JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Glover Teixeira dominated Anthony Smith and eventually stopped him with punches early within the fifth spherical Wednesday evening, incomes an upset victory to cap the UFC’s second present since returning to motion amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Heavyweight veteran Ben Rothwell grabbed an entertaining split-decision victory over Ovince Saint Preux, and Drew Dober stopped fellow light-weight contender Alexander Hernandez with a second-round barrage of punches throughout the second of three UFC playing cards over eight days at a fan-free VyStar Veterans Memorial Enviornment.
The promotion returned to motion final Saturday with UFC 249 after an eight-week hiatus. The UFC established intensive protocols for well being and security in its return, and veteran fighter Jacare Souza was pulled off final weekend’s present after he examined constructive for COVID-19 together with two cornermen.
The second present went off and not using a constructive COVID-19 take a look at, and extra masks had been seen on UFC personnel inside and out of doors the cage Wednesday. Middleweight Karl Roberson’s bout with Marvin Vettori was scrapped when Roberson was hospitalized in a single day after he fell unwell, however the sickness was associated to his weight lower and never coronavirus, in accordance with the UFC.
The UFC’s third present in Jacksonville is Saturday evening on ESPN Plus, headlined by veteran heavyweights Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris.
The UFC hopes to start holding battle playing cards again residence in Las Vegas later this month, however is ready for clearance from the Nevada Athletic Fee.
The 40-year-old Teixeira (31-7) was shockingly dominant in his fourth consecutive victory. He took management with strikes within the second spherical, and nearly completed Smith a number of instances whereas dominating the following two rounds.
Teixeira lastly ended it 1:04 into the ultimate spherical, incomes his first stoppage by punches since 2017.
“It’s not how laborious you hit,” Teixeira mentioned. “It’s how laborious you get hit and preserve coming ahead. … The man hits like a truck, however I moved my head quite a bit. I educated so laborious.”
Smith (33-15) was within the cage for the primary time since he needed to battle an intruder in his household residence in Nebraska final month. He misplaced an in depth battle to Jon Jones for the sunshine heavyweight title final yr, and Teixeira was superior after the opening minutes.
Smith seemed to be battered past restore by the tip of the third spherical, however his nook declined to cease the battle after the third or fourth rounds. His nook didn’t cease the battle even when Smith informed them: “My enamel are falling out.”
The 38-year-old Rothwell (38-12) punctuated his 50th skilled bout with a back-and-forth assembly with Saint Preux (24-14), a former gentle heavyweight title contender who moved as much as heavyweight after dropping three of his previous 5 fights. Rothwell improved to 2-2 since getting back from a two-year doping suspension.
Dober (23-9) is a coaching teammate of Justin Gaethje, who received the UFC interim light-weight title with an electrifying stoppage of Tony Ferguson in UFC 249.
Dober lived as much as Gaethje’s commonplace with an thrilling efficiency capped by a collection of dynamic strikes to pressure a stoppage of Hernandez (11-3).
“Coming from a muay thai background, I had bother preventing guys who continuously moved,” Dober mentioned. “I wasn’t attempting to hit laborious. I used to be simply attempting to hit usually. The extra instances you contact a man on his chin, the extra probably he’s going to fall over.”
Andrei Arlovski, the UFC’s 41-year-old profession chief in heavyweight victories, received a choice over Philipe Lins for his second victory in seven fights.
Earlier, Ricky Simon picked up the most important win of his UFC profession with a split-decision victory over veteran Ray Borg. The flyweights punctuated their full of life battle with loads of good-natured trash speak, which was audible on the tv broadcast from the in any other case quiet area.
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