Who were the winners at Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Pena? Click below to get the results for all the fights at Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017.
Shevchenko vs. Pena | Cerrone vs. Masvidal | Arlovski vs. Ngannou | Caceres vs. Knight | Marquardt vs. Alvey | Assuncao vs. Sterling | Nash vs. Jingliang | da Silva vs. Johnson | Spicely vs. Di Chirico | Rogerio de Lima vs. Kimball | Pantoja vs. Shelton | Gonzalez vs. Cottrell
Fight Night Denver main card
Action starts 8pm ET on FOX
Main event: Valentina Shevchenko defeated Julianna Pena
Valentina Shevchenko surprisingly landed a pair of takedowns and finished Julianna Pena off her back with a sensational armbar submission at 4:29 of the second round. Pena took Shevchenko down, which was supposed to be where the “Venezuelan Vixen” was supposed to hold the advantage. But after a few moments, Shevchenko was able to throw her leg over the head and catch Pena sleeping with the armbar. Seconds later Pena was forced to tap. The majority of the fight was spent on the fence and in the clinch, but Shevchenko proved her well-rounded game with the submission win.
Co-main: Jorge Masvidal defeated Donald Cerrone
Jorge Masvidal used precise and abrupt striking to finish Donald Cerrone by TKO at 1:00 of the first round. Masvidal landed 54 significant strikes to just 36 for Cowboy. He was getting off first in most of the exchanges and didn’t seem to be bothered by Cerrone’s vast number of landed leg kicks. Masvidal knew going into the fight that he could have success kicking to the body of Cerrone. He threw a few to make Cerrone think about it and then landed an overhand right at the end of the round that almost stopped Cerrone. After the second round began, Cerrone was still looking to recover, but couldn’t get anything going before Masvidal landed another big shot to earn the stoppage.
They said it:
Jorge Masvidal: “It’s not just Cowboy. Cowboy is a great fighter; he didn’t have to come out in the second round and he did. He’s a man, he has all my respect. This journey is easy money. Where I come from, this is easy. I come from a place where people just drive right through, they don’t want to hang out there. I come from very humble beginnings, so this journey is easy money for me. I’m not going to explain any more than that because the is to be sold, not told. I can’t tell anyone anything else.”
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Francis Ngannou defeated Andrei Arlovski
Francis Ngannou announced his arrival as a heavyweight contender in grand fashion, finishing Andrei Arlovski by knockout at 1:32 of the very first round. Ngannou landed a counter right as he stepped out of the way of a charging Arlovski, who was launched across the Octagon by the power of the Cameroon product. Arlovski was trying to get in on Ngannou and try and test his clinch or wrestling, perhaps, but it was a futile effort. Ngannou landed only eight punchers, but that’s all he needed. The predator now holds the longest active finish streak in the UFC with five.
They said it:
Francis Ngannou: “It is my conviction. I think too much and then I work for that result. I know I can impact the striking. I am very happy. I started MMA just three years ago. I’ve been dreaming of something like this for a long time and in my mind, I’ve been ready for this since before I ever started. Next? I would like Junior Dos Santos or Alistair Overeem, someone like that. I’d like to take time to rest and see my family. I will come back in three or four months.”
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Jason Knight defeated Alex Caceres
Jason Knight showed off his unbelievable ground game against veteran Alex Caceres, pulling off a rear naked choke submission at 4:21 of the second round. When the two were standing the exchanges were entertaining. “Bruce Leeroy” landed more significant strikes, but it was Knight who had the edge in volume, 63-37. The one landed takedown was the difference in the fight. Knight extends win streak to three in a row after dropping first fight in UFC. He called out Dooho Choi after his win.
They said it:
Jason Knight: “I’m on top of the world, baby! I get to negotiate a new contract, that was the last fight of my contract so I believe Dana White is going to have to pay me some money. That’s three wins out of a four fight contract, three in a row right now. We’re going to negotiate to the fullest, and Dana, if you take care of me, I’ll take care of you. Caceres is a tough kid; I can’t take anything away from him. He was my toughest opponent to date and I knew that nothing was going to come easy. I knew I wasn’t going to let him come out there and have the win, I fought hard and came out with my hand raised. Doo Ho Choi, I watched him fight Cub Swanson and I want to fight both of them. I know Cub is too far up in the rankings and I know Choi and I will put on a heck of show. That’s the type of fight I want to be in. When you think back to the Forrest Griffin vs. Stefan Bonnar fight that’s the fight you’ll never forget and that’s what I’m here for.”
