David Teymur stays undefeated with victory at UFC 209
Lightweight prospect Lando Vannata brought his trademark blend of flash and showmanship to the cage Saturday.
David Teymur wasn’t impressed.
The Swedish kickboxer waited for his opportunities to counter and took full advantage to improve to 3-0 in the UFC by winning all three rounds over Vannata in the penultimate bout of UFC 209 at T-Mobile Arena.
Vannata landed several spinning kicks and whiffed on others. Teymur had an answer for all of them and found ways to inflict damage with both hands and feet.
“I feel awesome,” Teymur said. “I deserve this. I’ve said this since Day One, the day I came to the UFC, ‘I didn’t come just to say hi, I’m coming for the world title.’
“I am going to take MMA striking to a new level. The time will show this. It’s not important if you win in the first minute or in the last minute. The important thing is that you win and put on a good show for the crowd.”
Four-time judo Olympian Dan Kelly improved to 6-1 in the UFC by ruining the middleweight debut of Rashad Evans.
Kelly consistently found a home for his left and kept Evans off balance enough with hip tosses to win a split decision.
“I think I had more forward pressure,” Kelly said. “I think I hit him a little bit more than he hit me. Granted, he took me down, but he couldn’t get any control. I think the forward pressure probably won me the fight. That, and the dirty boxing.”
Newcomer Cynthia Calvillo took full advantage of her promotion to the main card with a first-round submission of Amanda Cooper.
The bout was slated for the unaired portion of the preliminary card, only to be moved up when the interim lightweight title bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson fell apart Friday.
Calvillo dominated before choking Cooper out at 3:19 of the round.
“I feel amazing, I feel great, but overall this doesn’t surprise me,” she said. “I’m prepared, I train with the best team in the world, and it went just the way we planned it.
“I just want to keep climbing the ranks. My ultimate goal is to be a world champion, so I just need to work my way up there until I get that shot. I’ll fight anybody.”
Alistair Overeem opened the main card with a third-round knockout of heavyweight Mark Hunt.
Both fighters landed big shots in the first two rounds, but it was two brutal knees in the clinch that led to Hunt’s demise.
“We studied my opponent very extensively, all my coaches do,” Overeem said. “I think that combined with my ability, technical ability, athletic ability, I’m able to put these guys away.”
On the preliminary card, Darren Elkins pulled off a stunning win after he was dominated well into the third round by Mirsad Bektic.
A bloody and battered Elkins rocked Bektic with a series of knees to the body and followed it with a head kick and a flurry of right hands to rally for the win with less than two minutes remaining in a fight he trailed badly on the scorecards.
The shocking comeback came on the heels of a similar turnaround from bantamweight Iuri Alcantara, who somehow locked in a kneebar to submit Luke Sanders midway through the second round after being pummeled for almost eight minutes.
Heavyweight Marcin Tybura stopped Luis Henrique with punches late in the third round after neither fighter managed to separate himself from the other as they slogged through two rounds.
Mark Godbeer won all three rounds of a heavyweight bout over newcomer Daniel Spitz.
Bantamweight Albert Morales took a split decision over Andre Soukhamthath.
Tyson Pedro knocked out Paul Craig in the first round of a matchup of unbeaten light heavyweights.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.