UFC Fight Night 80 Delivers a Showcase of KOs and Submissions

At UFC Fight Night 80 in Las Vegas, which aired exclusively on Fight Pass, we saw exciting finishes in nine of the 12 fights, including a rear-naked choke on the favored Paige VanZant by underdog—but higher-ranked—Rose Namajunas. In additio…

At UFC Fight Night 80 in Las Vegas, which aired exclusively on Fight Pass, we saw exciting finishes in nine of the 12 fights, including a rear-naked choke on the favored Paige VanZant by underdog—but higher-ranked—Rose Namajunas. In addition to two decisions, the bout between Antonio Carlos Junior and Kevin Casey ended in a no-contest due to an accidental eye-poke just 11 seconds into the first round.

Here’s a recap of the finishes.

 

Rose Namajunas chokes Paige VanZant—Performance of the Night for Namajunas

After four rounds of total domination by Namajunas–which featured multiple submission attempts, including armbars and chokes—VanZant was finally unable to defend a modified version of the rear-naked choke called the short choke. Rather than the choking arm sunk in deep, only the forearm crosses the neck, and it’s finished with a gable grip.

Unlike the traditional rear-naked choke, the short choke is trachea-crushing and doesn’t offer as much time to defend. VanZant tapped at 2:25 in the fifth round.

Namajunas got multiple takedowns, seemingly effortlessly, as VanZant focused her energy on trying to survive. While VanZant was outclassed in every aspect, her defense was strong. She got out of several submission attempts that appeared to signify the end, like this hitchhiker escape from an armbar.

 

Michael Chiesa chokes Jim Miller—Fight of the Night

The first round was full of high-level grappling, with Chiesa largely in the dominant position, although he got his back taken with about two minutes remaining in the round and stayed there until the bell. Chiesa was visibly frustrated between rounds, pacing in his corner and uninterested in sitting down.

Following a brief exchange on the feet in Round 2, Chiesa ended up in Miller’s guard. He thwarted Miller’s rubber-guard attempts with stacking pressure, transitioned to half guard, and almost got caught in a leg lock when he stood. But he defended by rolling and managed to take Miller’s back.

After a flurry of strikes while Miller was in turtle, Chiesa created the space to sink in the rear-naked choke, rolled to his back and got the tap.

 

Sage “Golden Boy” Northcutt guillotines Cody Pfister

In the first round, Pfister took Northcutt down right away and then struggled in his guard while Northcutt worked for position.

After three minutes, the referee stood them up, and Northcutt immediately shot in for a big double-leg takedown, falling into Pfister’s half-guard. Undaunted, Northcutt dropped elbows and shoulders, eventually setting up an arm triangle. When that didn’t work, he dropped some ground-and-pound, but time ran out before he could be stopped.

At the start of Round 2, Pfister stuffed another double leg attempt with a sprawl but lost his balance as he stood up and fell backward. Northcutt briefly took mount, but a scramble allowed him to set up the guillotine from a sprawl. He ended the fight by falling to his back and closing his guard, forcing Pfister to tap at 41 seconds into the second round.

 

Tim Means KOs John Howard—Performance of the Night for Means

Means came out swinging. And kicking. Howard went for a takedown soon into the round, which Means thwarted briefly with some blatant fence-grabbing. Despite that, referee Herb Dean didn’t deduct any points.

It didn’t stay on the ground long, and they exchanged blows until Howard took Means down again three-and-a-half minutes in. Means got back to his feet just to be taken down again but popped right back up, and they continued striking. Means threw a head kick that Howard blocked, and then he threw another that Howard caught and used to propel Means back to the fence.

Round 2 started with a low leg kick from Means. As Howard pursued him, pushing forward, Means landed a left so fast and clean it was easy to miss. Howard teetered for a moment, before his knees bent and he dropped to the mat, sprawled flat on his back. Means landed a vicious-looking hammerfist as Dean stepped in 21 seconds into the round to stop the fight.

 

Sergio Moraes TKOs Omari Akhmedov

After two rounds clearly scored for Akhmedov, Moraes came from out of nowhere in the third with a brutal beatdown of a TKO. In Round 1, Moraes seemed to be rocked by a counter that sent him to the mat, but Akhmedov chose to remain standing rather than swoop in and try to finish.

In Round 2, they stayed standing for most of it. But Moraes managed to get Akhmedov down in the last minute of the fight, working to set up a guillotine, but he ran out of time before he could finish. 

Round 3 started with a wild exchange and Moraes generally staying out of range. They clinched up once, but it didn’t go to the ground.

After a period of relative inactivity, Moraes landed a big right, sending Akhmedov to the cage, where he paused, possibly out on his feet. Moraes swooped in and rained down punches as Akhmedov slid down the fence before crashing to the mat at 2:18.

 

Aljamain Sterling guillotines Johnny Eduardo

Sterling dominated both rounds, besting Nova Uniao’s Muay Thai coach Eduardo in striking and on the ground. Most of Round 1 was spent standing, though the last minute was spent with Sterling on top following a beautiful takedown.

Round 2 stayed on the feet, punctuated by leg kicks and Sterling feinting, for the first three minutes. Then, Sterling took Eduardo down with a single-leg and ended up playing in his guard. Eduardo tried to keep Sterling away, but as soon as he sat up, Sterling sunk in the guillotine and stepped over Eduardo in a crouching mount.

Apparently the tap didn’t come fast enough, as Sterling than began to stand, resulting in a disturbing, impressive guillotine submission at 4:18 of Round 2.

 

Santiago Ponzinibbio TKOs Andreas Stahl

Stahl looked fast and powerful initially, getting a big takedown on Ponzinibbio. But he closed up so much defensively while Ponzinibbio threw punches that he would take several shots in rapid succession, repeatedly, not countering and not trying to seize any openings.

His defense didn’t protect him completely, and he was bleeding from the nose as they entered the final minute of Round 1. When he opened up to exchange with Ponzinibbio, a lightning-fast right sent him straight to the mat at 4:25 of Round 1.

 

Danny Roberts triangles Nathan Coy 

Danny Roberts made his UFC debut in high style, ruining the UFC debut of The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians contestant Nathan Coy.

Following two minutes of exchanges on the feet, Coy caught Roberts’ kick and took him down, landing in Roberts’ guard. In his efforts to pass the guard, Coy ultimately got caught. Despite being backed up against the cage, Roberts put Coy to sleep with a deceptively tight triangle.

When the ref stepped in at 2:46, Coy fell backward, unconscious, on the mat.

 

Kailin Curran chokes Emily Peters-Kagan

Kagan came out aggressive, flustering Curran with an onslaught of punches and driving her into the cage. After back-and-forth takedowns, they ended up on the cage again. Curran spent most of the fight trying to counter Kagan’s constant pressure.

Round 1 was almost all grappling, much of it on the feet, with Kagan controlling and taking Curran down a few times. To Curran’s credit, she did manage to land a good head kick and some combinations when she managed to get enough space from Kagan.

In Round 2, the fighters maintained some distance, exchanging blows for the first three-and-a-half minutes. Kagan got Curran up against the cage and, after a botched takedown attempt, ended up below Curran in turtle. As Kagan got to her feet, Curran sunk in the rear-naked choke, and Kagan tapped at 4:13 of Round 2.

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