Norma Dumont picked the right time to deliver the best performance of her UFC career, closing out the Noche UFC prelims at Sphere with a unanimous decision win over recent title challenger Irene Aldana.
The surging Brazilian was the quicker, sharper, and more active of the two from the outset, racing out to an early lead on the slow-starting Aldana before the output on both sides ramped up in the second, with a clash of heads leaving the indefatigable Mexican wearing a crimson mask. Aldana ratcheted up the pressure and had her most success in the third, but Dumont was still able to land quality shots of her own and fend off her advances.
Dumont earned a clean sweep of the scorecards to register her fifth consecutive victory and elevate her record to 8-2 inside the Octagon overall. The 33-year-old has now taken out a former champ and a former title challenger in back-to-back outings, and should find herself in the Top 5 when the rankings update next week.
Official Scorecards | Main Card Results
Noche UFC began with a competitive bantamweight clash between elite prospect Raul Rosas Jr. and Chinese veteran Aoriqileng.
In the opening round, Rosas Jr. dominated with his grappling, taking Aoriqileng to the canvas and eventually working his way into full mount and then back mount, looking for submissions, but ultimately coming up empty. “The Mongolian Murderer” countered with a quality second frame, stuffing takedowns and landing the more effective shots as they two spent the round on the feet, but in the third, Rosas Jr. was once again able to deposit Aoriqileng on the mat and dominate the action.
The judges were called upon to render the final verdict and all three saw the fight in favor of Rosas Jr.. That’s now three straight wins and four victories in five UFC appearances for the 19-year-old bantamweight rising star, who remains a work-in-progress, but continues to flash obvious upside.
Joshua Van and Edgar Chairez lit up Sphere with an epic back-and-forth flyweight battle, setting the bar for Fight of the Night honors high in just the second fight of the evening.
Chairez raced out to a commanding lead by chopping down Van’s lead leg and mixing his weapons well throughout the first round. But in the second, Van rallied, hurting Chairez to the body and seemingly having the aggressive Mexican on the brink of being finished before Chairez connected with a spinning back fist that led to the second half of the round being competitive and close. In the third, Van, who took the fight on short notice, appeared to be the fresher of the two, taking the fight to Chairez and putting him on the deck to salt away the final round.
The judges were once again asked to sort things out, and when the tens and nines were tallied, it was Van that came away with the victory. After getting stopped in Denver in July, this is a tremendous bounce-back showing for the talented 22-year-old from Myanmar, who moves to 4-1 in the UFC with the win.
Ketlen Souza collected the first finish of the night, dropping Yazmin Jauregui with a thudding left hook in the midst of a chaotic exchange before jumping on her back, attacking the neck, and putting her to sleep.
Jauregui was sharp to start the fight, landing greater volume and solid variety as Souza looked for power shots and counters in close. But as they traded off a restart midway through the frame, the Brazilian connected with a counter hook that collapsed Jauregui to the canvas, where the former Invicta FC champ quickly clamped onto the choke and secured the finish.
That’s now consecutive victories in the Octagon for Souza, who lost her debut to rising contender Karine Silva. She’s won seven of her last eight overall, and showed here that she’s someone to keep very close tabs on going forward.
What a performance from Ignacio Bahamondes!
“La Jaula” used the aggression of Manuel Torres against him expertly, allowing the powerful Mexican to launch long, reaching shots that came up short, only to counter with pinpoint rights that put him down. While Torres was able to tie up Bahamonndes and work back to his feet the first time, Bahamondes made sure to seal the deal with he dropped him the second time, pouncing and pounding out the finish.
This is an outstanding win for Bahamondes, who has now earned consecutive first-round stoppage wins since his unanimous decision loss to Ludovit Klein last summer. The Dana White’s Contender Series grad is a training partner of welterweight champ Belal Muhammad, and continues to show marked improvement each time out.
Norma Dumont picked the right time to deliver the best performance of her UFC career, closing out the Noche UFC prelims at Sphere with a unanimous decision win over recent title challenger Irene Aldana.
The surging Brazilian was the quicker, sharper, and more active of the two from the outset, racing out to an early lead on the slow-starting Aldana before the output on both sides ramped up in the second, with a clash of heads leaving the indefatigable Mexican wearing a crimson mask. Aldana ratcheted up the pressure and had her most success in the third, but Dumont was still able to land quality shots of her own and fend off her advances.
Dumont earned a clean sweep of the scorecards to register her fifth consecutive victory and elevate her record to 8-2 inside the Octagon overall. The 33-year-old has now taken out a former champ and a former title challenger in back-to-back outings, and should find herself in the Top 5 when the rankings update next week.
UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili took place live from Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 14, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
