The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday introduced itself to Raleigh, North Carolina, with UFC Fight Night 166—an event headlined by a heavyweight showdown between surging contender Curtis Blaydes and former titleholder Junior dos Santos. While there were a number of noteworthy performances, five stood out.
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5. Brett Johns
The former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship and Titan Fighting Championship titleholder submitted Tony Gravely with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their bantamweight tilt. Gravely conceded defeat 2:53 into Round 3, halting his run of consecutive wins at seven. Johns had the onetime CES MMA champion in trouble throughout the first round, waded through a back-and-forth middle stanza and struck the right chord in the third. He scrambled to Gravely’s back after being taken down, secured position with a body triangle and ultimately flattened out the Dana White’s Contender Series graduate. From there, Johns distracted the Virginian with punches and cinched the fight-ending choke.
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4. Alex Perez
Perez choked Jordan Espinosa unconscious with an arm-triangle in the first round of their featured flyweight showdown. Espinosa bowed out 2:33 into Round 1, as the Luttrell-Yee MMA rep suffered his second straight submission defeat. Perez greeted Espinosa with leg kicks and punches, closed the distance and secured a takedown. The Team Oyama standout then progressed to half guard, framed the arm-triangle without clearing his opponent’s legs and tightened his squeeze until Espinosa lost consciousness.
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3. Angela Hill
The former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder put away Hannah Cifers with elbows and punches in the second round of their women’s strawweight feature. Cifers succumbed to blows 4:26 into Round 2, her modest two-fight winning streak a thing of the past. A short-notice replacement for Brianna Van Buren, Hill exploited her physical and technical advantages in the standup exchanges throughout much of the first round. In the second, the Alliance MMA rep executed an exquisite foot sweep from the double-collar tie, settled in side control and eventually transitioned to mount. Once there, Hill unleashed pure savagery, dropping sharp elbows and punches until referee Kevin MacDonald had seen enough.
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2. Michael Chiesa
The Ultimate Fighter season 15 winner announced his arrival as a welterweight contender, as he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Rafael dos Anjos in the co-headliner. All three cageside judges scored it for Chiesa: 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28. Dos Anjos spun his wheels, and outside of several kicks to the Sikjitsu standout’s lower leg, he did little to leave his mark on the fight. Chiesa was relentless in his pursuit of the clinch, executed well-timed takedowns in all three rounds, applied maximum pressure from top position and avoided a few submission attempts—none of them were close to being completed—from the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Chiesa has pieced together three straight wins since moving to 170 pounds.
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1. Curtis Blaydes
The Elevation Fight Team export brought down Junior dos Santos with punches in the second round of their main event. His best days clearly behind him, dos Santos bit the dust 66 seconds into Round 2. Blaydes whiffed on all six of his takedown attempts and instead turned to his ancillary skills. He backed up dos Santos with a number of clean right hands in the first round, then cracked the code in the second. Blaydes countered an errant uppercut from the Brazilian with an overhand right that marked the beginning of the end. The impact wobbled dos Santos and left him defenseless against a burst of follow-up knee strikes and punches that forced referee Dan Miragliotta to act.
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