UFC Singapore prelim results: Big finishes from Yan, Matthews and Yadong

Check out the results and highlights from the UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs. Edwards prelims, live from Singapore.

Headlining the prelim card of UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Edwards was the promotional debut of Russian fighter Petr Yan, who took on Teruto Ishihara in the bantamweight division. It didn’t take long for him to prove the hype is real, as he dominated Ishihara on route to a KO victory.

Also on the prelims was an impressive victory for Chinese featherweight prospect Yadong Song, who trains at Team Alpha Male. He dominated Felipe Arantes on his way to an elbow KO. Also scoring finishes tonight were Shane Young (TKO’d Rolando Dy), Kenan Song (TKO’d Hector Aldana) Jake Matthews (RNC’d Shinsho Anzai, and Ulka Sasaki (RNC’d Jenel Lausa).

The remainder of the prelims saw split decisions in close and entertaining match-ups. Those fights saw Matt Schnell defeat Naoki Inoue, Yan Xiaonan edge past Viviane Pereira, and Ji Yeon Kim beat Melinda Fabian.

Check out the full results, and highlights, below:

Petr Yan defeated Teruto Ishihara via KO (punch) 3:28 of round one: Bantamweight

After some probing early on, Ishihara landed a takedown on Yan. But the Russian was up as quickly as he went down. On the feet the Japanese fighter looked spry, bouncing around Yan’s offense. But Yan continued stalking forward, landing a nice one-two combo on Ishihara. Yan kept stalking and eventually an overhand sent Ishihara careening to the ground. Yan swarmed but Ishihara got up, momentarily. Another overhand sent Ishihara down again and that was enough for the referee.

Check out Petr Yan’s debut KO:

Yadong Song defeats Felipe Arantes via KO (elbow), 4:59 or round two: Bantamweight

In the first round Yadong impressed with his speed on the feet, darting in and out and landing swift shots on Arantes, which the Brazilian largely blocked. Yadong’s volume made it hard for Arantes to attack. When Sertanejo did try something, a head kick, he slipped and ended up with Yadong on top of him. The experienced Arantes was able to nullify most of Yadong’s ground and pound, but he didn’t do anything offensive off his back.

Yadong flew out of his corner for round two. This looked as if it enraged Arantes who fired back, before pulling guard. This time Yadong found a lot of success with ground and pound, landing hard punches and crushing elbows. Arantes squirmed to try and get up, but this resulted in Yadong landing heavy knees to his ribs. Arantes looked lackadaisical on the ground as Yadong attempted an arm triangle choke. Arantes eventually showed some life and made it to his feet in the final minute of the round. But all Arantes found standing up was Yadong’s clinch and a thunderous short elbow that knocked him out cold.

Here’s the elbow that ended the contest:

Yadong started the second round with a flourish:

Yadong was the much quicker fighter in this one:

Shane Young defeats Rolando Dy by TKO (elbow and punches), 4:40 of round two: Featherweight

Young went for a takedown early in the first round, but Dy defended well. On the break he made the Maori pay with a hard low kick. In the striking exchanges, both men found their target, with Young landing the cleaner shots with his right hand. Dy landed a nice hook to the body and elbow to the head. But Young then stunned Dy with a right that put him in survival mode; during which Dy caught Young, making him back up and return with a takedown. Dy got up, but was still foggy.

In the second round, Dy caught Young with a hook. Young then shot on a takedown that resulted in a clinch against the fence. They separated and both again landed with punches to the head. As the round wore on, Young landed more power shots and an elbow that opened up a huge cut outside the left eye of Dy. Dy hung in for awhile, though. He slowed considerably, but continued to threaten Young with counters. However, Young eventually landed one power shot too many for Dy, who crumpled after a short elbow strike and some follow up punches.

Here’s the fight ending sequence from Young:

In the first round, both men were swinging:

Song Kenan defeats Hector Aldana by TKO (punches), 4:45 of round two: Welterweight

Aldana crashed forwards with a flurry that bloodied both he and Kenan in the opening seconds. After that, both men became a little more patient. Aldana came forward with another combo, but mostly whiffed. He did land hard leg kicks, one of which spun the Chinese fighter 360 degrees. At the two minute mark Aldana got a takedown, but Kenan got up quickly. The same thing happened a minute later.

Aldana came out for the second round with what looked like a split lower eyelid. Kenan came out throwing hard kicks, one of which smashed into Aldana’s ribs. Aldana was having success with kicks, too — landing a hook kick and reddening the left leg of Kenan. Both men also caught each other with clean punches to the head. However, Kenan eventually cracked Aldana on the temple with a powerful right hand. Aldana fell to his knees and Kenan swarmed with ground strikes, forcing the ref to wave it off.

