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The UFC returned to its APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada for another exciting night of fights with UFC Vegas 19.
Tonight's card was headlined by a crucial encounter between the #2 and #4 ranked fighters in the UFC heavyweight division - Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis, respectively. The co-headliner of the event featured an exciting women's bantamweight clash between Ketlen Vieira and Yana Kunitskaya.
Other fights on the UFC Vegas 19 main card included a heavyweight encounter between Tom Aspinall and Andrei Arlovski, a middleweight bout between Phil Hawes and Nassourdine Imavov, a heavyweight clash between Aleksei Oleinik and Chris Daukaus and a featherweight scrap between Charles Rosa and Darrick Minner.
Without further ado, let's check out the results of all the fights on the main card of UFC Vegas 19.
UFC Vegas 19 Main Card results:
Tom Aspinall def. Andrei Arlovski via submission (Round 2 - 1:09)
Tom Aspinall's surge in the heavyweight division continues as the highly-rated prospect picked up an impressive second round submission victory against Andrei Arlovski in the main card opening encounter at UFC Vegas 19.
Aspinall looked dangerous on the feet from the start of the fight and almost got the finish as soon as the second minute of the first round, with devastating strikes. Arlovski managed to survive and mounted some offense of his own towards the end of the round.
In the second round, Aspinall took Arlovski down and managed to take the latter's back, locking in the rear-naked choke and forcing Arlovski to tap at 1:09 of round two.
Phil Hawes def. Nassourdine Imavov via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
Phil Hawes grinded out a majority decision victory against Nassourdine Imavov in their middleweight clash at UFC Vegas 19.
Hawes got the better of his opponent in the opening exchanges, dominating Imamov in the clinch and on the ground. Hawes' constant pressure on the feet forced Imamov to go on the back foot early on in the fight.
Imamov briefly turned the tables in the second when he rocked Hawes but the latter quickly recovered and used his superior grappling skills to get back to a dominating position in the fight. Hawes got rocked again in the third round with vicious knee and elbow strikes.
However, Hawes showed resilience by absorbing the shots thrown at him and forcing the clinch to survive everytime he was in danger. Imamov had to finish the fight to get the win but he failed to do so.
Chris Daukaus def. Aleksei Oleinik via TKO (Round 1 - 1:55)
Rising heavyweight contender Chris Daukaus made quick work of veteran fighter Aleksei Oleinik by picking up a first round TKO win in their main card scrap at UFC Vegas 19.
With the win, Daukaus has now picked up three first-round knockout victories in his first three fights inside the octagon. Daukaus maintained his range and fired shots from a distance, refusing to be taken down by his opponent.
He soon unleashed a barrage of vicious strikes on Oleinik which went completely unanswered. That's when UFC referee Herb Dean thought he had seen enough and stepped in to end the fight at 1:55 in the first round. With another spectacular KO victory under his belt, expect Daukaus to scrap against a top-five fighter soon.
Darrick Minner def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 29-27)
Darrick Minner picked up his second win in the featherweight division against Charles Rosa via unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 19. With a superior grappling game, Minner managed to control the proceedings for most of the fight, dominating Rosa on the mat.
Rosa failed to get any kind of offense going in the fight and looked out of sorts for most parts against Minner, who came out with a specific gameplan and executed it brilliantly.
Although he tried to set up an arm triangle submission twice in the fight but failed to do so, Minner managed to land four out of the five takedown attempts he made. He also scored a knockdown in the fight, picking up a lopsided unanimous decision win in the end.
Yana Kunitskaya def. Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Russian women's bantamweight, Yana Kunitskaya possibly picked up the biggest win of her career by edging out Ketlen Vieira via unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 19.
Vieira started the fight well and took Kunitskaya down early on but the Russian managed to recover and landed some hard knees to the body from the clinch. In the second round it was the Russian who scored the takedown but failed to make the positional advantage count.
Towards the end of the round, Kunitskaya got taken down but recovered brilliantly to reverse position and then landed some good shots on her opponent both on the ground and on the feet when the pair rose.
Vieira dominated the closely contested fight on the ground in the third round but what likely took the fight away from her was the final flourish from Kunitskaya. The Russian unleashed a flurry of hard strikes towards the end of the fight, finishing impressively to get her hand raised via decision.
Derrick Lewis def. Curtis Blaydes via KO (Round 2 - 1:26)
Derrick Lewis showed that he performs his best when faced with adversity during his main event clash against Curtis Blaydes at UFC Vegas 19. With the kiss of death in his hands, you can never count Lewis out in a fight and that's exactly what he proved by picking up a second round KO against Blaydes.
Lewis was being lit up by Blaydes' movement and vicious striking in the first round of the fight. Towards the end of the round , "The Black Beast" was clearly hurting and covered up to avoid further damage.
Blaydes looked like he was well on course to dominate the second round as well. He shot for a takedown but Lewis managed to avoid it and a single right hand shot from the clinch by Lewis was all it took to put Blaydes to sleep. It is scary, the power that Lewis has to end fights with just one strike.
With this win, Derrick Lewis has tied Vitor Belfort for most knockouts in UFC history and is set to fight for the UFC heavyweight title next, against the winner of Stipe Miocic vs Francis Ngannou.
