Deiveson Figueiredo won the vacant UFC flyweight championship yesterday, finishing a dominant performance against Joseph Benavidez with a rear naked choke with 12 seconds left in the first round.
Jack Hermansson also stunned Kelvin Gastelum with a first-round submission by heel hook in the penultimate bout of the third UFC show in eight days from Fight Island, the UFC’s base of operations on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
Figueiredo (19-1) became just the third 125-pound champion in UFC history by thoroughly dominating his second victory in five months over Benavidez. The Brazilian veteran knocked down Benavidez three times with punches and barely missed on several choke attempts before finally landing a choke that appeared to render Benavidez unconscious.
Photo: AFP / HO / ZUFFA LLC
“I knew that my time was going to come and this is my time,” Figueiredo said through a translator. “I’m going to continue to defend this belt and I’m going to be an active champion.”
Benavidez (28-7) dropped to a heartbreaking 0-4 in UFC title fights with the first submission defeat of his 14-year pro career.
The 32-year-old Figueiredo is 8-1 since joining the UFC in 2017. He had previous fought only in Brazil.
“I wanted to come here and take this belt home to my city, my state,” said Figueiredo, who grew up near the mouth of the Amazon River. “I’m so proud to get this belt. I said I was going to take it, and here I am.”
Hermansson (21-5), a Swede who trains in Norway, rebounded impressively from a knockout loss in September last year with his fifth win in six bouts overall since 2017.
After a solid opening exchange with Gastelum, Hermansson alertly grabbed Gastelum’s leg out of a ground exchange and violently twisted it to force Gastelum to tap.
“We knew he wanted to engage in the grappling, but then he’s in my game,” Hermansson said. “You’re in my world when we get down there.”
Earlier, flyweight contender Ariane Lipski finished Luana Carolina with a gruesome kneebar in the first round.
Lipski, a Brazilian nicknamed the Violence Queen, earned her second straight victory after unexpectedly losing her first two UFC fights early last year.
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