Paddy Pimblett was once again the star of UFC London, four months after the MMA promotion’s last trip to the English capital, submitting Jordan Leavitt in the second round before fellow Briton Tom Aspinall suffered a knee injury just seconds into the main event.
Pimblett, who entered the O2 Arena with a 2-0 record in the UFC after two first-round stoppage wins, was largely outwrestled by Leavitt in the first round of their fight on Saturday night, but the Liverpudlian kept his composure to set up the finish in Round 2.
Pimblett, 27, dropped Leavitt with a knee in the clinch as both lightweights grappled along the fence, and “Paddy The Baddy” quickly took the American’s back before locking in a rear naked choke. Leavitt soon tapped out, sending the O2 into raptures in a similar fashion to how the crowd reacted to Pimblett’s submission of Rodrigo Vargas in March.
Later in the night, the highly-anticipated heavyweight main event between Wigan’s Aspinall and American Curtis Blaydes ended after just 15 seconds, when the Briton’s knee gave way after he had thrown a leg kick.
Aspinall collapsed to the canvas, and referee Herb Dean waved off the fight, before Blaydes was declared the winner by TKO once a wincing Aspinall, 29, had finally gotten back to his feet with his leg in a brace.
It marked an anti-climactic end to another promising evening for British MMA, with Molly McCann having remarkably secured her second straight spinning back elbow finish.
The Liverpudlian, a close friend of Pimblett, scored arguably the knockout of the year at UFC London in March, finishing Luana Carolina with a stunning elbow in Round 3, and it was the same strike that set up her win over Hannah Goldy here.
With Goldy backed up against the fence in the first round, “Meatball Molly” landed a spinning back elbow to hurt her opponent and leave her vulnerable to a series of punches that dropped the American and resulted in a stoppage.
Full results
Main card
Curtis Blaydes def. Tom Aspinall via first-round TKO (knee injury, 0:15)
Jack Hermansson def. Chris Curtis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Paddy Pimblett def. Jordan Leavitt via second-round submission (rear naked choke, 2:46)
Nikita Krylov def. Alexander Gustafsson via first-round KO (punches, 1:07)
Molly McCann def. Hannah Goldy via first-round TKO (elbow and punches, 3:53)
Volkan Oezdemir def. Paul Craig via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Prelims
L’udovit Klein def. Mason Jones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Marc Diakiese def. Damir Hadzovic via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Nathaniel Wood def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decisin (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Jonathan Pearce def. Makwan Amirkhani via second-round TKO (punches, 4:10)
Muhammad Mokaev def. Charles Johnson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Jai Herbert def. Kyle Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Victoria Leonardo def. Mandy Bohm via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Nicolas Dalby def. Claudio Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
