Cody "No Love" Garbrandt (9-0) lived up to his nickname on Sunday night in Las Vegas. He won the much anticipated battle of undefeated 24-year-olds in the main event of UFC Fight Night 88.
Garbrandt stopped Thomas Almeida (21-1) at the 2:53 mark of the first round. With speed, a relentless attack and powerful right hands, Garbrandt proved to be the better of the two young superstars. Almeida couldn't get adjusted to Garbrandt's explosiveness and it turned out to be a short night for the Brazilian.
The victory earned Garbrandt one of the Performance of the Night bonuses, and it was well deserved. He tore through an opponent who was not only undefeated, but who had been tabbed as a potential future champion in the 135-pound division.
Even more impressive was the fact that he did it in the first round.
Here's a look at all of the results from Vegas. The other fight night bonuses are marked below.
Results
UFC Fight Pass Prelims
- Adam Milstead def. Chris De La Rocha - second-round TKO
- Bryan Carraway def. Aljamain Sterling - split decision (29-28x2, 28-29)
UFC
- Erick Koch def. Shane Campbell - second-round submission (rear-naked choke)
- *Jake Collier def. Alberto Uda - second-round TKO (Performance of the Night bonus)
- Abel Trujillo def. Jordan Rinaldi - unanimous decision (29-28x3)
- Sara McMann def. Jessica Eye - unanimous decision (30-27x3)
UFC Fox Sports 1 Main Card
- Paul Felder def. Joshua Burkman - unanimous decision (29-28x3)
- Lorenz Larkin def. Jorge Masvidal - split decision (29-28x2, 28-29)
- Chris Camozzi def. Vitor Miranda - unanimous decision (30-27x3)
- Rick Story def. Tarec Safffiedine - unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28x2)
- *Jeremy Stephens def. *Renan Barao - unanimous decision (29-28x3) (Fight of the Night bonus)
- *Cody Garbrandt def. Thomas Almeida - first-round TKO (Performance of the Night bonus)
You can watch a video recap of the entire event in the video below:
Collier's Spin Game is Proper
After seemingly having his nose broken in the first round from a knee in the clinch, Jake Collier rebounded in the second to score one of the night's most impressive victories.
In the second round, Collier opened up his attack. He began to launch a more diverse set of strikes at Uda and the results were smashing for Collier. The money strike for the 27-year-old Missourian was a spinning back kick. He threw two of them, but the second one dug into Uda's ribs and folded him up like a deck of cards.
The kick spelled the end of the bout, and it also led to the fight night bonus for Collier. On a night with very few finishes, Collier's comeback win was noteworthy. Eric Koch's submission victory was more dominating and Adam Milstead's KO victory was far bloodier, but there's only two bonuses to go around.
Collier has as good of a case for the second one after Garbrandt as any of the other two fighters who won by stoppage.
Barao and Stephens' Bonus-Winning Battle
Jeremy "Lil Heathen" Stephens made sure Renan Barao's featherweight debut was an unhappy one. After Barao clearly controlled the first round, Stephens came through with some devastating power shots that left the former bantamweight champion rocked.
While he didn't secure a knockdown, Stephens' striking was more than enough to even the fight after two rounds. The final round was close. Both men did solid work in the stand-up exchanges. Per UFC.com, Stephens narrowly out struck Barao 20-17 in significant strikes.
However, Barao landed a takedown in the final round.
The judges weren't as impressed with Barao's takedown and all three scored the fight 29-28 in Stephens' favor. This was far from a classic bout, but it was among the best of the night. Paul Felder and Joshua Burkman put on an equally good show in their fight.
Stephens and Barao taking Fight of the Night over them was a product of co-main-event bias.
What's
Luke Rockhold will defend his UFC middleweight title against veteran Michael Bisping in the main event of UFC 199 in Los Angeles on June 4. In the co-main event UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will defend his belt against bitter rival Urijah Faber in the their third fight. They have split the first two meetings.
It should be an interesting evening of fights with two world titles on the line.
