UFC on ESPN 38 play-by-play and live results

Round 1 – Thirty seconds of feeling each other out is broken by a weak right hand from Vanessa, and Frey responds with a leg kick. Both women are measured with their strikes in the early going, nothing landing. Frey lands the first significant strike, a straight left hand down the middle. Frey closes distance with lefts, which causes Vanessa to slip. Vanessa lands her first big punch, an overhand right. Frey retorts with a nice combo that backs up Vanessa. Moments later, Vanessa throws a body kick that is caught, and Frey throws her to the ground, but she pops back up. Big takedown by Vanessa with 1: 10 left, great explosion on the double. Nice work from Frey to get back to her feet with 50 seconds left. Frey lands two straight lefts and a hook to close out the final 10 seconds. Vanessa wearing some damage on her face. We’re going 10-9 Frey.

Round 2 – Vanessa comes out with a quick overhand right that misses. Good inside kick to follow up but also a nice counter from Frey. Vanessa shoots for a takedown with a minute left but misses. Good jabs land from Frey. Vanessa throws a high kick but nothing doing. Vanessa lands her best punch of the fight with a hard straight right hand, but Frey counters right back. Vanessa keeps throwing overhand rights without setting them up, and Frey is reading it. Another shot from Vanessa too far out fails. Vanessa has been more active throwing this round. Good read on a body kick from Vanessa, who shoots and starts landing the right. Another takedown attempt results in a clinch against the cage with 50 seconds remaining. Good knees are scoring, and then they separate. Overall, kind of an ugly round, but it goes to Vanessa 10-9. We got it 19-19 heading into the third.

Round 3 – Frey takes the center, but Vanessa is throwing, and she is throwing with high volume now. Relentlessly. The attack results in the clinch against the fence 30 seconds in. Frey had to go on the defensive with all those punches coming at her. Frey can’t get Vanessa off her as she works a single-leg attempt. Frey lands some short elbows why Vanessa works for the takedown. Vanessa looks tired now after they break from clinch. The haymakers keep coming from Vanessa. Good counter left by Frey. Another good counter left. Jab stifles Vanessa’s attack. Close round with two minutes left. Vanessa shoots in for a single, and they’re pressed against the cage again. A couple of knees to the body from Vanessa land. Final minute, and Vanessa is putting the pressure on. She essentially controlls the final 90 seconds of the fight until they break in the final 10, and Frey lands two really big left hands to close it out. Tough, tough round to score as Vanessa had that control time, but Frey landed the better punches. We’re going 10-9 Frey for the round, and 29-28 Frey overall.

Result: Vanessa Demopoulos def. Jinh Yu Frey via split decision 28-29, 29-28, 30-27


Recap:  Vanessa Demopoulos surprised Michael Bisping with celebration after UFC on ESPN 38 win


Photos: UFC on ESPN 38: Best photos from Las Vegas


Records: Vanessa Demopoulos (8-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC), Jinh Yu Frey (11-7 MMA, 2-3 UFC)


Division: Women’s strawweight


Broadcast: ESPN2/ESPN+


Referee: Chris Tognoni


Judging: Sal D’Amato, Ron McCarthy, Jerin Valel

Round 1 – Bautista comes out attacking with jabs in the early going. Twenty seconds in, he throws a spinning back kick. And, hey, Kelleher throws a front kick in response. Flying knee misses from Bautista. Then he scores a nice takedown moments later and is in side control. A lot of maneuvering from both guys, and Kelleher tries for a guillotine that Bautista fends off. They scramble quicks, and whoa, what a transition to mount for Bautista. That gets Kelleher turning to his back, and whoa again, Bautista quickly sinks in the rear-naked choke, and the tap comes quickly. Solid ground work from Bautista to get the submission.

Result: Mario Bautista def. Brian Kelleher via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2: 27


Recap: UFC on ESPN 38 video: Mario Bautista turns in dominant performance, taps Brian Kelleher in first round


Photos: UFC on ESPN 38: Best photos from Las Vegas


Records: Mario Bautista (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC), Brian Kelleher (24-14 MMA, 8-7 UFC)


Division: Bantamweight


Broadcast: ESPN2/ESPN+


Referee: Herb Dean

Round 1 – Durden lands the first big overhand right that wobbles Buys 30 seconds in. This forces a clinch but not for long. When they separate, they both throw, but Durden clips Buys with a right hand during a failed takedown attempt. That drops Buys, who is in survivor mode as Buys throws rapid punches to get the TKO stoppage. Fast and furious that was.

