UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington prelims live results, discussion, PBP
Live, blow-by-blow updates for today’s UFC 224 preliminart card from Rio, which is highlighted by a middleweight bout.
Join us today on Bloody Elbow for live results, discussion, round scoring, and play-by-play as UFC 224 goes down in Rio de Janeiro.
The main event will see UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes defend her title on home soil for the first time when she faces off with Raquel Pennington. The co-main is an important middleweight contender fight between Ronaldo Souza and Kelvin Gastelum.
Also featured on the main card is a matchup between Amanda Cooper and vaunted prospect Mackenzie Dern, who missed weight by seven pounds for the bout.
The featured bout of the prelims will see Cezar Ferreira facing off with Karl Roberson.
This post will cover the preliminary card. The show will kick off with four bouts that will air on UFC Fight Pass. That begins at approximately 6pm ET/3pm PT. Then it moves over to FS1 for four fights starting at 8pm ET/5pm PT. The main card will be covered in a separate post.
Check out this week’s MMA Vivisection for predictions, analysis and betting odds on the each matchup.
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Sean Strickland
Round 1 -
Warlley Alves vs. Sultan Aliev
Round 1 - Slow start. Alves with a strong right and a body kick. He throws two head kicks but neither fully connect. Aliev clinches up. Alves reverses and lands a bunch of knees. They spend an extended period of the time against the fence. Alves with an elbow over the top. Another. They finally separate with 1:20 to go. Aliev with a left hook. Alves with a big right that knocked Aliev off balance. He fires back though. Outside leg kick from Alves. Aliev clinches. Aliev throws Alves down right at the horn. 10-9 Alves.
Round 2 - Slow start again. Alves jumps in with a flying...something attempt and they clinch a minute in. Once again they engage against the cage for a long while. Alves is landing a few strikes here and there. Aliev isn’t doing much to try to escape. His eye is also swollen. Aliev finally reverses position. The ref quickly separates them then though, with 1:15 to go. Body kick from Alves. Aliev with a baby jab. Aliev ducks under a big Alves right hook. Alves with a knee to the body. 10-9 Alves.
Aliev’s eye is ridiculously bad. He can’t see out of it, and the fight is waved off.
Warlley Alves defeated Sultan Aliev via TKO (doctor stoppage), 5:00 of round 2
Thales Leites vs. Jack Hermansson
Round 1 - Hermansson with two quick body kicks. Another. Leites with one. Stiff jab from Hermansson. Leites scoops a single but can’t get a takedown. He perseveres though, getting around to the back and dragging Hermansson down. Hermansson got up though, and hip tossed Leites to the mat. Leites is up quick. Leites looks for another takedown but is thrown down instead by his opponent. Back up. They clinch for a bit, and Leites ends up on his back again. He looks for an omoplata but can’t secure it. 10-9 Hermansson.
Round 2 - Leites with an immediate double leg takedown. Hermansson is wincing in pain. He clearly hurt something on the takedown. Leites went straight to mount. Leites looking to set up an arm triangle. Hermansson holds on. Leites letes go and works from side control. He’s mostly just maintaining position, not really doing anything. Back to mount. 10-8 Leites.
Round 3 - Hermansson charges out with a flying knee attempt. Leites takes him down, but Hermansson looks for a guillotine. He’s squeezing hard but doesn’t have control of Leites’ body. Leites scoots away and gets a front headlock. He then looks for an anaconda choke. He switches to a guillotine but lets it go. Hermansson is on top. Hermansson gets to mount, and opens up with big punches! Leites is in big trouble and it’s over! Wow, Hermansson looked like he was badly injured and still won. Tough guy.
Jack Hermansson defeated Thales Leites via TKO (strikes), 2:10 of round 3
Alberto Mina vs. Ramazan Emeev
Round 1 - Emeev cracks Mina with a lead right. He lands an outside leg kick. Then a body kick. Mina lands his own body kick and tries for an awkward takedown attempt that goes nowhere. Mina with a left, Emeev lands the counter. Emeev with a brief takedown. Mina looks for a kimura but gets slammed to the mat. Mina back up. He lands a left on the break. He scores with a jab. Body kick from Mina. Mina catches a kick and dumps Emeev on his back. He looks for a knee bar but can’t get anything. Emeev ends up on top. Mina looks for a leg lock again. 10-9 Emeev.
Round 2 - Mina with a leg kick. Emeev ties him up and takes his back standing. Mina can’t break his grip. Emeev looks for a nice foot sweep takedown but Mina stays on his feet. They’re stalling out against the cage and the crowd offers a smattering of boos. They break. Emeev with a straight right. Mina scoops an ankle, then throws a spinning back elbow. Emeev evades and charges forward, taking Mina to the mat. Emeev in full guard, not doing much. Mina rolls over to attack a leg but eats five rights to the grill for his efforts. 10-9 Emeev.
Round 3 - Slow pace. Emeev lands a right hook. Body kick from Mina. Mina with a right over the top. Emeev ties him up against the fence. They break after a while, with nothing really happening. Mina with a body kick. He misses with a right. Emeev scores with the lead right and a jab. Mina with a leg kick. He looked for rolling thunder but Emeev just cracked him with a right. Another as Mina presses forward. 10-9 and 30-27 Emeev.
Ramazan Emeev defeated Alberto Mina via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Markus Perez vs. James Bochnovic
Round 1 - They clinch up quickly and stall out against the fence. Perez gets a body lock and slams Bochnovic to the floor. He works from half guard with some punches. Bochnovic with an up elbow. He gets full guard back. Perez scrambles to the back and sinks hooks. Perez goes for the choke but can’t secure it with a minute to go. He goes for it again, and Bochnovic isn’t able to peel his arms off. He taps out.
Markus Perez defeated James Bochnovic via submission (rear naked choke), 4:28 of round 1
Preliminary Card (8pm ET)
Cezar Ferreira vs. Karl Roberson
Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Junior Albini
Preliminary Card (6pm ET)