JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Glover Teixeira dominated Anthony Smith and at last stopped him with punches early within the fifth spherical Wednesday evening, incomes an upset victory to cap the UFC’s second present since returning to motion amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Heavyweight veteran Ben Rothwell grabbed an entertaining split-decision victory over Ovince Saint Preux, and Drew Dober stopped fellow light-weight contender Alexander Hernandez with a second-round barrage of punches in the course of the second of three UFC playing cards over eight days at a fan-free VyStar Veterans Memorial Enviornment.
The promotion returned to motion final Saturday with UFC 249 after an eight-week hiatus. The UFC established in depth protocols for well being and security in its return, and veteran fighter Jacare Souza was pulled off final weekend’s present after he examined constructive for COVID-19 together with two cornermen.
The second present went off and not using a constructive COVID-19 take a look at, and extra masks had been seen on UFC personnel inside and outdoors the cage Wednesday. Middleweight Karl Roberson’s bout with Marvin Vettori was scrapped when Roberson was hospitalized in a single day after he fell unwell, however the sickness was associated to his weight reduce and never coronavirus, in line with the UFC.
The UFC’s third present in Jacksonville is Saturday evening on ESPN Plus, headlined by veteran heavyweights Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris.
The UFC hopes to start holding struggle playing cards again dwelling in Las Vegas later this month, however is ready for clearance from the Nevada Athletic Fee.
The 40-year-old Teixeira (31-7) was shockingly dominant in his fourth consecutive victory. He took management with strikes within the second spherical, and nearly completed Smith a number of occasions whereas dominating the following two rounds.
Teixeira lastly ended it 1:04 into the ultimate spherical, incomes his first stoppage by punches since 2017.
“It’s not how laborious you hit,” Teixeira mentioned. “It’s how laborious you get hit and maintain coming ahead. … The man hits like a truck, however I moved my head lots. I educated so laborious.”
Smith (33-15) was within the cage for the primary time since he needed to struggle an intruder in his household dwelling in Nebraska final month. He misplaced a detailed struggle to Jon Jones for the sunshine heavyweight title final 12 months, and Teixeira was superior after the opening minutes.
Smith seemed to be battered past restore by the tip of the third spherical, however his nook declined to cease the struggle after the third or fourth rounds. His nook didn’t cease the struggle even when Smith instructed them: “My enamel are falling out.”
The 38-year-old Rothwell (38-12) punctuated his 50th skilled bout with a back-and-forth assembly with Saint Preux (24-14), a former gentle heavyweight title contender who moved as much as heavyweight after dropping three of his previous 5 fights. Rothwell improved to 2-2 since coming back from a two-year doping suspension.
Dober (23-9) is a coaching teammate of Justin Gaethje, who received the UFC interim light-weight title with an electrifying stoppage of Tony Ferguson in UFC 249.
Dober lived as much as Gaethje’s customary with an thrilling efficiency capped by a sequence of dynamic strikes to pressure a stoppage of Hernandez (11-3).
“Coming from a muay thai background, I had hassle preventing guys who continually moved,” Dober mentioned. “I wasn’t making an attempt to hit laborious. I used to be simply making an attempt to hit usually. The extra occasions you contact a man on his chin, the extra seemingly he’s going to fall over.”
Andrei Arlovski, the UFC’s 41-year-old profession chief in heavyweight victories, received a call over Philipe Lins for his second victory in seven fights.
Earlier, Ricky Simon picked up the largest win of his UFC profession with a split-decision victory over veteran Ray Borg. The flyweights punctuated their full of life struggle with loads of good-natured trash discuss, which was audible on the tv broadcast from the in any other case quiet enviornment.