UFC Phoenix prelims results and highlights: Barao KO’d again

Check out the results and highlights from UFC Phoenix prelims, including Aljamain Sterling winning a decision over Jimmie Rivera.

The preliminary portion of tonight’s UFC Phoenix card just wrapped up with top-10 bantamweights Jimmie Rivera and Aljamain Sterling, mixing it up. The #7 ranked Sterling landed the better of the strikes throughout the fight to pick up the unanimous decision over the #5 ranked Rivera. Aljo has now won three-straight and continues to prove himself as one of the best at 135-pounds. Before that, Manny Bermudez snagged up a slick first-round submission of Benito Lopez, just over three-minutes into the fight. The 14-0 sub-specialist is 3-0 in the UFC and has owns eleven submissions on his resume. Lopez took his first professional ‘L.’

The UFC’s #14 ranked women’s flyweight Andrea Lee showcased solid takedown defense tonight. This enabled her to rack up plenty of striking volume on her way to a unanimous decision win over the #12 ranked Ashlee Evans-Smith. Before that, longtime UFC veteran Nik Lentz picked up a grinding decision over the surging Scott Holtzman. Lentz has been with the UFC promotion for nearly a decade now, sporting a company record of 14-6-1-1. For Holtzman, this breaks up a three-fight winning streak.

Luke Sanders found himself back in the win column with a second round stoppage of former bantamweight champ Renan Barao. Sanders dropped Barao with heavy left, and then pounded him with ground strikes until the referee stepped in. Sadly, Barao has now lost four-straight, and six of his last seven. The night started with Emily Whitmire achieving a quick first-round submission over Aleksandra Albu in just 61 seconds. Whitmire now sits at 4-2 over and 2-0 within the UFC.

ESPN prelims:

Aljamain Sterling def. Jimmie Rivera by unanimous decision (30-27 x3): Bantamweight

Aljo came out and clinched Rivera up against the cage, searching for a takedown to begin the fight. Rivera reversed the position and broke away into open space, but Aljo went right back to the takedown attempts from the clinch. Rivera flipped the script and started holding Aljo against the cage, causing the crowd to get a bit restless.

Rivera scored a brief takedown in the opening sequence of the second act, and then Aljo went back to his wall attack. Aljo connected with a hard spinning back fist that dropped Rivera, and then went in for the kill. The strikes were flying for Aljo as Rivera’s back was to the cage. The mouthpiece of Rivera fell out, for the third time in the fight, so the referee paused the action so he could put it back in. Once the action resumed, Rivera was able to grapple for a bit to regain his composure and slow down the fight.

Rivera continued to stuff the takedown of Aljo, but struggled to get inside of the range to land his strikes. Aljo gave up top position to Rivera, but was able to stand back up before absorbing any sort of damage. Rivera went for a last-second guillotine attempt, but there wasn’t enough time left on the clock.

Manny Bermudez def. Benito Lopez by submission (Guillotine) at 3:09 of round 1: Bantamweight

Bermudez walked himself right into the clinch and got himself a takedown to start the fight. Lopez worked his way back to his feet and chipped away with some short shots with Bermudez’s back to the fence. Bermudez jumped a guillotine, and then switched to the high-elbow guillotine, and that was a wrap!

**It should be noted that Bermudez missed weight by four pounds

Andrea Lee def. Ashlee Evans-Smith by unanimous decision (30-27 x3): (W) Flyweight

Evans-Smith was tagging up Lee early and often with her hands to kick off the bout. Lee withstood the early barrage and began firing back with strikes of her own. The longer the round went on, the more Lee started to steal it back. Lee was in and out with a mixture of punches and body kicks. She even grabbed ahold of a body lock as time ticked away, and broke away with a head kick as the bell sounded.

Lee picked up right where she left off in the opening round. She pieced up Evans-Smith with a three-piece and then mixed in her kicks. The volume started racking up and Evans-Smith began to backpedal. Evans-Smith found a moment to blast a takedown, and then fell right into side control with about three-minutes on the clock. Lee scrambled back up, and shrugged off any further attempts to get the fight to the floor. Evans-Smith continued to get her takedown attempts shot down in the third round. Lee did a really sound job of keeping the fight in her world and pouring on some volume. Evans-Smith sort-kind of got a takedown in the closing moments of the fight, but it was frivolous.

Nik Lentz def. Scott Holtzman by unanimous (29-28 x3): Lightweight

Holtzman pressed forward to start the bout, and Lentz was ready to counter. Lentz landed some crafty strikes, before switching gears and pressing Holtzman against the fence. The takedown defense was there for Holtzman, but he struggled to free himself from off of the cage. The right hand of Holtzman began to sting his opponent in the second round. It seemed as if Holtzman found his groove, finding entries for his cross and also moving his head after his combination. Lentz rushed in and shoved his attacker up against the cage again, and scrambled his way into a pretty tight guillotine. Holtzman hung tough, remained calm, and worked his way back to his feet.

Holtzman pressed forward behind his punches in the final round, backing Lentz to the cage. A couple of quality punches landed for Holtzman while he was still able to maintain the distance. Lentz waited for his moment to get a body lock and bring the fight back to the cage. Holtzman came up with some quality elbows while his back was pinned to the fence, and ultimately found his way out

ESPN+ prelims:

Luke Sanders def. Renan Barao by KO at 1:01 of round 2: Bantamweight

Barao got his kicking game early, attacking to the body as Sanders looked to box. Some early swelling started to occur around the eye of Sanders, caused by a heavy right hand from Barao. Sanders got his hands going right away in the second round. He began throwing as Barao would kick, and he was able to drop Barao with a cracking left hand. A couple of savage ground strikes later and the fight was over.

**It should be noted that Renan Barao missed weight by two pounds

Emily Whitmire def. Aleksandra Albu by submission (RNC) at 1:01 of round 1: Strawweight

The strawweights met in the center trading shots for a brief moment, before Whitmire changed levels and scored a takedown. Whitmire quickly transitioned to the back and immediately locked up an RNC. Albu was dead to right and was forced to tap out.