Aspinall injury brings UFC London to sad end after Pimblett and McCann wins

It was an amazing night for British fighters on the second UFC card of the year at the O2 Arena in London but it ended on a sour note.

Tom Aspinall was expected to pick up the biggest win of his career in the main event, but he suffered an unfortunate injury after several UK MMA fighters recorded big wins throughout the night.

Nicholas Dalby def. Claudio Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Nicholas Dalby recovered from a tough first round to pick up a unanimous decision win over Claudio Silva in the first night of the night at UFC London.

‘Lokomotivo’ was dominated on the mat for the first five minutes but Silva appeared to empty his gas tank in that round and just seemed to be in survival mode for the 10 minutes that followed.

Dalby put his strikes together over the final two rounds but wasn’t able to take out his 39-year-old opponent before the horn blared and ended their fight.

Muhammad Mokaev def. Charles Johnson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

The 21-year-old, who was born in Dagestan, Russia, but moved to England as a refugee aged eight, enjoyed one of the best UFC debuts of all-time earlier this year as landed a flying knee on Cody Durden before submitting him in just 58 seconds.

Now he’s 2-0 in MMA’s premier promotion after putting on a grappling clinic against Charles Johnson who was tough but unable to mount any real offence over the course of three rounds in London.

Jonathan Pearce def. Makwan Amirkhani via TKO in round two

American featherweight Jonathan Peace ingratiated himself to the British fight crowd when he became the first fighter to score a finish on the card.

‘JSP’ mauled Makwan Amirkhani in the second round and landed a ton of ground and pound before the referee stepped in to wave off the bout.

The 30-year-old is now riding a four-fight win streak and hasn’t lost since being TKO’d by UFC legend Joe Lauzon in his promotional debut in October 2019.

Nathaniel Wood def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)

Nathaniel Wood made it 3-0 for UK fighters on the card as he eased to a decision win over the tough but outmatched American Charles Rosa.

‘The Prospect’ beat up his opponent with nasty head shots and leg kicks but was unable to find the finish to cap off what was an otherwise perfect featherweight debut.

Marc Diakiese def. Damir Hadžović via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)

Khabib Nurmagomedov Marc Diakiese showed off his ever-improving wrestling game with a dominant display against Damir Hadžović.

‘Bonecrusher’ was previously known for his flashy strikes but, as of late, he’s become quite the grappler and the style change is certainly working well for him and for the UK who picked up four straight wins to start the event.

The 29-year-old scored his second consecutive win after previously derailing Viacheslav Borschev’s hype train earlier this year.

Ľudovít Klein def. Mason Jones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

The UK dominance at UFC London came to an end in the featured preliminary fight of the evening between Mason Jones and Ľudovít Klein.

Jones charged forward throughout round one but was simply too hittable and was made to pay by Klein who tagged him often, most notably landing a flying head kick that the Welshman somehow ate.

In round two, the fight appeared to be over when the former dual-weight Cage Warriors champion fell face first to the mat after eating a nasty punch. Klein followed his opponent to the floor and got off some nasty ground and pound but was unable to take out Jones.

‘The Dragon’ spent most of the final frame on his back trying desperately to find a hail mary submission but he couldn’t and ultimately fell to a lopsided decision defeat.

Volkan Oezdemir def. Paul Craig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

An unusual light-heavyweight fight followed Klein-Jones.

Volkan Oezdemir survived an early heel hook attempt from the jiu-jitsu wizard and was able to work himself into the fight throughout the first five minutes.

In round two, ‘Bearjew’ started to find some success on the feet but every time he did he would abandon his striking and try to pull guard in the hopes of securing the 14^th submission win of his MMA career.  

‘No Time’ found the mark with his power shots sporadically and that was ultimately enough to get him the decision on the judges’ scorecards.

Molly McCann def. Hannah Goldy via TKO in round one

Molly McCann received the biggest pop of the night up to this point from the thousands in attendance at UFC London in the O2 Arena, deservedly so.

‘Meatball’ swarmed her opponent from the first bell and quickly found the mark with her hands before landing a spinning elbow reminiscent of her most famous UFC win.

Hannah Goldy slumped over, ate a few more shots before falling to the floor and forcing veteran referee Herb Dean to wave off the fight.

Nikita Krylov def. Alexander Gustafsson via TKO in round one

UFC Hall of Famer Alexander Gustafsson looked a shadow of his former self at the O2 Arena tonight.

‘The Mauler’ was hit and hurt by Nikita Krylov, who isn’t known as a big puncher, throughout the fight that lasted just over a minute and sadly appears to be the last time we’ll see the Swedish legend in the UFC.

Paddy Pimblet def. Jordan Leavitt via submission in round two

Paddy Pimblett continued his journey to superstardom at UFC London with a submission win over Jordan Leavitt, the man many regarded as his toughest opponent to date.

‘The Baddy’ locked up a rear-naked choke in round two before making good on his pre-fight promise to ‘tea bag’ his opponent who had been talking trash in the lead-up to their bout at the O2 Arena.

The charismatic Liverpudlian wildly celebrated with the fans who came out to support him before delivering a sincere mental health message after telling Michael Bisping during his post-fight interview that his friend recently committed suicide.

Jack Hermansson def. Chris Curtis via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Following Paddy Pimblett was always going to be tough, even for Darren Till who until recently was tied to UFC London before he withdrew from the card due to injury.

Jack Hermansson instead fought middleweight contender Chris Curtis and the bout was 15-fairly-uneventful-minutes of striking exchanges before the fight took a turn in the final seconds of the third frame.

Curtis became frustrated with his opponent ‘running’ and implored him to stand and bang. The fight came to an end but both men wanted to keep going after the final bell.

The American was dragged out of the Octagon but made profane hand signals at his opponent who spent most of his post-fight speech apologising for his performance.

Curtis Blaydes def. Tom Aspinall by TKO in round one

The UFC London fight card came to an unfortunate end as British heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall suffered a leg injury just moments into his main event match-up against Curtis Bladyes.

Both men got after it from the first bell and it appeared we could be in for a short night, but no one would have expected the fight to come to such worrying fashion.

Aspinall landed a kick to his opponent’s thigh before dropping to the floor in pain and clutching his knee. Veteran referee Herb Dean immediately stepped in to wave off the fight much to the disappointment of Bladyes and the fans at the O2 Arena.