UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs Aspinall Results

Rising heavyweight star Tom Aspinall continued to impress, as the British contender submitted Alexander Volkov in the first round of their UFC Fight Night main event at the O2 Arena in London.
 
Aspinall showed off his speed and striking accuracy immediately as he pushed the pace on Volkov and then put him on the mat less than a minute into the fight. Aspinall bloodied his opponent while they were grounded, but Volkov was able to get back to his feet just before the midway point of the frame. He didn’t get to stay there long, as Aspinall scored a second takedown with under two minutes to go. And this time, the Atherton product closed the show, forcing a tap out due to a straight armlock at 3:45 of the first round.

British featherweight contender Arnold Allen saved his biggest and best performance for his home crowd, as he extended his current winning streak to nine with a first-round stoppage of Dan Hooker in the UFC Fight Night co-main event.
 
Allen tripped while throwing a kick early in the first round, but that prompted the Brit to unleash a barrage of power shots upstairs that had Hooker in deep trouble for a spell. Hooker did fire back, but after a brief respite, Allen unloaded with both hands again, added knees and elbows, and this time, referee Dan Movahedi had seen enough, halting the fight at 2:33 of the opening frame.

Liverpool fan favorite Paddy Pimblett made it two for two in the Octagon, submitting Kazula Vargas in the first round of what “Paddy the Baddy” described as “the people’s main event.”

Gunnar Nelson’s first start since 2019 was a winning one, as he shut out Takashi Sato over three rounds.
 
Scores in the welterweight bout were 30-26 across the board for Nelson, now 18-5-1. Sato, who replaced Claudio Silva, falls to 16-5.
 
After a tactical start, Nelson took Sato down with a little over two minutes to go and quickly took his back. Despite his best efforts, Nelson wasn’t able to get the finish, but it was a dominant frame, as were rounds two and three, as Nelson again controlled matters on the mat while seeking out a rear naked choke that Sato successfully defended, giving him a moral victory if not the nod on the scorecards.
 
Official Result - Gunnar Nelson def. Takashi Sato via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26) | Official Scorecards

Liverpool’s Molly McCann was a clear crowd favorite at the O2 Arena, and with one elbow, she gave the fans even more to cheer about as she knocked out Luana Carolina in the third round.
 
McCann (12-4) rattled her taller foe in the opening minute and blitzed Carolina (8-3), throwing both hands with reckless abandon. A clinch followed and the Brazilian cleared her head, allowing her to weather the storm. Once separated, McCann kept the pressure on, and another blitz of strikes to the body and head followed with a little over a minute to go, drawing a roar from the crowd.

Ilia Topuria’s lightweight debut got off to a bad start in the first round against Jai Herbert, but he turned things around in the second, halting the Brit in spectacular fashion.
 
A left kick to the head dropped Topuria 45 seconds into the fight, forcing the Spain product to tie his foe up and try to clear his head. With a little over three minutes to go, Topuria got his takedown, but with 1:30 left, Herbert was back to his feet and stalking his opponent, landing some more hard shots before the end of the frame.

In a featherweight bout, Makwan Amirkhani submitted Mike Grundy in the first round.
 
A takedown attempt by Grundy as the bout began resulted in a choke attempt by Amirkhani, and as the Brit tried to escape, the choke only got tighter, and that ended the fight at :57 of the opening frame.

In his first bout since 2019, Sergei Pavlovich extended his winning streak to three with a first-round stoppage of heavyweight contender Shamil Abdurakhimov.
 
After a slow start from both fighters, Pavlovich cracked Abdurakhimov with a right hand in the second minute before the two resumed their war of nerves until another right landed for Pavlovich. This one dropped Abdurakhimov, and after a barrage of follow-up shots, referee Dan Movahedi stopped the fight at the 4:03 mark.
 
Pavlovich moves to 15-1 with the win. The No. 10-ranked Abdurakhimov falls to 20-7.
 
Official Results - Sergei Pavlovich def. Shamil Abdurakhimov via TKO (strikes) at 4:03 of round one |  Official Scorecards

A clash of light heavyweight contenders saw Paul Craig score another impressive submission victory over Nikita Krylov.
 
Both fighters roared out to start the bout and after Krylov caught Craig, the Scotland native took his foe down. Krylov scrambled his way into the top position and proceeded to fire off hard shots. But just when it seemed like Krylov was in total control, Craig threw his legs up and locked in the triangle choke that forced a tap out at 3:57 of the first round.

Welshman Jack Shore kept his unbeaten record intact with a hard-fought unanimous decision win over fellow bantamweight up and comer Timur Valiev.
 
Scores were 29-28, 29-28, 29-27 for Shore, now 16-0. Valiev falls to 18-3, 1 NC.
 
Valiev held the slight striking edge in the early going, marking up Shore’s leg with his kicks, but the Welshman was right there with him. A Valiev takedown followed, but Shore got up quickly and it was back to the standup game for the rest of the opening frame.

In strawweight action, New Jersey’s Elise Reed won a three-round split decision over Cory McKenna.
 
Scores were 29-28, 29-28, 27-30 for Reed, now 5-1. McKenna falls to 6-2.

Twenty-one-year-old flyweight phenom Muhammad Mokaev wasted no time making an impression in his UFC debut, as the youngest fighter on the current roster submitted Cody Durden in less than a minute.