UFC 206 is live from the Air Canada Center in Toronto, Ont., as we speak. In the main event of the evening, Max Holloway fights Anthony Pettis for the interim featherweight championship.
The televised preliminary card, which aired on FOX Sports 1 (U.S.) and TSN 2 (Canada), featured four fights, which included two vicious submission wins. Check out the results below.
Misha Cirkunov def. Nikita Krylov via Submission (Guillotine) at 4:38 of Round 1
A new light heavyweight contender has been born.
His name? Misha Cirkunov.
Cirkunov, in front of Toronto, the city he calls home, submitted top 10 light heavyweight Nikita Krylov in the bigggest fight of his career in the final preliminary fight of the card.
Cirkunov and Krylov were both very active right from the get go and landed several strikes on the feet, particularly kicks. Cirkunov also mixed in takedowns into his game-plan, however, and, in hindsight, they were key. The Ukraine native struggled to defend Cirkunov’s takedown attempts, and after rocking Krylov with less than 30 seconds left in the first five minutes, Cirkunov transitioned beautifully into a slick guillotine choke. Krylov was forced to tap.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Drew Dober via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 2:57 of Round 2
Olivier Aubin-Mercier put on a show at UFC 206 and ended Canada’s drought — he was the first Canadian to win at Saturday’s event. He tapped out Drew Dober in the second round, but “The Quebec Kid” looked most impressive on the feet. Aubin-Mercier is known for his high-level grappling, but his striking looked fantastic. It was accurate and powerful; training at TriStar has appeared to pay off for the rising lightweight. He had great timing and was very patient, as well.
Dober has a short sense of hope at the very beginning of the second round when he dropped Aubin-Mercier, but the knockdown ended up just being the beginning of the end for the American. Dober went to the mat with Aubin-Mercier, who eventually got on top. Once up against the fence, it was all over; it didn’t take long for Aubin-Mercier to sink in a rear-naked choke for the win.
Viviane Pereira def. Valerie Letourneau via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Vivane Pereira picked up the biggest win of her career in her UFC debut against women’s MMA veteran Valerie Letourneau. In a lackluster affair, the Brazilian slightly outpointed Letourneau in two of three rounds, according to two of three judges, and got the decision victory. It would have been more meaningful had the fight been entertaining, as Letourneau’s a big name to have on one’s record, but it was far from entertaining. Therefore, it’s difficult to say Pereira’s performance was impressive, despite her pulling off a sizable upset.
Letourneau looked good early on, landing more on the feet than Pereira, who had difficulty finding her range in the first round. An inactive Letourneau somewhat threw away the second round, however, as Pereira landed a takedown late, likely to steal the round. Pereira did enough in the third round on the feet to get the nod over Letourneau, who slowed as the fight went on and also missed weight on Friday.
Matthew Lopez def. Mitch Gagnon via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
There were no signs of cage rust in Mitch Gagnon’s return to the Octagon. He was active and looked great right from the beginning against Matthew Lopez. But he faded badly, and ultimately lost the fight.
Gagnon started very strong. He dropped Lopez with a devastating left hook mid-way through the first round, followed up with vicious ground-and-pound and later a submission attempt. Although most referees likely would have stopped the bout due to unanswered strikes, the bout was not called off and Lopez survived and eventually got on top after Gagnon lost position.
The tides turned in major ways in the second round, as Lopez grinded down Gagnon for most of the round. Gagnon’s gas tank was visibly short on fuel, and he himself endured bombs on the ground after getting taken down multiple times.
The third round was relatively similar to the second, but perhaps slightly less dominant for Lopez. That said, Lopez was still able to get the Canadian down to the ground, dominate him with his grappling skills, and was given the judges’ nod after the bout.