Amanda Lemos won the battle of the Brazilians at the UFC Apex to stake her claim for a shot at the UFC strawweight title.
Lemos finished fellow contender Marina Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Vegas 64, stopping her compatriot with a blistering salvo of strikes that forced referee Jason Herzog to step in and wave off the contest early in the third round to improve her record to 13-2-1 with her seventh win from her last eight outings.
Lemos’ run toward the top of the UFC’s strawweight division has seen her defeat the likes of Michelle Waterson-Gomez, Angela Hill and Montserrat Ruiz, with her a submission defeat to Jessica Andrade the only blemish on her UFC record since her debut defeat to Leslie Smith back in 2017.
And now, after her demolition job on Rodriguez, Lemos said she is ready to challenge for the title, which will be contested at UFC 281 when two-time champ Carla Esparza puts the belt on the line against former champ Zhang Weili.
Magny surpasses GSP's mark
The co-main event saw Neil Magny become the all-time wins leader for the UFC welterweight division thanks to a submission finish of Daniel Rodriguez.
Rodriguez posed plenty of danger on the feet, but Magny utilised his wrestling to put himself in a position to win, and he was able to lock up a third-round D’Arce choke to claim his 27th career win, and his 20th in the UFC’s welterweight division.
It meant Magny surpassed the mark set by former two-time welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre to stand alone as the man with the most UFC wins at 170 pounds, but “The Haitian Sensation” has no plans on slowing down just yet.
Indeed, he used his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier to call out fellow welterweight mainstay Gilbert Burns for a bout in Brazil at UFC 283 on January 21 in Rio.
Elsewhere on the card, there were impressive finishes for Chinese featherweight Shayilan Nuerdanbieke and Russia’s Tagir Ulanbekov, who claimed first-round finishes against Americans Darrick Minner and Nate Maness, respectively.
There was also a big win for American lightweight Grant Dawson, who bounced back from his weight miss at Friday’s weigh-ins by defeating previously undefeated Danish Olympian Mark Madsen via third-round rear-naked choke as he improved his own impressive record to 19-1-1.
UFC Fight Night 214: Official Results
MAIN CARD
- Amanda Lemos def. Marina Rodriguez via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 0:54
- Neil Magny def. Daniel Rodriguez via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 3, 3:33
- Shayilan Nuerdanbieke def. Darrick Minner via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 1:07
- Tagir Ulanbekov def. Nate Maness via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:11
- Grant Dawson def. Mark Madsen via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:05
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Miranda Maverick def. Shanna Young via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
- Mario Bautista def. Benito Lopez via submission (reverse triangle armbar) – Round 1, 4:54
- Polyana Viana def. Jinh Yu Frey via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:47
- Johnny Munoz def. Liudvik Sholinian via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Jake Hadley def. Carlos Candelario via submission (triangle choke) – Round 2, 2:39
- Tamires Vidal def. Ramona Pascual via TKO (flying knee) – Round 1, 3:06
