UFC 312 Prelims: Gabriel Santos Throttles Jack Jenkins

A “Little Mosquito” is starting to make a big buzz in the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division.

In the featured preliminary bout of UFC 312 on Saturday in Sydney, Gabriel Santos (12-2) survived an early scare, showed off a complete MMA skill set and earned a dominant finish over Jack Jenkins (13-4, 1 NC). A measured kickboxing match turned wild in a hurry when Jenkins uncorked a head kick that floored “Mosquitinho.” Jenkins swarmed for the finish as the crowd exploded, but Santos recovered his wits and ensnared Jenkins in a deep triangle choke. It looked for a few tense moments as if Jenkins was going to be forced to tap or take a nap, but he managed to extricate his neck, only to have Santos switch to an armbar. Jenkins fought that off as well, and made it back to his feet, but Santos dragged him back down and finished the frame in top position. Santos wasted little time in bringing things back to the canvas in the middle round, refuting a Jenkins takedown attempt and then answering with his own, setting up shop in Jenkins’ guard and pelting him with short strikes for nearly three full minutes, punctuating the frame with a diving, standing-to-ground punch at the horn.

Santos kept rolling in Round 3, lighting Jenkins up with a flush front kick to the face in the opening moments, then taking him down. From there, things moved quickly: Santos took Jenkins’ back, applied a body triangle from back mount, and wrapped up the Aussie’s neck with a tight rear-naked choke. After a few seconds of futile struggle, “Phar” was forced to ask out of the bout at 2 minutes, 6 seconds of the final round. With the emphatic win, the 28-year-old Brazilian moved to 2-2 in the UFC, while Jenkins dropped to 3-2.

Related » UFC 312 Round-by-Round Scoring

Nolan Outlasts Borshchev

The “Big Train” kept a-rolling at lightweight, as Tom Nolan (9-1) showed off well-rounded skills in picking up a win over Viacheslav Borshchev (8-5-1). Nolan appeared primed to take advantage of the former kickboxer’s liabilities on the ground, as he took Borshchev’s back standing, dragged him to the floor and threatened to finish the fight with an arm-triangle choke. Borshchev survived and escaped, but Nolan likely got the better of the exchanges on the feet as well. That dynamic held up in Round 2; Nolan put “Slava Claus” in peril with a choke attempt, which may have made the difference in a round in which Borshchev made up ground in the striking. The third round saw Borshchev finally slow down Nolan’s wrestling, leading to an early sequence in which he kicked the taller man from the “up” position of Ali-Inoki. Borshchev picked up momentum as the round wore on, turning aside more of Nolan’s takedown attempts, taking top position and landing ground strikes. The Russian by way of California closed out strong, dropping punches before going for a leglock in the final seconds, but it was too little, too late as the judges awarded the fight to Nolan by 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 tallies. With the hard-earned win, his second straight since a shocking knockout loss to Nikolas Motta a year ago, the towering Aussie moved to 3-1 in the UFC, while Borshchev fell to 3-4-1.

Wang Routs Brasil

Tasked with bouncing back from her first career loss, Cong Wang (7-1) did her best impression of a snowball rolling downhill as she overcame a strong start by Bruna Brasil (10-5-1) and turned an intriguing clash of flyweight strikers into a laugher by fight’s end. In Round 1, Brasil’s calf kicks gave Wang trouble early, marking up her left leg and forcing her to contemplate stance switches at several points. Wang found opportunities to land her own offense, however, catching Brasil with hard punches to the body and head. Wang appeared to pick up confidence and momentum throughout Round 1, which carried over into the middle frame, as Wang blunted Brasil’s leg kicks by matching forward, countering with punches upstairs and landing some low kicks of her own. By the end of Round 2, Brasil’s output had dried up to nearly nil, and Wang opened up in response, throwing hard shots with both hands and forcing Brasil into full retreat in the final minute. Heading into the final round, Brasil’s coaches did their level best to light a fire under their fighter, but she once again struggled to pull the trigger against the composed, crisp combination punching from the former wushu sanda champ. Wang put a punctuation mark on the performance with a nice takedown late, but the result was all but in the books. All three cageside judges saw the fight 30-27 for Wang, who moved to 2-1 in the promotion; Brasil fell to 2-3 with the demoralizing loss.

