Dana White’s Contender Series is back and three UFC contracts were offered on week one after a night of four fights.
The three successful competitors were Dustin Jacoby, Uros Medic and Jordan Leavitt.
In the main event, Jacoby earned a unanimous decision win over Ty Flores.
Jacoby dominated proceedings in the opening two rounds, punishing Flores with a range of strikes including punches, elbows, kicks and flying knees. He almost got the finish towards the end of the second stanza, but Flores somehow survived.
The third round saw Jacoby fight a lot more sluggishly as he batted both fatigue and Flores at the same time.
Flores couldn’t capitalise on a takedown, though, as Jacoby held on to bring the decision – and a UFC contract – home.
Alaska-based Serbian Uros Medic won his contract following a first-round finish over Mikey Gonzalez.
The unbeaten lightweight comfortably evaded Gonzalez’s spinning kicks to land more conventional strikes, culminating in a nasty liver kick that folded Gonzalez in half.
Gonzalez recovered and brought the fight back to its feet, but Medic scored another knockdown with a left straight-right leg kick combination. After some follow-up punches, the fight was rightly called to a halt.
UFC President Dana White was clearly impressed.
In the opening fight of the night, Leavitt showed off his grappling skills as he submitted Jose Flores with an arm-triangle choke in the first round.
Leavitt secured a takedown early and was dominant in top position. He was briefly endangered by a kimura attempt, but he easily slammed his way out of trouble.
After landing some nasty ground and pound, the 25-year-old lightweight started looking to end the fight with a submission. Leavitt moved to take Flores’ back, threatening a rear-naked choke before settling for the arm-triangle which proved his opponent’s undoing.
Leavitt extended his unbeaten record and earned a UFC contract in the process.
Dana White Contender Series: Week 1 full results
Light Heavyweight: Dustin Jacoby def. Ty Flores by unanimous decision after three rounds
Lightweight: Uros Medic def. Mikey “Rolls” Gonzalez by TKO (punches) at 2:48 of round one
Flyweight: Jerome Rivera def. Luis Rodríguez Decision by unanimous decision after three rounds
Lightweight: Jordan Leavitt def. Jose “Luke” Flores by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 4:15 of round one