Another title defense was logged for Patricio Freire (32-4 MMA, 20-4 BMMA), who moved on to the Bellator featherweight grand prix final against rival A.J. McKee with a quick win over Emmanuel Sanchez (20-5 MMA, 12-4 BMMA).
Freire defeated Sanchez by technical submission with a guillotine choke less than four minutes into the opening round of their tournament semifinal, putting a decisive end to the rematch after the pair fought to a competitive decision in November 2018.
Miss #Bellator255 on Friday? Take one minute to watch @PatricioPitbull‘s quick tap of Sanchez and heated faceoff with McKee. 👇🔥
Full event highlights: https://t.co/GtMFFQKoUr pic.twitter.com/BtzVil1PJ7
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) April 3, 2021
UFC strawweight contender Mackenzie Dern (11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) picked up her fourth consecutive win when she submitted Nina Nunes (10-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC) in the first round.
Dern finished the job with an armbar, but Nunes showed resistance. Dern got an early takedown using a single leg, and from there began her handy work. Dern passed guard, side control, and then moved to mount. From there, Dern began working for an armbar until she made Nunes tap.
No arm is safe from @MackenzieDern 💪 #UFCVegas23 pic.twitter.com/3NEN7tYmyZ
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 10, 2021
Julian Marquez (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) was out to get a finish against Sam Alvey (33-15-1 MMA, 10-10-1 UFC) in their middleweight bout, and he did just that.
Marquez choked Alvey unconscious with a rear-naked choke in the second round of a wild fight. In one of the combinations, Alvey dropped to the ground and looked for a takedown, but Marquez sprawled and got behind Alvey where he was able to lock up no-hooked choke and put Alvey to sleep.
SHEEEEEESH! @JMarquezMMA was finishing that fight NO MATTER WHAT 🥶 #UFCVegas23 pic.twitter.com/5hwfT4A7I2
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 10, 2021
After taking his first octagon loss in his previous outing, Brendan Allen (16-4, 4-1) bounced back with a first-round finish of Karl Roberson (9-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) in their middleweight bout.
A straight ankle lock got the job done for Allen, with it being ninth finish of its kind in UFC history. After a few exchanges on the feet to begin the fight, Allen tied up Roberson against the cage and got it to the ground. They trades leg submission attempts, but Allen was the craftier man and forced the tap.
THERE’S THE TAP!
🎰 @BrendanAllenMMA secures the RD 1 sub!
[ #UFC261 on @ESPN & #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/bGxypI5AOF
— UFC (@ufc) April 25, 2021
After a previous matchup was canceled, Randy Brown (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) finally got his hands on welterweight veteran Alex Oliveira (22-10-1 MMA, 11-8 UFC), and he made the most of it.
A unique one-armed rear-naked choke closed the show for Brown. When he got the back of his opponent early in the first, he didn’t lock in the choke as he would traditionally need to. He wrapped one arm under the throat, and showed a ridiculous squeeze to make his opponent give up.
HE ONLY NEEDED ONE ARM 😤 @TouchNgo_
Stream #UFC261 on ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/11j8ptNbRf pic.twitter.com/azQV4WvYwo
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 25, 2021
The winner
Brown needed just one arm and one round to submit and dispatch of Oliveira.
It was a short, but dramatic bout, but the finish was slick as it gets.
Brown seemed to be in trouble early when Oliveira landed significant leg kicks that were stunning him. But not long after, Brown answered back with a right hand that wobbled Oliveira.
From there, the 30-year-old pounced on the Brazilian, took his back, and submitted Oliveira with a rear-naked choke using just one arm. Brown ended up locking the rear-naked choke with both arms, but Oliveira was tapping well before the choke was locked.
Brown bounced back from a loss to Vicente Luque in August 2020. He’s now 3-1 in his past four bouts. Oliveira fell to 2-5 in his past seven trips to the octagon. He’s on a two-fight skid, including a loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov, also by submission, this past October.