Topuria Tops Thicknesse in Battle of Newcomers

Alexandre Topuria (6-1) made a successful debut, using power punching and effective wrestling to stay a step ahead of fellow Octagon debutant Colby Thicknesse (7-1) in their bantamweight matchup. The older brother of UFC featherweight champ Ilia Topuria was cautious as the fight opened, making his reads as the taller Thicknesse took the outside, chipped away with low kicks and stayed mobile. Topuria came alive midway through the first round, catching Thicknesse with a big right hand that put the Aussie on wobbly legs. He could not capitalize on the moment but closed out the round emphatically with a massive suplex. Topuria remained aggressive in Round 2, marching forward in a compact boxing stance reminiscent of his more famous sibling and uncoiling with tight hooks and a vicious spinning wheel kick attempt that missed by a hair. Thicknesse was game, sliding around the perimeter of the Octagon and answering with jabs and low kicks, but the Spaniard’s forward motion and obvious power advantage appeared to carry the round. Topuria went back to his wrestling early in the final round, dragging Thicknesse down and threatening to take his back, but Thicknesse escaped without significant damage or positional peril. Topuria persisted in working to bring the fight to the canvas, leading to an entertaining ground sequence in which he was forced to defend himself from a series of kimura and rubber guard attacks by the lanky Australian. Topuria fought through them all, and ended the fight in top position, throwing short punches as the horn sounded. The judges rewarded him with unanimous 30-27 scores, moving him to 1-0 in the UFC as Thicknesse, who stepped up on two weeks’ notice for the injured Cody Haddon, likely made a few believers in the losing effort, fell to 0-1.

Rong Tops Steele in Slugfest

Zhu Rong (26-6) continued his lightweight resurgence, turning aside previously undefeated prospect Kody Steele (7-1) in a wild prelim scrap. Steele looked sharp in the early going, parlaying his apparent speed advantage on the feet into success as he bounced into range and landed clean punches on the taller man, then scored an easy takedown. Rong was taking his foe’s measure, though, and in the middle of the round he caught Steele with a big left hook that rocked him badly. Far from backing down, that only spurred Steele into greater aggression, and the two lightweights proceeded to elevate Round 1 into a “Round of the Year” contender as they blistered one another with big punches and numerous swings of momentum over the final three minutes of the round. Rong got the better of the chaos, a dynamic that held up over the remaining two rounds. Steele, to his credit, never backed down, and continued to look for any possible route to victory, including a brief try at a leglock in Round 2, but once Rong got into gear he was simply too sharp and accurate on the feet for the newcomer. Rong’s jab, in particular, stymied Steele over the final 10 minutes of the fight, denying him the close quarters exchanges he sought. The former training partners abandoned all caution in the closing seconds, swinging away, but while both men landed, nothing happened to change the course of the fight. The resurgent Rong picked up the win by 30-27 scores all around, elevating his mark to 2-3 across two separate stints in the UFC and reinforcing the impression that he is a changed fighter since his return; Steele fell to 0-1 with the valiant showing in defeat.

Micallef Kicks Past Jousset

In an all-Oceanic welterweight tilt, New Zealand’s Jonathan Micallef (8-1) made a statement, as he fed French-born Aussie Kevin Jousset (10-4) a steady diet of kicks that left Jousset’s ribs black and blue. The debuting Micallef, fresh from a standout showing on Dana White's Contender Series, established his southpaw kicking game immediately against the towering Jousset. In the first frame, Micallef’s kicks quickly reddened, then blackened Jousset’s right side, and when Jousset lowered his guard, he went upstairs with a left head kick that dropped him. Jousset recovered right away, but the first two rounds were largely defined by Micallef’s steady stream of bruising kicks against Jousset’s occasional clean punches to the head. Clearly behind going into the final round, Jousset stepped on the gas late, and his aggression and forward movement blunted Micallef’s kicking game enough to win him the frame. The judges concurred, awarding the fight to Micallef by unanimous 29-28 scores.

Salkilld Sparks Jubli

Quillan Salkilld (8-1) got the card—and his UFC career—off to a sizzling start, crushing Anshul Jubli (7-2) with a huge right hand in the opening seconds of their lightweight clash. After a couple of tentative strikes, Salkilld answered a glancing body punch with a right hook that caught Jubli directly behind the left ear, crumpling him in his tracks. Referee Jim Perdios dived in immediately for the stoppage, eliciting a brief protest from the dazed “King of Lions,” but it goes down as a 19-second TKO win for the Aussie, who moved to 1-0 in the promotion; Jubli fell to 1-2 since graduating from the first season of “Road to UFC.”