UFC Hamburg prelims results: Rakic, Bermudez among winners

Check out the results and highlights from the UFC Hamburg prelims, including Aleksandar Rakic dominating Justin Ledet for all three rounds.

The preliminary portion of the UFC Hamburg card just wrapped up with Damir Hadzovic and Nick Hein going the distance in a bit of a bloody battle. Each man landed some clean punches, but Hadzovic did more damage and walked away with the split decision. Bartosz Fabinski put a good old fashioned grinding on Emil Weber Meek, but it did not come without issue. Fabinski was able to to control Meek for the better part of two rounds, but Meek rallied with a blitz of punches that had Fabinski on the ropes. Fabinski was able to hang on and get the fight to the ground to ride out the clock and pick up the unanimous decision. Fabinski’s last fight before this was at UFC FN 78 in November of 2015.

Aleksandar Rakic pitched a shutout from bell to bell against Justin Ledet. Rakic hurt his foe on the feet with both punches and leg kicks, and also completely dominated Ledet on the ground, racking up all sorts of strikes from the top. In his post-fight interview, Rakic requested a top-15 opponent for his next UFC outing. Who will be next?

On the Fight Pass prelims, Manny Bermudez had a stellar performance at UFC Hamburg, dropping Davey Grant and then choking him unconscious, all in under one minute. Bermudez has now achieved triangle subs in both of his UFC appearances. Darko Stosic made good on his UFC debut today by dispatching Jeremy Kimball with ground strikes in the opening round. Stosic has now won nine straight and is someone that the UFC’s light heavyweight division might want to keep an eye on.

Check out the full results below:

FS1 prelims:

Damir Hadzovic def. Nick Hein by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Lightweight

Hadzovic made the most of his reach advantage in the opening round, making Hein wear it on his face. Hein was right there though, throwing combinations of his own, but seemed to have trouble getting close enough to connect. Hadzovic continued to land in the second round, peppering with his jab and then blasting his right. Hein continue to throw his punching combo, and although Hadzovic seemed to be able to block the brunt of most of them at first, Hein started to find his range. Hadzovic went after Hein with a stinging sequence to start the final round, but didn’t build upon it, allowing Hein to return. Hadzovic ended up hurting Hein and dropping him with some big shots, but Hein somehow recovered and got right into the fight.

Hadzovic put some hands on Hein:

Bartosz Fabinski def. Emil Weber Meek by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Welterweight

Meek came flying at Fabinski with a knee but gave up the takedown because of it. Fabinski got his grind on, pinning his opponent up against the cage, thwarting Meek’s attempts to stand up. Fabinski didn’t really do too much damage damage on the ground, but he did keep the fight there for like the entire round.

Meek gave up the takedown within 20 seconds of the second stanza. Fabinski got right back to work, controlling his opponent and working to improve his position. Meek managed to scramble up to his feet where he landed a few damaging strikes, but it wasn’t long before he gave up another takedown. As soon as Meek returned to his feet, Fabinski slammed him right back down.

Meek managed to shrug off the first takedown attempt from Aleksander Rakic in the final frame, and then started to turn it up with his hands. Fabinski was in all sorts of trouble, eating flush punches and retreating from a surging Meek. Fabinski was able to shove Meek up against the cage, to which the crowd booed, and then found top position for the rest of the fight.

This was by far Meek’s best moment of round 2:

Well, this is one way to start a fight:

Nad Narimani def. Khalid Taha by unanimous decision (30-27 x3): Featherweight

Narimani closed the distance early in the opening round, and smothered Taha up against the cage. Taha had one hand on the mat, but under the new unified rules you’re not considered down like that. Narimani blasted a knee to the head and the crowd erupted in cheers. Taha started to get his strikes going, landing some pretty hard punches, but gave up a takedown in the process and spent the remainder of the round on his back.

Taha took the center of the Octagon in the second round, landing some quality punches to the bloodied nose of Narimani. Taha was caught slipping and gave up another takedown, and spent a whole bunch of time on getting punched and elbowed from his back. Taha did manage to scramble back to his feet, but Narimani was able to stall him out against the cage until the bell sounded. Narimani returned to top position early in the final round, and punched his way to the back of his opponent. Taha had some moments in the scramble here and there, but Narimani continued to win out the grappling exchanges.

This was a really grueling fight:

Aleksandar Rakic def. Justin Ledet by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-24 x2): Light Heavyweight

Rakic came out blasting leg kicks, which prompted Ledet to shoot in. Rakic ended up falling into top position, where he kept Ledet, and landed just enough ground and pound to not get stood up. A flurry of ground strikes landed for Rakic as the round came to a close. Rakic wobbled his foe with a combo to open up the second stanza. Ledet gave up bottom position again, and Rakic returned to his mugging ways. A lot more volume accrued for Rakic than what we saw from him in the opening round, as Ledet was rendered completely defensive from the dominant onslaught.

Rakic rocked Ledet with a punch on a clinch break to start the final frame, and then picked up another takedown to return to top position. Ledet did a much better job of controlling the posture of Rakic than he did in the previous two rounds, but still got rag-dolled for the entire round. What a dominant performance from Rakic!

Dropping someone on the break is some pretty sweet stuff:

How do you deal with an opponent checking your leg kicks? This is one way:

Look at Rakic going H.A.M. at the end of round 1:

Fight Pass prelims:

Manny Bermudez def. Davey Grant by technical submission (Triangle) at :59 of round 1: Bantamweight

Bermudez dropped Grant within the first 30 seconds of the fight. Bermudez followed his foe to the floor and locked up a mounted triangle, and after a couple of adjustments, Grant went to sleep. Whoa!

Was this a flawless victory?

Darko Stosic def. Jeremy Kimball by TKO at 3:13 of round 1: Light Heavyweight

Kimball came out throwing volume at Stosic, trying to get the Serbian to open up. Stosic found top position after Kimball botched a takedown attempt, and then it didn’t take very long for Stosic to explode with an angry barrage of ground strikes. Kimball covered up but was unable to improve his position, so the referee had no choice but to stop the fight.

Loot at this savage ground work from Darko Stosic:

Pingyuan Liu def. Damian Stasiak by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Bantamweight

Stasiak looked to close the distance right away, but Pingyuan did a sound job of maintaining separation, at least for a little bit. Stasiak ultimately planted his opponent on his back, and when Pingyuan did stand back up, Stasiak locked up a standing guillotine until the bell sounded.

Pingyuan connected with a mean spinning backfist that wobbled Stasiak to open up the second round. Stasiak went for a reactive takedown, but Pingyuan did a good job of staying on his feet and even threatened with guillotine of his own. The botched guillotine attempt gave Stasiak the top position, and the Polish athlete was able to finish up the round in the dominant position. Stasiak struggled to get the fight to the ground in the final frame, so he engaged in a low paced kickboxing bout with Pingyuan.

Check out this spinning backfist from Pingyuan: