The Apex Center in Las Vegas, Nevada was home to a great night of fights at UFC Vegas 34: Cannonier vs. Gastelum. The card saw three (T)KOs, three submissions and six decisions, including one split-decision.
The preliminary card opened with Ramiz Brahimaj snaring Sasha Palatnikov in a nasty rear-naked choke in under three minutes. That was followed by Ignacio Bahamondes scoring a buzzer-beater wheel kick knockout of Roosevelt Roberts. William Knight wasted no time putting Fabio Cherant away with a huge KO in the first round and ditto for Josiane Nunes who defeated Bea Malecki with her own first-round KO. Brian Kelleher dominated Domingo Pilarte for three rounds, taking the unanimous decision. Austin Lingo took the unanimous decision over Luis Saldana in a grueling battle to close out the undercard.
The main card opened with Alexandre Pantoja scoring a second-round rear-naked choke over Brandon Royval in an exciting ground battle. Vinc Pichel took the unanimous nod against Austin Hubbard and Saidyokub Kakhramonov scored his own late fight submission over Trevin Jones, this time with a guillotine choke. Parker Porter took a unanimous decision over Chase Sherman, notching his second straight win. The co-main event saw Clay Guida hang in there with Olympic silver medalist Mark O. Madsen, punishing the Dane’s leg with bruising low kicks, but when the cards were read, Madsen would take the split-decision win.
The headliner was a back-and-forth battle that saw Gastelum land hard low kicks and big bombs. Jared Cannonier returned fire and managed to put Kelvin on his butt in the third with a thunderous right hook but to his credit, he popped right back up. Gastelum could and should have worked his wrestling more, but he decided to rely almost exclusively on his striking. In the end, Cannonier took the unanimous decision, then proclaimed he was broke.
Performance of the Night: Ignacio Bahamondes, William Knight, Josiane Nunes, Alexandre Pantoja
Ramiz Brahimaj def. Sasha Palatnikov via technical submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:33 of round 1
Ignacio Bahamondes def. Roosevelt Roberts by KO (wheel kick) at 4:55 of round 3
William Knight def. Fabio Cherant by KO (punches) at 3:58 of round 1
Josiane Nunes def. Bea Malecki by KO (punch) at 4:54 of round 1
Alexandre Pantoja def. Brandon Royval by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:46 of round 2
Saidyokub Kakhramonov def. Trevin Jones by technical submission (guillotine choke) at 4:39 of round 3
Fight of the Night: NONE
Brian Kelleher def. Domingo Pilarte by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Austin Lingo def. Luis Saldana by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Vinc Pichel def. Austin Hubbard by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Parker Porter def. Chase Sherman by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Mark O. Madsen def. Clay Guida by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Jared Cannonier def. Kelvin Gastelum via unanimous decision (48-47×3)
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