UFC 261 prelims results & video: Brown chokes Oliveira with one arm, Allen ankle locks Roberson

The UFC 261 preliminary card just closed out with an ultra-rare sub! “Rudeboy” Randy Brown just snagged a one-armed rear-naked choke on Alex Oliveira in the opening round. Brown floored “Cowboy” with a right-hand before jumping on his back and pulling off the oh so sweet submission. After the tap, Brown proceeded to flip the bird to his defeated foe, and in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan he directed everyone to his Twitch to find out what happened. Randy is proving to be a lethal fighter, finishing off five of his seven UFC victims.

Before that, Dwight Grant and Stefan Sekulic went the distance in the welterweight division, with Grant pulling out the split decision. Sekulic had a strong third round, rocking Dwight with a 1-2 and locking up a guillotine as time expired. Nonetheless, two of the three judges gave Grant two of the three rounds.

We got a first-round submission in the middleweight division when Brendan Allen countered a leg lock with one of his own against Karl Roberson. It was Roberson who initiated the game of footsie, but he was the one tapping out with just five-seconds to go in the fight.

Kicking off this portion of the prelims, Pat Sabatini put on a strong performance against Tristan Connelly, earning himself a unanimous decision. Sabatini hurt his foe with his hands in the first-round, and then proceeded to out-grapple his opposition for many minutes. This was quite the well-rounded UFC debut for Pat, who showed off a couple of different layers to his game.

**See complete results below

Prelims:

Randy Brown def. Alex Oliveira by submission (RNC) at 2:50 of round 1: Welterweight

Both fighters looked to throw kicks at one another. One from Brown accidentally caught Oliveira in the cup, causing a brief pause. Upon the restart, Oliveira started to chop away at the leg of Randy with stinging kicks. Then, Brown responded by dropping Cowboy with a laser of a straight. Randy took the back and locked up a rare one-armed rear-naked choke while still standing. He sunk his hooks and they fell to the ground. Cowboy tapped!

Dwight Grant def. Stefan Sekulic by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Welterweight

A lot of feeling out went on to get things going here. Neither man was really opening up. Grant was throwing some things out there, while Sekulic just sort of waited. Sekulic was slowly pressuring forward, making his opponent work to maintain the distance. With under 30-seconds to go in the round, Sekulic achieved a short-lived takedown.

The start to the second round saw Sekulic shoot in for a takedown, but eat a gigantic bomb from Grant for his troubles. A cool little flurry broke out from both fighters, where both fighters threw caution to the wind for just a moment. The match then simmered back into a more respectful pace. With about 90-seconds to go in the round, Sekulic changed levels and landed a takedown. The thing is, he didn’t do anything with it before Grant stood back to his feet.

The final frame saw a reverse in roles where Grant shot in and hit a takedown. He opted to stand back too his feet without utilizing the position in any way. Back on the feet, it was Sekulic’s turn to get a brief takedown and do nothing with it. On the feet, Sekulic came up with a haymaker that rocked Grant, and then proceeded to jump a guillotine and squeeze away as time expired.

Brendan Allen def. Karl Roberson by submission (ankle lock) at 4:55 of round 1: Middleweight

The middleweights opened the match by exchanging head kicks that both were blocked. Roberson started to work his jab, while both combatants were still launching kicks. Allen used his punches to close the distance against the cage and got Roberson down to the ground. Allen controlled from the top, allowing Roberson to stand only to take him right back down. He wasn’t doing any damage as the round was ticking away, but when Roberson rolled for a leg lock, it was Brendan who grabbed an ankle lock. Roberson tapped before the bell.

Pat Sabatini def. Tristan Connelly by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2): Featherweight

Connelly marched forward out of the gate, but Sabatini was ready to play the outside. Then, Sabatini started to let his hands go. He was tagging his foe before dropping him with a stinging right hand. The fight went tot he ground, where Sabatini controlled from the top for quite some time. Sabatini then took the back, applied a body triangle, and held the position until the bell.

Sabatini exploded with a takedown to begin the second act. He then surfed atop his foe, changing positions without ever allowing Connelly to get offensive. It was complete domination and Connelly did not return to his feet in this round. The final round saw press Connelly against the cage. Although he stayed on his feet, Connelly spent a bit of time with his back to the cage. When he did find open space, he wasn’t able top damage Sabatini in any meaningful way. Sabatini did give up a late takedown inside of the final minute of the fight, but couldn’t do anything with it.