Result: Cody Durden def. JP Buys via TKO (puches) – Round 1, 1: 08


Recap:  UFC on ESPN 38 video: Cody Durden smokes JP Buys with 68-second TKO


Photos: UFC on ESPN 38: Best photos from Las Vegas


Records: JP Buys (9-5 MMA, 0-3 UFC), Cody Durden (13-4-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC)


Division: Flyweight


Broadcast: ESPN2/ESPN+


Referee: Mark Smith

Round 1 – They both throw simultaneous leg kicks that land. Good jab by Morozov to follow. Paiva now wobbles Morozov with a big overhand right hand, but Morozov defends with a takedown attempt that results in the clinch to buy some recovery time. They separate, and Paiva is in the center of the cage. Again, Paiva lands a big right hand, follows up with another nice combination. Morozov is fighting back, though. They slow down in the center, nearly a clash of heads as they close distance. Nice straight right hand by Morozov off of a leg kick. Paiva cracks him again with a right, but Morozov lands a nice two-punch combo in response, which gets Paiva’s attention. Morozov’s nose is bleeding, and now both guys are trading shots. Action sequence there. Paiva is leading in with a left hook, but he gets caught. But he responds with a really nice straight right near the end. Both men had moments, but Paiva had more of them. 10-9 Paiva.

Round 2 – Both men are throwing and bouncing around. Nice two-punch combo from Morozov. What a nice level change from Morozov as Paiva closes distance with a right hand. Now Morozov is on top with 3: 30 remaining. Nice elbow from Morozov, who is being calculated with how he attacks. Morozov is going on 90 seconds of control now. Paiva scrambles and tries for a leg lock but nothing doing. Morozov stays calm to fend it off, and is transitioning great as Paiva tries to get up. Paiva does get back to his feet and is met with a knee by Morozov, who is still handing on his back. Morozov still firmly has Paiva in his grasp with a minute remaining. Paiva turns the tables, though, and goes for standing guillotine that forces Morozov to escape and separate. But he immediately shoots back in, and they’re clinched against the cage with 30 seconds left. They end there. Good round for Morozov, who takes it 10-9.

Round 3 – It’s even for me heading into Round 3, so here we go. Nice left hook lands for Morozov, first strike of the round. He is the aggressor in this first minute. Shoots for a takedown, which Paiva does his best to fight off but gets down. But Paiva pops back up, and they clinch briefly before separating. As they do, nice left hand lands from Morozov. What a nice jab landing for Morozov here with three minutes remaining. Paiva isn’t throwing much anymore. Paiva tries to shoot but is stuffed. Morozov throws a spinning backfist that grazes and continues with two follow-up jabs that land. Morozov with a lazy shot, quick guillotine attempt from Paiva that does nothing. Morozov is out-striking Paiva. Both guys are trying to get a takedown probably thinking they could steal the round. Paiva does get the takedown in the final five seconds, but that was a pretty clear Morozov round 10-9. We got it 29-28 Morozov overall.

Result: Sergey Morozov def. Raulian Paiva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)


Photos: UFC on ESPN 38: Best photos from Las Vegas


Records: Sergey Morozov (18-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Raulian Paiva (21-5 MMA, 3-4 UFC)


Division: Bantamweight


Broadcast: ESPN2/ESPN+


Referee: Jason Herzog


Judging: Chris Lee, Junichiro Kamijo, Tony Weeks

Round 1 – We have fake bleach blonde hair vs. fake bleach blonde hair in this one. Shayilan is swinging for the fences early on. Both men are swining hard. Nice right hand by Shayilan as TJ closes for a kick. A big overhand right drops TJ, who pops up and shoots for a takedown in defense, but Shayilan reverses that to end up in top position. An armbar attempt from TJ that appears sunk in, but it’s not deep enough. Shayilan lifts TJ and then drops him down, and TJ is working the leg/foot. Nice work from both guys on the attack and the defense. They separate and get back to their feet. Nice spinning backfist from Shayilan. TJ responds with some shots that don’t really land hard. Shayilan is throwing an array of strikes. Good action in this one from both guys. Another takedown for Shayilan, who is in top position with 40 seconds left. Shayilan ends up this way. Overall he had control time plus landed the better strikes. 10-9 Shayilan.

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Records: TJ Brown (16-8 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Shayilan Nuerdanbieke (36-10 MMA, 1-1 UFC)


Division: Featherweight


Broadcast: ESPN2/ESPN+


Referee: Chris Tognoni


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Records: Tafon Nchukwi (6-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC), Carlos Ulberg (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC)


Division: Light heavyweight


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Records: Chris Curtis (28-8 MMA, 2-0 UFC), Rodolfo Vieira (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC)


Division: Middleweight


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Records: Nate Maness (14-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC), Umar Nurmagomedov (14-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC)


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Records: Christos Giagos (19-9 MMA, 5-5 UFC), Thiago Moises (15-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC)


Division: Lightweight


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Records: Alan Baudot (8-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC), Josh Parisian (14-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC)


Division: Heavyweight


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Records: Neil Magny (26-8 MMA, 19-7 UFC), Shavkat Rakhmonov (15-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC)


Division: Welterweight


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Records: Arman Tsarukyan (18-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC), Mateusz Gamrot (20-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC)


Division: Lightweight


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