Records were broken, title hopes were shattered, and at the end, a huge statement was made in enviable fashion at Fight Night: Las Vegas.
Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson ended Johnny ‘Big Rigg’ Hendricks’s hopes of a crack at the title – momentarily at least – by finishing the former welterweight champion in the first round itself with a combination of punches.
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Wonderboy was on point and stuffed a predictable takedown attempt from Big Rigg early on in the round to weather the storm. Hendricks kept getting tagged in the counter as Thompson’s striking was precise and effective. The storied kickboxing credentials (57-0 record) were all to be seen as Wonderboy landed some beautiful kicks that popped the crowd and took a lot out of Hendricks.
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In the heavyweight bout of the evening, Roy Nelson outpointed Jared Rosholt to earn a unanimous decision victory, his first decision since 2007.
Ovince Saint Preux’s legit toughness was all there to be seen, as the light heavyweight, in spite of an injured right foot he sustained midway through the fight, defeated Brazilian Rafael Cavalcante via unanimous decision.
That wasn’t all for the night, though, as Mickey Gall, who was picked up by Dana White for a potential fight against CM Punk, had the best possible showing by submitting Mike Jackson with a rear naked choke. Post-fight, it was announced that Gall would indeed be Punk’s first oppoenent inside the Octagon.
Below are the complete results:
- Stephen Thompson def. Johny Hendricks via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:31
- Roy Nelson def. Jared Rosholt via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ovince Saint Preux def. Rafael Cavalcante via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Joseph Benavidez def. Zach Makovsky via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Misha Cirkunov def. Alex Nicholson via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:28
- Mike Pyle def. Sean Spencer via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 4:25
- Josh Burkman def. K.J. Noons via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Derrick Lewis def. Damian Grabowski via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:17
- Justin Scoggins def. Ray Borg via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Diego Rivas def. Noad Lahat via knockout (flying knee) – Round 2, 0:23
- Mickey Gall def. Mike Jackson via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:45
- Alex White def. Artem Lobov via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