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Fight Night Denver FS1 prelims
Action starts 5pm ET
Sam Alvey defeated Nate Marquardt
Nate Marquardt landed a pair of takedowns, but it was Sam Alvey who landed more strikes (45-26 in significant strikes) to earn the unanimous decision win, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28.
They said it:
Sam Alvey : “Nate was my coach on The Ultimate Fighter. In my head it’s kind of like father-daddy syndrome where he’s just bigger than life. When we weighed-in he was still huge, but I was almost as huge and that was really unique to see. He might be the only guy in the UFC as nice as me. I love fighting my friends. I love Nate, he’s one of my favorite coaches ever, I hope I get to work with him again, nothing but respect to him. Twitter picked who I called out. I got hundreds and hundreds of tweets that said fight Jack Marshman, so I said ‘OK’!”
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Raphael Assuncao defeated Aljamain Sterling
It was a very close fight where neither fighter was able to put any consistent offense together. Raphael Assuncao earned the split decision victory (28-29, 29-28, 29-28), handing Sterling the first losing streak of his young career. Assuncao landed 52-50 in significant strikes, but landed 44 percent compared to just 28 percent for Sterling. With the win, Assuncao now is tied with Renan Barao and Takeya Mizugaki for second-most wins (8) in the UFC bantamweight division.
They said it:
Raphael Assuncao : “I thought maybe the third round, I left it up in the air. I thought I won the first and second for sure though. He did try to take me down, I think four times, but I stuffed his shots. I was going to take him down, but I was ready to fight, no excuses. I think if I had another three to four weeks out here at altitude I would have been able to impose my will a little bit more. My goal right now is just to get back to the top, step-by-step. I’m 34 years old, but I still feel like I’m progressing as an athlete. My goal is to get back into contention. Maybe Dominick Cruz. Urijah retired, all the guys that have beaten me are gone now. I want to avenge my losses, but no one is around for me to do that. Dominick Cruz would be a good contention fight.”
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Li Jingliang defeated Bobby Nash
Li Jingliang rocked Bobby Nash in the first round and then Nash came back to put the Chinese superstar on skates later in the round. After a skirmish on the ground, Nash took the momentum in the second round, where he looked to be getting the better of things. But late in the second frame, Jingliang landing a glancing overhand right directly to the temple of Nash, KOing him on the spot as he tumbled to the canvas. Jingliang gets the win at 4:45 of the second round to earn his second straight win.
Jordan Johnson defeated Henrique da Silva
Jordan Johnson utilized his elite wrestling game to land four takedowns, controlling the action for 10:30 of the 15 minutes, to win a unanimous decision, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.
They said it:
Jordan Johnson : “This win means a lot. We talked about everything we were going to do, we put together a list of goals – not even goals, we listed out steps to reach certain goals – getting to the UFC was one of the first goals we put. It’s always win your next fight, this was just another fight, it’s part of the process to get to what I ultimately want to do. There were no Octagon jitters. I planned this out. I didn’t know it was going to be here, I didn’t know it was going to be this fight, elevation, short notice, this guy, but everything I did tonight is something that has been planned out for a long time. It’s all learning. This is only the second fight I didn’t finish. It’s good. The only other fight I didn’t finish was a five-round championship fight. I’ve shown myself that I can win a 25-minute fight and a short notice fight. I came up here at elevation, I live in San Diego, I live at sea level and I took a short notice fight against a tough veteran. I came out here and I went the distance. I whooped his a** for 15 minutes. You can’t say I didn’t win 14 minutes and 30 seconds of that fight, I won the whole time. There’s a guy out in Ohio that I was supposed to fight, but I guess he started having panic attacks. If he gets better, I want to whoop Josh Stansbury’s a**.”
