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To say that UFC Fight Night: Lemos vs. Andrade was being largely overlooked would be an understatement. Thankfully, the event ended up delivering plenty of action.
This UFC Fight Night featured a total of 11 bouts, and of those 11, only three ended up going the distance, meaning we were treated to plenty of explosive finishes.
With a total of three knockouts, four submissions and even one disqualification, this event basically had something for everyone.
With that in mind, here are the five most explosive moments from UFC Fight Night: Lemos vs. Andrade.
#5. Jessica Andrade pulls off the first standing arm triangle choke in UFC history
The ending to last night’s headline bout between UFC strawweight contenders Jessica Andrade and Amanda Lemos was arguably based more around sheer brute force than explosiveness, but it was highly memorable nonetheless.
The bout was just over three minutes old when Andrade – who appeared to be struggling slightly with the striking skills of her fellow Brazilian – forced her way into the clinch. She then immediately looked to lock up a standing arm triangle choke.
Nobody really expected the hold to work. After all, while plenty of UFC fighters have pulled off wins with the ground version of the arm triangle choke, the standing version had never been used to submit a fighter in the octagon before. This is simply due to the amount of power required to make it work.
‘Bate Estaca’, though, proved that she’s got the kind of freakish power a fighter needs to pull off such a hold. After squeezing the life out of Lemos, her opponent was forced to submit, handing Andrade her 15th UFC win and a $50k bonus in the process.
Whether Andrade can climb back up the ladder to another shot at the UFC strawweight crown she lost back in 2019 is anyone’s guess, but if that’s her aim, then this – her first fight at 115lbs since the summer of 2020 – was a fine way to start.
#4. Claudio Puelles proves submissions can be explosive with his kneebar of Clay Guida
In the eyes of most UFC fans, submissions never tend to be quite as explosive as knockouts, simply because they rely more on technique and patience than sheer violence to pull off. Last night, though, Claudio Puelles bucked that trend.
Faced with longtime lightweight veteran Clay Guida, ‘The Prince of Peru’ clearly had a gameplan – to allow the fight to hit the mat and then catch ‘The Carpenter’ with a submission hold from his back to finish him off.
Sure enough, Guida took the bait by chasing Puelles down in the early going of the fight, and literally as soon as the bout hit the mat, the Peruvian went to work. ‘The Carpenter’ was first forced to fend off an oma plata, then a triangle choke, and finally a tight-looking armbar.
To his credit, Guida was able to defend excellently, and when he freed himself from a second oma plata and found himself in top position, he clearly felt safe enough to begin to land some decent ground-and-pound shots of his own.
Unfortunately for the veteran, he left himself a little too open, and in one explosive motion, Puelles somehow rolled his way into a tight kneebar, forcing Guida to tap out in pain a split second later.
This was a remarkably slick submission win, made even more special by the fact that it was Puelles’ third kneebar win in the UFC. It also made him $50k richer. He’s clearly a man to watch at 155lbs.
#3. Qileng Aori takes out Cameron Else to pick up his first UFC win
If there was an award for the worst refereeing call of the night at last night’s event, it almost certainly would’ve gone to Keith Peterson. The UFC veteran managed to stop the bantamweight bout between Qileng Aori and Cameron Else painfully late, resulting in poor Else taking far too many shots than were necessary.
In many ways, Peterson’s horror show took away from what was an excellent performance from ‘The Mongolian Murderer’, who picked up his first-ever victory in the UFC. From the off, he was onto Else with his heavy striking, and it didn’t take him long to hurt the UK-based fighter.
A nasty body shot initially hurt Else, and when he tried to fire back, Aori landed at the same spot and folded him, sending him tumbling to the ground.
From there, ‘The Mongolian Murderer’ pounced and began to bomb away on the same spot as Peterson hovered without stepping in, despite Else essentially offering no intelligent defense whatsoever.
Incredibly, the bout continued for what felt like an eternity, with Aori hammering Else from back control, while all the Brit could do was cover the sides of his head. Finally, Peterson mercifully stepped in, stopping things at just before the three-minute mark.
While the poor refereeing job definitely took away from this finish somewhat, there’s no denying that it was explosive. On many other cards, it probably would’ve netted ‘The Mongolian Murderer’ a $50k bonus.
#2. Tyson Pedro returns to the UFC with a bang
Just a couple of years ago, there were few hotter prospects in the UFC’s light-heavyweight division than Tyson Pedro. The young Australian burst onto the scene with three excellent wins in his first four octagon appearances, but after suffering a pair of losses in 2018, he was sidelined with a serious knee injury.
Last night marked Pedro’s big comeback fight, and it’s safe to say that he wasted no time in getting back to his best. The Aussie appeared to be in phenomenal shape and needed just a round to destroy opponent Ike Villanueva, finishing him via TKO with just seconds remaining in the stanza.
Pedro always looked a step ahead of ‘Hurricane Ike’ despite being tagged with some decent punches, and while a pair of inadvertent low blows perhaps slowed Villanueva down, it was the Aussie’s vicious leg kicks that eventually finished him.
The first kick that landed clearly hurt Villanueva, and rather than rush in, Pedro played it smart, landing another before dropping ‘Hurricane Ike’ with a third. From there, it would’ve been easy for the Aussie to let his foe stand. Instead, he nailed him with a series of violent punches that knocked him unconscious.
Based on this – as well as the skills he showed prior to his injury layoff – Pedro should instantly move back into contention at 205lbs, and it’s safe to say that nobody will be looking to blink during his next fight. This was a truly explosive finish.
#1. Sergey Khandozhko and Dwight Grant put on a surprising classic
The Fight of the Night award at last night’s event went to the preliminary bout between welterweights Sergey Khandozhko and Dwight Grant, and to say that they deserved it would be a hell of an understatement.
Nobody expected much from this fight at all, but it’s safe to say that ‘Honda’ and ‘The Body Snatcher’ produced a true classic that will probably end up being looked upon as one of the better scraps of 2022.
The two fighters went toe-to-toe from the off, and in the early going at least, it looked like Khandozhko had the advantage. The Russian hadn’t fought since November 2019, but his straight punches were causing Grant a lot of trouble, and it came as no surprise when he dropped his foe with a left hand.
However, Grant hung tough, and later in the round, he surprisingly fired back with a right hand bomb that dropped ‘Honda’ to his knees, hurting him badly. Somehow, Khandozhko staggered to his feet, and incredibly, the bout ended up moving into the second round.
Neither man was willing to give an inch in that round either, and they exchanged from the off, with ‘The Body Snatcher’ again dropping his Russian opponent with a perfectly timed right hand.
Again, though, Khandozhko’s chin held up, and with his punches still landing at a better clip than Grant’s, he connected with a heavy combination that finally dropped ‘The Body Snatcher’ for a second time. Grant did get to his feet, but it was clear that he was done, forcing referee Chris Tognoni to justifiably step in.
This was a great win for Khandozhko, especially given his layoff, but neither man came away looking like a loser thanks to such an explosive fight overall. It might’ve been flying under the radar, but this fight was awesome.
