Series earlier this year. Unfortunately, back-to-back losses to Aiemann Zahabi and Vince Morales has pushed the young bantamweight out of the promotion (for now). Rodriguez is still young enough and skilled enough to win a few fights outside of UFC and return somewhere down the line.

What do you think of these most recent UFC cuts — is there one fighter who deserved to stay?