Prelim Results | UFC Fight Night: Royval vs Taira

The unbeaten MMA Lab product was happy to trade with Rocha in the early stages of the first round, but as soon as he changed levels and put the Brazilian on the canvas, he dominated, opening him up multiple times with a set of elbows. It was the same to open the second, but this time, Rocha gave up his back and Carpenter took full advantage, sinking in the choke and putting Rocha to sleep.

That’s consecutive wins and consecutive finishes inside the Octagon for Carpenter, who moved to 8-0 with the victory. Just 28 years old, he fights with poise and patience beyond his experience level, and is one to continue watching in the talent-rich flyweight division.

The Australian prospect has the superior striking throughout, working behind long combinations and sharp body work throughout the first round before the torrid pace and Argueta’s wrestling started to chip away at his energy reserves and lessen his output. In the third, Haddon got back to piecing up Argueta in space, further distancing himself down the stretch and to the horn.

Haddon has been a highly regarded prospect on the Australian scene for a couple years and showed why here, completely out-working a more experienced foe (who missed weight) over three gruelling rounds. He’s now won six straight overall to wrap up an eight-month run where he claimed gold in his final regional fight, claimed his contract, and posted his first UFC victory.

The Brazilian, who claimed her spot on the roster in her second appearance on the annual talent-search series last season, controlled the action in the clinch and was the superior striker in space for the majority of the contest. While she was unable to find a home for anything truly fight-shifting, Polastri’s ability to march forward and control exchanges were more than enough for her to out-work her Welsh foe.

When the scores were collected and tallied, Polastri came out ahead to pick up her first UFC victory and rebound from being on the opposite side of this kind of outcome in her June debut. The 26-year-old has now won five of her last six and looks to have established her place in the strawweight ranks with her effort here.

The Australian kickboxer was the quicker and more technical of the two on the feet early, and benefitted from a blatant fence grab that allowed him to stay upright when Sharaf looked to drag him to the canvas. Tafa got taken down late in the first and was close to getting finished, but the made it to the end of the round, and put away an exhausted Sharaf with a slow succession of power shots two minutes and change into the second.

This was Tafa’s first win in three starts this year after suffering consecutive stoppage losses to Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Valter Walker to begin his 2024 campaign. The younger member of the UFC’s heavyweight brother tandem is now 6-3 overall as a professional.

Almost as soon as the fight began, Sabatini looked to grapple, working into control positions on the fence before climbing on the back of Pearce. While the DWCS alum defended well and forced Sabatini to work hard, the Philadelphia-based black belt eventually worked his way back to the back, and sunk in the choke late in the round.

This was a tremendous showing for Sabatini, who was competing for the first time since his loss to Diego Lopes last November at Madison Square Garden. The 33-year-old is now 6-2 inside the Octagon, with three of those victories coming by way of submission.

The debuting flyweight from Uzbekistan made a massive impression in his bout with C.J. Vergara, putting away the DWCS graduate with a ferocious onslaught of punches along the fence, culminating with a nasty shot to the body. While he was over-swinging at times in the contest, the newcomer dropped Vergara twice and was all over him as soon as he had him hurt.

The 27-year-old Temirov has now won 11 consecutive contests and clearly has unique power for someone in the 125-pound weight class, having finished each of his last five bouts in the opening round with strikes. This was an outstanding debut and will surely have plenty of people looking forward to Temirov’s sophomore outing.