Kenan scored another TKO victory with his trademark right hook:

Hard leg kick from Aldana:

Jake Matthews defeats Shinsho Anzai via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:44 of round one: Welterweight

Anzai pushed forwards from the get go, eating a knee as he dived in on Matthews for a takedown. Anzai attempted to keep Matthews against the fence, but the Australian was too strong. Matthews was able to get his back off the fence and land a hard knee in the clinch. He then took Anzai down with relative ease. In top position Matthews threw hard punches and elbows, forcing Anzai to roll over and give up his neck. Seconds later, Anzai was sleeping.

Check out Matthews slick finish:

This knee may have rocked Anzai:

Yan Xiaonan defeats Viviane Pereira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27): Strawweight

Xiaonan looked game early one darting in and out with punch and kick attempts from her karate stance, while Pereira looked content to let the Chinese fighter come to her. Both women threw with mean intentions, but neither landed anything clean in the first few minutes. Xiaonan did catch Pereira clean when the Brazilian attempted to advance on her. She also snapped Pereira’s head back with a jab. Pereira caught Xiaonan with a nice counter and the pair ended the round free swinging, with Xiaonan opening a cut on the bridge of Pereira’s nose.

In the second Xiaonan continued to use her speedy strikes to target Pereira’s head with combos and body with kicks. The Brazilian seemed content to wait for counters and she caught Xiaonan with a couple, including a hard right to the ribs and a nice overhand right hook to the head. Those shots looked as if they put a bit of pep in Pereira’s step, who then started coming forwards throwing bombs and landing one or two.

The final round was more of Xiaonan peppering from range with Pereira waiting to get inside and land the more powerful blows. Xiaonan landed a hook kick and kept up a high pace until the final bell. When Bruce Buffer read the final scores it was Pereira’s hand that was raised... even though Buffer said Xiaonan had won the contest. Awkward.

Ref does his best Steve Harvey impression here:

Xiaonan and Pereira threw down in this one:

Matt Schnell defeats Naoki Inoue via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28): Flyweight

The American Schnell capped off his long journey to Asia with a win over the highly-touted Inoue, but it was very close. In the first round it was Schnell getting the better of the exchanges, landing hard lefts on a somewhat uncomfortable looking Inoue.

In the second round Inoue looked much improved. He kept Schnell largely at bay with a stiff jab. Schnell was able to penetrate with a decent two-punch combo at one point. Schnell was also able to constantly threaten with hard leg kicks and teeps.

The third saw more of Inoue utilizing his jab with Schnell taking a more diverse approach to his offense. The third also saw more grappling and wrestling out of the two flyweights. Both attempted takedowns and ended up clinching along the fence. Those exchanges resulted in stalemates so Schnell began re-establishing himself in striking range, with jabs of his own. Both men landed hard combos in the later stages of the round.

In the end two out of three judges awarded Schnell the decision after a thoroughly entertaining contest.

Schnell lands combos and counters in the second round:

Ulka Sasaki defeats Jenel Lausa via submission (rear-naked choke), 4:04 of round two: Flyweight

This one was all Sasaki. From the first bell he was in one Lausa, taking him to the ground and threatening submissions. The Japanese fighter easily passed Lausa’s guard. When Lausa made it back to his feet, he threatened with a guillotine submission and some elbows, but Sasaki was able to get him on the canvas again. Late in the round Sasaki was able to get mount on Lausa and he attempted an unorthodox armbar as the round closed.

In the second round Lausa defended Sasaki’s relentless takedown attempts well, at first. However, Sasaki was eventually able to get the man from the Philippines on the mat. Once there, Sasaki moved to side control, then side mount, then full mount. After a few punches Lausa gave up his back and Sasaki pounced on a fight-ending rear-naked choke.

Take a look at Sasaki’s RNC submission win:

Lausa threw some ‘Travis Browne’ elbows:

Ji Yeon Kim defeats Melinda Fabian via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28): Flyweight

South Korea’s Ji Yeon Kim aka ‘Fire Fist’ opened the show with a narrow victory over the Hungarian Melinda Fabian. The fight was a back and forth mostly striking match-up that saw Kim land the harder shots on the feet.

In the first Kim landed combos with ease, while Fabian responded with single strikes. Kim was able to land a lot of leg kicks, but it was her right hand that snapped Fabian’s head back. Fabian countered well at times and looked the stronger fighter whenever the pair clinched up.

The second round was more of the same with Kim letting loose with punches in bunches and occasionally catching Fabian with a big right. Fabian built on her early success with the clinch and looked to bully Kim against the fence whenever she got the chance. The European was also able to catch Kim with a few nice punches and land a flash take down in the dying seconds of the round.

The third round was Fabian’s strongest of the fight. Though she was bloodied and swollen Fabian was able to exert more dominance in the clinch and land some decent knees. Kim did have her moments in the round, though — she landed more clean counters and another hard right hand. Ultimately, it was Kim’s punches throughout the contest that impressed most of the judges enough to give her the decision.

Here’s one of those hard rights from Kim:

And another, from earlier in the fight: