MMA Junkie has live coverage of UFC 323 with round-by-round analysis of every fight.
Mairon Santos kicked off the UFC 323 festivities with an impressive finish of Muhammad Naimov.
Santos (17-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) remained undefeated in the UFC by stopping Naimov (13-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in a featherweight bout in the opening preliminary bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The official time of the stoppage was 0:21 of Round 3.
The first two rounds of the fight were competitive, yet Santos was in control of the action and won each round on all of the judges’ scorecards – but Santos made sure their input wasn’t necessary.
Early in the final round, Santos charged forward with heavy punches. A combination punctuated with a heavy right hand sent Naimov down, and the follow-up swarm was enough for referee Jason Herzog to stop the fight.
Check out video of the finish below (via X):
With the result, Santos improves to 4-0 in the UFC, although this outing comes with the asterisk of missing weight for the first time. It was a mistake he promised not to make again during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. For Naimov, the result halted the momentum of back-to-back wins earlier this year.
