UFC Fight Night Sacremento results: Michelle Waterson beats Paige VanZant as Mickey Gall calls out Dan Hardy
Waterson picked up the biggest win of her career in the main event, while Gall got the better of Sage Northcutt before calling out British fighter Hardy and Urijah Faber said goodbye to the UFC
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Your support makes all the difference.It was another eventful UFC fight night as the world's premier mixed martial arts organisation visited Sacramento, California for UFC on Fox 22.
Waterson beats VanZant in a rapid fire main event
In the main event of the evening, strawweights Paige VanZant and Michelle Waterson went at it in battle of two women looking to force their way towards the top of the rankings.
The bookmakers couldn’t split them before the fight, but as soon as the first round began there only ever looked like being one winner and Waterson made short work of VanZant.
Waterson came out fast and wasted little time hitting VanZant with a big shot and then throwing her down to the mat. From there, Waterson transitioned to her back and after a few minutes of fighting for the submission she sunk in a rear-naked choke to get the tap at the 3:21 mark of round one.
Waterson (14-4) now has eight wins out of her last nine fights while VanZant (7-3) has lost two out of her last three.
Mickey Gall defeats Sage Northcutt
In the co-main event, two American welterweight prospects Sage Northcutt and Mickey Gall battled it out in another fight of two young talents.
Gall controlled majority of the first round as he took Northcutt down to the ground and went about looking for the finish.
Having failed to find the finish in the opening round, Gall didn’t have to wait long to get it in the second. Northcutt appeared to be getting the edge in the stand-up as he twice dropped Gall to the mat and after the second even appeared to taunt him.
Gall simply brushed it off though and responded with a massive right hand to drop him to the mat and from there worked in a rear-naked choke submission to get the tap.
After the fight, Gall made the interesting decision to call out former British UFC welterweight fighter and columnist for The Independent Dan Hardy, despite his four-year hiatus from the Octagon, and hinted that he would like to face Hardy at lightweight. Hardy soon responded to Gall via his Twitter account, joking: “Was he old enough to watch the @UFC when I was still fighting?”
Faber wins after emotional send off
While the two headline bouts were packed full of future UFC talent, the third fight from the top featured two of the longest serving active UFC veterans in Urijah Faber and Brad Pickett.
Faber had announced prior to last evening that it would be his retirement fight and that he was looking to end his career in a memorable way with a win over Pickett in his own back yard.
After a memorable send off from his hometown Sacramento crowd, Faber put on a vintage performance and mixed up his grappling and striking well to outwork and outclass the British fighter in every department to pick up a clear unanimous decision.
Pickett rallied bravely at times, but Faber always seemed to have the answer and the American was very close to get the finish after a knockdown from a right-hand in round one and then in the final round when Faber took it to the mat and relentlessly went for submissions and ground and pound.
Pickett saw the final bell, but this was Faber’s night and he was given a standing ovation both entering and leaving the Octagon for the last time.
Elsewhere on the card, Alan Jouban scores a unanimous decision victory over Mike Perry, while in the preliminary card headliner, Scotland’s own Paul Craig defeated Brazilian Hernrique da Silva via a slick submission in the second round.
UFC on Fox 22 Full Results
Main Card
Michelle Waterson def. Paige VanZant via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:21 of R1
Mickey Gall def. Sage Northcutt via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:40 of R2
Urijah Faber def. Brad Pickett via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Alan Jouban def. Mike Perry via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Paul Craig def. Henrique da Silva via submission (armbar) at 1:59 of R2
Mizuto Hirota def. Cole Miller via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Colby Covington def. Bryan Barberena via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Alex Morono def. James Moontasri via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Josh Emmett def. Scott Holtzman via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Leslie Smith def. Irene Aldana via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Hector Sandoval def. Fredy Serrano via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Eddie Wineland def. Takeya Mizugaki via TKO (punches) at 3:04 of R1
Sultan Aliev def. Bojan Velickovic via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
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