Stephens ROCKS Choi, then finishes him off!!! @LilHeathenMMA gets the 2nd round finish!! #UFCSTL pic.twitter.com/Ds0Dm34aI6
— UFC (@ufc) January 15, 2018
The UFC’s 2018 has already started with a limp in its step, losing Vitor Belfort’s retirement fight against Uriah Hall after the dangerous, and usually weight-cut drama-free, Hall was unable to weigh-in before their fight. The card also lost Zak Cummings vs. Thiago Alves just two days before the event. It showed.
UFC: St. Louis wasn’t a great card by any means, but it was fun enough and the main and co-main events delivered plenty of drama and hard hits. St. Louis also hosted Matt Hughes, who made his first appearance since his car was struck by a train last June.
Here are the full results.
Main Card
-Jeremy Stephens def. Doo Ho Choi via TKO (round 2). It was the heavy-hitting war we all expected, and Choi went down hard in the second round, elevating Stephens well into the featherweight top ten.
-Jessica-Rose Clark def. Paige VanZant via unanimous decision.
It turns out PVZ broke her arm in the first round, but still battled back. Read about Clark coming back from a dramatic robbery and murder of her cat this week to win big.
-Kamaru Usman def. Emil Weber Meek via unanimous decision
-Darren Elkins def. Michael Johnson via rear-naked choke submission (round 2).
Johnson was piecing up Elkins for the better part of the fight, bloodying the underdog until a takedown led to a slick rear-naked choke for another dramatic win for Elkins.
Fox Sports 1 Prelims
-James Krause def. Alex White via unanimous decision
-Marco Polo Reyes def. Matt Frevola via KO (round 1)
-Irene Aldana def. Talita Bernardo via unanimous decision
-Kyung Ho Kang def. Guido Cannetti via triangle choke submission (round 1)
Fight Pass
-Jessica Eye def. Kalindra Faria via split-decision
-JJ Aldrich def. Danielle Taylor via unanimous decision
-Mads Burnell def. Mike Santiago via unanimous decision