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Eric Spicely defeated Alessio Di Chirico
Eric Spicely continued his impressive ground work, this time with a triangle choke finish against Alessio Di Chirico at 2:14 of the first round. Di Chirico landed an early takedown after stuffing an attempt from Spicely, but then Spicely locked in the lock and it was over.
They said it:
Eric Spicely : “Two in a row. Two first round submission victories in a row. It feels good to go from my first loss to a tough guy named Sam Alvey to two submission victories in a row. I feel great, I feel awesome. I just fought a striker, Thiago Santos was obviously a striker – he knocks people out in the first round. I use my punches smart, I hit them with a good shot, take them down and finish them. I don’t need to sit there and get fight of the night. I’d love to fight the best grapplers in the world and see where I stack up. That’s why I called out Dan Kelly – and because he’s ugly as hell. I really don’t know how that guys wins fights. He’s been talking s*** to me on Twitter, so I want to hurt that guy. I’m ready to jump back into camp. I’m just trying to win fights.”
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Marcos Rogerio De Lima defeated Jeremy Kimball
It only took Marcos Rogerio De Lima 15 gigantic blows to take down Jeremy Kimball by TKO at 2:27 of the first round. It was a mammoth right hand that dropped Kimball and then De Lima followed up with a ton of big shots that forced the referee to step in to stop the fight.
They said it:
Marcos Rogerio De Lima : “I came early to Denver; I knew it was going to be tough at altitude and I’m glad I came early to get ready. I didn’t know much about my opponent because it was switched late, so I watched some video on him and saw there were some things I could do. I saw that he keeps his hands down, so I was looking to take advantage of that and attack. Next, I would like a rematch with Gadzhimurad Antigulov to avenge my loss.”
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Fight Night Denver FIGHT PASS prelims
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Alexandre Pantoja defeated Eric Shelton
Alexandre Pantoja took out Eric Shelton by split decision, 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Pantoja outlanded Shelton in the fight, 82-52 and was aggressive on the mat. Shelton landed three takedowns to just two for Pantoja, but the Brazilian attacked with three submission attempts.
They said it:
Alexandre Pantoja : “I come from a very small town and there aren’t a lot of opportunities for my people. They see me and I am hope for everybody. In my city, they put a big screen TV to watch my fight and 2,000 people showed up. I am proud of my small city, I feel victory not because of this fight but because people in my city like me, I have a good heart, this is my victory. Being ranked No. 1 in the house, is just a number for me. Those guys had a lot of experience and I really respected everyone in the house – I learned so much from them. The guys gave me something personal, friendship. The show gave to me people, friends, brothers and Henry Cejudo is more than my coach, he is my brother. I lived with him for months. I have so much respect for him. He gave me a good life. I don’t respect Cejudo because he’s a gold medalist, I respect him because he respects everyone. I really appreciate how big his heart his. I have a big space in my heart for Henry Cejudo. I want Benavidez!”
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Jason Gonzalez defeated JC Cottrell
Jason Gonzalez rocked JC Cottrell with a beautiful upper cut in the first round, forcing Cottrell to shoot for a takedown. “Superstar” landed the takedown and looked good on top, until Gonzalez stood up after a scramble. Cottrell shot a lazy takedown and Gonzalez defended and cinched in a D’Arce choke. Cottrell was forced to tap at 3:54 of the first round. Cottrell is now 0-2 in the UFC and Gonzalez picks up his first UFC win.
They said it:
Jason Gonzalez : “It feels freaking amazing to get my first UFC win. My first fight, I lost it and it broke down a lot mentally and emotionally, but I didn’t give up. I came back and got this one. This means a lot to me. I knew I was a little in trouble a couple times, but he didn’t feel like he was too strong for me. I knew that as soon as I got up he was going to shoot again, so I planted that in my head and set it up perfectly. The difference in a second fight with Drew Dober will be a lot. Mentally, I’m going to make sure I focus only on him. Sit down, do my homework than I did. I know there will be a big difference. I’m a lot better fighter than what I showed when he knocked me out. I’d love to take that fight.”
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