Mesquita’s otherworldly ground skills were there when she
needed them most.
The undefeated American Top Team star remained unbeaten and
continued her climb in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight division,
as she disposed of Melissa
Mullins with an armbar in the first round of a featured
UFC Fight Night 279 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas.
Mesquita (8-0, 3-0 UFC) drew the curtain 3:16 into Round
1.
Mullins (7-3, 2-3 UFC) nearly sprang the upset. She dazed Mesquita
with a left hook, then closed in on the 10-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu
world champion with follow-up punches. Putting the icing on the
cake proved problematic. The resourceful Mesquita lured her
opponent into her venomous guard, cleared the cobwebs and snatched
the armbar. Mullins fought briefly to free herself but had no
choice but to tap.
Meanwhile, ex-Inka Fighting Championship titleholder Kevin
Borjas outstruck the heavily favored and previously unbeaten
Andre
Lima to a unanimous decision in their three-round flyweight
affair. Scores were 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28—all for Borjas (11-5,
2-4 UFC), who missed weight for the match by three pounds and
forfeited 20% of his purse.
Lima (11-1, 4-1 UFC) landed his share of kicks to the body and head
but too often limited himself to single strikes. Borjas cut loose
in three-, four- and five-punch bursts, staggered the Brazilian
with a right hook in the waning seconds of the first round and
circled away from danger. He also survived a second-round low blow
that resulted in a five-minute pause to the action. Lima sent the
Peruvian’s mouthpiece flying with a stiff jab in Round 3 but never
established much of a rhythm and fell short of the mark as a
result.
The win snapped a two-fight losing streak for Borjas.
Further down the undercard, a fast start and airtight takedown
defense carried onetime CES MMA champion Mitch
Raposo to a split decision over Allan
Nascimento in their three-round flyweight clash. All three
judges scored it 29-28: Eric Colon and Junichiro Kamijo for Raposo,
Sal D’Amato for Nascimento.
Effective movement, sharp jabs and occasional multi-punch bursts
tipped the spear for Raposo (11-3, 2-2 UFC). He forced Nascimento
to give chase for much of the first two rounds and walked him into
sneaky right uppercuts more than once, all while opening a cut
under the Diego Lima-trained Chute Boxe export’s right eye. Raposo
did not escape unscathed. Nascimento (22-7, 4-2 UFC) decked the
Tyson
Chartier disciple with a clean one-two in Round 3, assumed top
position and made moves with his ground-and-pound. However, Raposo
weathered the assault, bled the remaining time off the clock and
let the judges do their work.
The setback was Nascimento’s first since Oct. 30, 2021.
Elsewhere, Bellator MMA veteran Gaston
Bolanos rode an active kicking game and unflappable resilience
to a unanimous decision over ex-Fury Fighting Championship
titleholder Michael
Aswell in their three-round featherweight confrontation. All
three judges turned in 29-28 scorecards for Bolanos (9-5, 3-2 UFC),
who rebounded from a submission loss to Quang Le a
little more than a year ago.
Aswell (11-5, 1-3 UFC) was the aggressor from the start but left
himself exposed to counters and struggled to pace himself properly.
Bolanos connected with the more consequential blows across the
first 10 minutes, though both men suffered cuts near their right
eyes. The Combat Sports Academy standout then withstood a late
rally from Aswell, who turned up the heat in the third round, fired
punches in combination and pressured his Peruvian counterpart onto
his back foot. Even so, Bolanos steadied himself under duress and
settled for the decision.
The 25-year-old Aswell has suffered back-to-back defeats for the
first time as a pro.
Finally, Kaizen MMA product Levan
Chokheli put away Leon
Shahbazyan with punches in the first round of their
welterweight encounter.
Shahbazyan (12-5, 0-1 UFC) entered the cage on a four-fight winning
streak and made his unceremonious exit just 23 seconds into
Round .
Chokheli (15-3, 1-0 UFC) was flawless in his promotional debut. The
29-year-old Georgian blasted Shahbazyan’s lead leg with vicious
kicks, pinned him to the fence and unleashed his hands. Chokheli
eventually folded the Freestyle MMA rep with a left hook to the
body, at which point referee Kerry Hadley decided he had seen
enough.
It was the eighth sub-minute finish of Chokheli’s career.
In other action, Luana
Santos (11-2, 6-1 UFC) laid claim to a unanimous
decision—30-27, 30-27, 30-27—over Karol Rosa
(19-8, 8-5 UFC) in their three-round women’s bantamweight tilt; and
Shane
Collins (8-0, 1-0 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Otari
Tanzilovi (10-2, 0-1 UFC) in their three-round featherweight
scrap, as the former A1 Combat champion swept the scorecards with
matching 30-27 marks from the judges.