UFC on ESPN 10 Results - New flyweight title contender emerges, Marvin Vettori gets his revenge, 20-second KO and more
Following last week's UFC 250 which was headlined by Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer, the UFC brought to us another high-octane card headlined by women. UFC Fight Night 172, the second of UFC's closed doors events in Las Vegas was held inside the promotion's Apex facility on Saturday night.
Although people expected this card to be a bit of a dampener compared to last week's UFC 250 or the upcoming UFC 251 due to the lack of popular names, the fights were entertaining and the card an engaging one, full of breakneck finishes as well as nail-biting thrillers.
The scheduled main event saw Cynthia Calvillo make her flyweight debut against former title contender Jessica Eye. Calvillo claimed a lopsided unanimous decision win against Eye and emerged as the new contender for reigning UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko's title.
The co-main event from the night saw a grudge match between middleweights Karl Roberson and Marvin Vettori. Vettori claimed the bragging rights as he destroyed Roberson in the first round, forcing the latter to submit to a nasty rear-naked choke.
Without further ado, let's glance through the highlights of UFC Fight Night 172.
Preliminary card
The UFC Fight Night 172 card prelims had a few noteworthy contests and perfectly set the stage for the main card to follow. Here are the quick results of the prelims of UFC Fight Night 172:
Merab Dvalishvili def. Gustavo Lopez via unanimous decision (30-26 x2, 30-25)
Julia Avila def. Gina Mazany via first-round TKO (0:22)
Tyson Nam def. Zarrukh Adashev via first-round KO (0:32)
Christian Aguilera def. Anthony Ivy via first-round TKO (0:59)
Main card
Cynthia Calvillo def. Jessica Eye via unanimous decision (live blog)
Charles Rosa def. Kevin Aguilar via split decision (28-29, 29-28 x2)
Andre Fili def. Charles Jourdain via split decision (28-29, 29-28 x2)
Jordan Espinosa def. Mark De La Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Mariya Agapova def. Hannah Cifers via sub (RNC) (R1, 2:42)
UFC Fight Night 172 Results - Main Card
#6. Mariya Agapova vs. Hannah Cifers (women's flyweight)
Mariya Agapova has announced her arrival in the UFC in style, finishing off Hannah Cifers in just two minutes and forty-two minutes of the first round via rear-naked choke in the main card opener of UFC Fight Night 172 held inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The main card at UFC Fight Night 172 kicked off with a women's flyweight contest between UFC debutant Mariya Agapova and Hannah Cifers. Agapova headed into the fight with a sturdy 8-1 professional record and her only loss came in season three of Dana White’s Contender Series to Tracy Cortez via unanimous decision.
Both fighters engaged in a slugfest from the get-go as they rushed to the center of the Octagon, trading heavy shots on each other. Agapova used her greater reach to her advantage and landed several good shots from the outside.
Cifers however, remained unfazed amid great adversity and stuck to her initial plan of stand and trade, engaging in a risky fistfight with Agapova. Agapova continued pressing forward and attempted a straight left that Cifers managed to duck but unfortunately for the latter, it put her head in a vulnerable position and Agapova immediately landed a thunderous head kick that rocked Cifers. Agapova then jumped onto Cifers' back and locked in the rear-naked choke, forcing her to submit
Following her impressive debut, Agapova was quick to call out a fellow flyweight who she thinks is ducking her.
“Shana Dobson, stop running away from me. I’ll fight you here.”