UFC St. Louis: Derrick Lewis vs. Rodrigo Nascimento: Full results
UFC St. Louis has just wrapped up. The event took place on May 11 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri and featured 12 fights in seven weight classes. So, let's recap the event and check out the full results.
In the heavyweight main event, knockout artist Derrick Lewis fought Brazil's Rodrigo Nascimento. Lewis, who had lost five of his seven most recent fights, was coming off a unanimous decision defeat against Jailton Almeida.
Meanwhile, Nascimento defeated Don'Tale Mayes in his last fight and was hoping to score the biggest win of his career by taking out a former title challenger in Lewis.
In a classic clash of heavyweights, both men showed respect for each other's power and stayed out of harm's way for the first two rounds. However, a thunderous overhand right from Lewis in Round 3 landed behind Nascimento's ear and sent him wobbling down to the canvas. The referee waved off the contest after a few follow-up strikes.
This was Lewis's 15th knockout win in the UFC as he remains the fighter with the most T/KO wins in the promotion's history.
The co-main event was a clash of welterweight contenders Nursultan Ruziboev and Joaquin Buckley. Uzbekistan's Ruziboev is one of the three UFC fighters from the central Asian country. He had won both of his previous UFC fights via first-round knockouts.
Meanwhile, Buckley has looked impressive since dropping down to welterweight in 2023 and put his three-fight win streak on the line against the towering Uzbek. 'New Mansa' had little trouble getting hold of Ruziboev's legs and taking him down repeatedly.
While Ruziboev responded with clean striking of his own, Buckley was the more aggressive fighter. He seemed to be getting away with more impactful strikes. Buckley took full control of the fight in Round 3 and came dangerously close to finishing Ruziboev via ground-and-pound.
To his credit, Ruziboev showed resilience and survived the vicious attack, even reversing his position to get on top. However, 'New Mansa' thwarted all his attempts to pull off a come-from-behind victory and walked away with a unanimous decision win.
In another fight on the main card, rising light heavyweight contender Carlos Ulberg delivered a devastating finish as he knocked out Alonzo Menifield in 12 seconds with a flurry of punches. Predictably, Menifield charged at the City Kickboxing standout with furious intensity right from the opening bell.
However, Ulberg responded with a precise check hook that sent Menifield staggering into the fence and the follow-up strikes put a decisive end to the fight. This was the third fastest T/KO win in light heavyweight history behind Ryan Jimmo's win over Anthony Perosh (0:07) and James Irvin's win over Houston Alexander (0:08). It extended Ulberg's win streak to six.
The UFC St. Louis main card witnessed some back-and-forth battles that fans seemed to enjoy a lot. Veteran lightweight contender Carlos Diego Ferreira weathered an early storm and made a strong comeback to dominate Mateusz Rebecki en route to a late TKO finish with nine seconds left in Round 3.
This was the Brazilian's second straight win since he returned to competition after suffering three straight losses in 2021. Meanwhile, it snapped Rebecki's 16-fight unbeaten run.
In another closely contested main card bout, Sean Woodson defeated fan-favorite fighter Alex Caceres via unanimous decision. Both featherweights had their moments in the fight but Woodson did enough to convince the judges. That said, social media reactions suggest that many fans believe Caceres was robbed.
UFC St. Louis Results: Massive upset and highlight-reel knockout
In one of the most significant upsets of the year, Waldo Cortes-Acosta handed highly touted heavyweight prospect Robelis Despaigne the first loss of his professional MMA career. Cuba's Despaigne is a former Olympic medalist in taekwondo and has been praised for his lethal striking abilities.
Heading into the fight, the Cuban fighter boasted a perfect 5-0 record with four of those wins coming in less than a minute. He seemed to be on the way to another quick finish and connected with a few good strikes in the early going. However, his takedown defense did not hold up against Cortes-Acosta, who dominated the former Olympic medalist en route to a unanimous decision victory.
The preliminary card headliner saw Chase Hooper defeat Viacheslav Borshchev to extend his win streak to three. Hooper's takedown threat opened up striking opportunities and he handed Borshchev a one-sided beatdown. The 24-year-old also scored the only knockdown of the fight.
Hooper sunk in a D'Arce choke in Round 2 and the referee waved off the fight after a single tapping motion from Borshchev. However, Borshchev and his Team Alpha Male corner furiously protested the outcome.
Elsewhere on the preliminary card, DWCS standout Esteban Ribovics handed Terrance McKinney a devastating knockout loss in less than one minute.
In a sequence that was eerily similar to Kevin Lee's knockout of Gregor Gillespie, Ribovics set up a head kick that knocked McKinney out on impact as he fell to the mat unconscious, back against the cage.
Check out the full event results below:
Main Card
Heavyweight - Derrick Lewis def. Rodrigo Nascimento via T/KO (R3, 0:29)
Welterweight - Joaquin Buckley def. Nursultan Ruziboev via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-27)
Light heavyweight - Carlos Ulberg def. Alonzo Menifield via T/KO (R1, 0:12)
Lightweight - Carlos Diego Ferreira def. Mateusz Rebecki via T/KO (R3, 4:51)
Featherweight - Sean Woodson def. Alex Caceres via unanimous decision (29-28 X 2, 30-27)
Heavyweight - Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Robelis Despaigne via unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Preliminary Card
Lightweight - Chase Hooper def. Viacheslav Borshchev via submission (D'Arce choke) (R2, 3:00)
Lightweight - Esteban Ribovics def. Terrance McKinney via T/KO (R1, 0:37)
Women's strawweight - Tabatha Ricci def. Tecia Pennington via split decision (29-28 X 2, 28-29)
Welterweight - Trey Waters def. Billy Ray Goff via unanimous decision (29-28 X 2, 30-27)
Flyweight - Charles Johnson def. Jake Hadley via unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)
Women's flyweight - Veronica Hardy def. JJ Aldrich via unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)