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UFC Vegas

‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas put on a mixed martial arts clinic over strawweight poster girl Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night 80 (UFC Vegas) on December 10.

The 115lb Women’s main event delivered at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan, with Denver’s Namajunas dismantling VanZant over five rounds with relentless submission attempts.

Team Alpha Male’s VanZant showed incredible resilience to escape countless submissions from Namajunas, however a fifth round rear naked choke from Thug Rose was one too many for a gusty VanZant.

In the co-main event, after eight months out, Michael Chiesa made a dashing return, stopping Jim Miller in the second round with a rear naked choke. Chiesa did well to scramble from Miller’s knee bar attempt to land some ground and pound and transition into the submission finish.

Elsewhere, the ‘Super’ hyped Sage Northcutt got a submission victory over Cody Pfister. It was a well worked win for Northcutt, who looked very comfortable attacking from the ground. However the controversial stand-up from referee Mark Smith in round one when Pfister was advancing on the ground remains dubious.

Other impressive outings in Vegas included, Kailan Curran got a big win over Emily Kagan, the UK’s debuting Danny Roberts beat Nathan Coy and high-flying bantamweight prospect Aljamain Sterling submitted Johnny Eduardo.

UFC Vegas Main Card Results
Women’s Strawweight: Rose Namajunas def. Paige VanZant Submission (rear-naked choke) Round 5 2:25
Lightweight: Michael Chiesa def. Jim Miller Submission (rear-naked choke) Round 2 2:57
Lightweight: Sage Northcutt def. Cody Pfister Submission (guillotine Choke) Round 2 0:41
Middleweight: Thiago Santos def. Elias Theodorou Decision (unanimous) (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
UFC Vegas Preliminary Card 
Welterweight: Tim Means def. John Howard KO (punch) Round 2 0:21
Welterweight: Sérgio Moraes def. Omari Akhmedov TKO (punches) Round 3 2:18
Middleweight: Antônio Carlos Júnior vs. Kevin Casey ended in a No Contest (accidental eye poke) Round 1 0:11
Bantamweight: Aljamain Sterling def. Johnny Eduardo Submission (guillotine choke) Round 2 4:18
Welterweight: Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Andreas Ståhl TKO (punches) Round 1 4:25
Welterweight: Danny Roberts def. Nathan Coy Technical Submission (triangle choke) Round 1 2:46
Featherweight: Zubaira Tukhugov def. Phillipe Nover Decision (split) (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
Women’s Strawweight: Kailin Curran def. Emily Kagan Submission (rear-naked choke) Round 2 4:13