UFC results & video: Minner & Jackson score upset subs, Clark TKO’s Alpar twice

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Check out the results and highlights from the UFC Vegas 11 prelims, where we got plenty of spectacular finishes, including a dangerous referee blunder in the Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Sarah Alpar match.

What a night of fights we’ve already had with the UFC Vegas 11 preliminary card, which saw a ton of finishes! We got a head kick knockout, a pair of upset guillotines, someone getting TKO’d twice, and more! The prelims wrapped up with the UFC’s #14 ranked flyweight, David Dvorak, taking a serviceable decision over the #13 ranked, Jordan Espinosa. Enough of that though, let’s get to the finishes.

Promotional returner Damon Jackson executed a cool comeback submission on Mirsad Bektic in the third-round of their featherweight tilt. After Bektic owned the grappling exchanges for most of the fight, Jackson defended a takedown with a guillotine to force the tap. Jackson let out a primal scream after he earned the win as he stared down at his defeated opponent. After a rough first go with the UFC, Jackson spent over four-years marching his way back to the big stage, and re-debuted with a sick comeback! What a story within a story!

Also on the prelims, the women’s flyweight division witnessed Mayra Bueno Silva hit a first-round submission on Mara Borella. It was Borella who scored the takedown, but she was quickly fighting off an armbar attempt to no avail. Both of Silva’s UFC wins have come by way of armbar and both in the opening round.

We got a wonky officiating situation on the undercard that led to an extended and unfortunate beating. It happened when Jessica-Rose Clark landed a knee to the face of Sarah Alpar just before Sarah’s butt touched the canvas. The referee paused the fight thinking the blow was illegal, giving Alpar time to recover. Then, the ref suddenly decided that the knee was legal and restarted the bout from the same position. That’s when the senseless beating continued until the referee decided that he had seen enough and Clark got her twice-deserved TKO. It seems like the referee made a big mistake, and tried to correct it himself but just made things worse. Nonetheless, Clark snaps a two-fight losing skid and pads her highlight reel just a bit.

Picking up the first win of his UFC career, Derrick Minner scored a quick first-round submission on T.J. Laramie on the prelims. Minner pushed the action right away, and jumped on a guillotine to achieve the tap in just 52-seconds. Not bad for a +85 betting underdog. In the bantamweight division, Randy Costa pulled off a sweet first-round head kick knockout on Journey Newson. It took all of about 41-seconds for Costa to set up the devastating blow and end the fight to advance his young record to 6-1. This makes back to back first-round finishes for “The Zohan” who is becoming must-see T.V.

Opening up the event, Tyson Nam stopped Jerome Rivera with strikes in the second round. Nam dropped his adversary with a right hand to get things going, and then finished him off with ground strikes to get the win. This makes back to back finishes for Nam who called out the UFC’s #1 ranked flyweight, Joe Benavidez, in his post-fight interview.

**See complete results below

Prelims:

David Dvorak def. Jordan Espinosa by unanimous decision (30-27 x3): Flyweight

Dvorak showed up with a pocket full of leg kicks to combat Espinosa, but the bout saw a stint of feeling out. Espinosa used his footwork to dance along the outside while Dvorak slowly plodded forward. Whenever they collided, it was Dvorak who was getting the better of the exchanges. Dvorak pressed forward again in the second round, chucking kicks at the calf of his foe. Espinosa tried his best to use his movement to stay away, but the pressure of Dvorak kept finding him. Espinosa struggled to get his own offense going spending so much time on his bike. The final round looked identical to the first-three.

Damon Jackson def. Mirsad Bektic submission (Guillotine) at 1:21 of round 1: Featherweight

Bektic wasted no time in putting his opponent on his back. Jackson rose to his feet just to get taken right back down. Bektic started to drop hammers, but when a few of them landed to the back of the head, the referee paused the bout to warn Mirsad before starting the fight on its feet. Bektic shot right back in for a takedown, but caught in a Kimura fro Jackson who was on the bottom of side control. Bektic escaped the hold and resumed his control and continued to punch away.

Bektic shot in for a takedown to start the second round and Jackson defended by attacking with a guillotine. Jackson held on for a while, but Bektic ultimately escaped and resumed his dominance. Bektic even threatened with a guillotine of his own, but that ended with Jackson taking top position and landing a couple of blows just before the bell.

The grind continued on into the final frame. Bektic closed the distance and worked for his takedown. Jackson defended with another guillotine attempt, but this time he flipped into mount, it was much tighter than his previous attempts, and Bektic was lot more gassed. After a bit of a struggle, Bektic opted to tap. What a comeback!

Mayra Bueno Silva def. Mara Borella by submission (Armbar) at 2:29 of round 1: (W) Flyweight

Borella charged hard for a body lock takedown, right into the guard of Silva. She started to drop some quality ground strikes, but Silva threw up a triangle attempt. Borella tried to keep punching, but Silva switched back to the armbar and got the tap!

Jessica-Rose Clark def. Sarah Alpar by TKO at 4:21 of round 3: (W) Bantamweight

The southpaw vs. orthodox matchup got underway with Clark pressing forward behind her strikes, but most of this round took place on the inside. They clinched up and Alpar worked hard for a takedown, alternating back and forth between a single and double leg. Clark defended well to remain standing, and landed a couple of elbows along the way. She ended up taking top position to rack up a bit of control time before the bell.

Alpar hit a short-lived takedown to start the seocnd round, but Clark was quick to stand up. She was on her feet, but Clark’s back was still to the cage. A strong knee to the midsection of Alpar led to a Clark reversal and ultimately open space. The fight went right back to the clinch, and that’s when Alpar ate a bunch of elbows as she attempted a takedown. Clark started to takeover with top position, dropping all sorts of punishment with knees and punches.

Alpar tried to force the takedown to start the final act, but was again stuffed. With Alpar’s back to the cage, she was on her way to sitting down and ate a knee right to the face, bursting her nose wide open. The referee called a timeout thinking the blow was illegal, but then after some time, he decided the blow was legal and restarted the bout in the same position. WTF?!? The fight resumed and Clark continued to beat on Alpar, landing tons of unnecessary damage until the bell.

Derrick Minner def. T.J. Laramie by submission (Guillotine) at :52 of round 1: Featherweight

Minner went right at Laramie, clinching up and scoring with some dirty boxing. Laramie shot in but quickly found himself fighting off a guillotine. Turns out the choke was pretty deep and Laramie had no way out so he respectfully tapped out.

Randy Costa def. Journey Newson by KO at :41 of round 1: Bantamweight

The bout started with some feeling out, then KABOOM!!! Costa cracked Newson with a perfectly placed kick to the face. Newson hit the floor and Costa came flying in with a couple of academic ground strikes to seal the deal. Wow!

Andre Ewell def. Irwin Rivera by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Bantamweight

The bantamweights got right to work, trading combos back and forth. Ewell was landing with his straight punches while Rivera was mixing in head kicks. Ewell was pressing forward, fighting hard with his boxing combos. Rivera was standing his ground and throwing back, but he was eating some clean shots courtesy of the fast hands of Ewell. The fighters ended up grappling, with Ewell taking the back for a moment, but then Rivera reversing into top position.

Rivera got off to a strong start in the second act. He went right at Ewell, landing punches and kicks alike. The volume of Ewell was a lot more reduced than it was in the first round. That output started to pick up as the round went on. Ewell kept pumping out his jab, two and three at a time before putting a right hand behind it.

The round saw more of the same. Ewell was scoring with his long punches as Rivera sat just on the outside of his own punching range. Rivera started to throw repetitive jabs of his own and they were quite effective, snapping back the head of his opponent. Ewell went back to his jab to quickly regain control of the fight. With ten-seconds left, the fighters brawled it out and Rivera hit a last second takedown.

Tyson Nam def. Jerome Rivera by TKO at :34 of round 2: Flyweight

Nam methodically pressured forward looking to land a big punch to get things going. Rivera hesitantly skirted along the outside, throwing leg kicks and trying to avoid the power of his opponent. This was pretty much the entire first round. Nam dropped his foe with a powerful right hand to get the party started in the second round. Rivera hit the deck and Nam pounced with a barrage of ground strikes that forced the referee to stop the match.