UFC Nashville 2023 Results: Sandhagen dominates Font to cement title challenge as Suarez submits Andrade

Add as a preferred source on Google

Nashville, August 6: Cory Sandhagen dominated Rob Font for a decision win, cementing his Bantamweight title challenge in main event of UFC Nashville 2023: Sandhagen vs. Font at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday (August 6).

The sold out crowd witnessed five of twelve fights end in stoppages, including the co-main event and the two others bouts on the main card as well as two on the preliminary card with all the five fighters taking home an extra USD50K as bonuses.

Assu Almabayev, Carlston Harris, Diego Lopes. Dustin Jacoby and co-headliner Tatiana Suarez all picked up performance bonuses for their respective stoppage wins on the card.

In a very prominent bantamweight contenders' main event, No. 4 ranked Sandhagen welcomed late notice fill in No. 7 ranked Font, who stepped in to replace an injured Umar Nurmagomedov.

Each man initiated ground fighting with takedowns and excellent grappling exchanges ensued throughout two rounds. As the fight progressed, Sandhagen mounted his distinctive offense then showed stellar wrestling to negate Font's best tool of striking.

Sandhagen dominated to the final bell and won the unanimous decision. He said, "Nashville, I wanted to put on a more exciting fight, but I've been dealing with problems with my elbow, I think I tore my tricep in the first round."

"I know, boo away. It was technical. I'm a wrestler now, so I'm sorry. (UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain) Sterling and (Sean) O'Malley, I'll see you in Boston. I've got next!"

In the co-main event, former strawweight champion, No. 5 ranked Jessica Andrade made a women's record for most fights in UFC (25) when she entered the Octagon against undefeated No. 10 Suarez in a strawweight contender's bout.

Andrade showed her experience in savvy in the first round, but Suarez negated everything with a no-arm guillotine submission in the second, and thus remained undefeated. Suarez was awarded her Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt after the tap out.

Following the win, she said, "Everyone said, 'How is she going to do against the power of Jessica Andrade?' We showed it tonight: I out-struck her, and I submitted her.

"I fell in love with jiu jitsu when I made the transition to MMA. I became a dangerous fighter. I can submit from lots of places. I'm going to fix everything because I can be the champion, because I know I'm the best in the world."

Also on the main card, Jacoby claimed a first-round TKO over Kennedy Nzechukwu in a light heavyweight bout after Lopes locked in the arm-bar on Gavin Tucket to force the tap in the first round of a featherweight bout.

Plus, Ludovit Klein and Tanner Boser earned decision wins after they outworked Ignacio Bahamondes and Aleksa Camur in their respective lightweight and light heavyweight bouts on the main card.

In the preliminary card, Almabayev applied the rare naked choke to claim a submission win over Ode' Osbourne in the second round of a flyweight bout that opened the event, while Harris locked in the anaconda choke on Jeremiah Wells to earn a third-round submission win at welterweight.

Meanwhile, the likes of Kyler Phillips, Billy Quarantillo, Cody Durden and Sean Woodson took their respective opponents to the distance to earn decision wins on the night that recorded a live gate of $2,102,127.12 and a sold out crowd of 17,792. Here is a look at the final results:

UFC Nashville 2023 Results

Main Card

1. Catchweight (140 lb) Bout: Cory Sandhagen defeated Rob Font by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)

2. Women's Strawweight Bout: Tatiana Suarez defeated Jessica Andrade by submission (guillotine choke) at 1:31 of Round 2

3. Light Heavyweight Bout: Dustin Jacoby defeated Kennedy Nzechukwu by TKO (strikes) at 1:22 of Round 1

4. Featherweight Bout: Diego Lopes defeated Gavin Tucker by submission (armbar) at 1:38 of Round 1

5. Light Heavyweight Bout: Tanner Boser defeated Aleksa Camur by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

6. Lightweight Bout: Ľudovit Klein defeated Ignacio Bahamondes by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary Card

1. Bantamweight Bout: Kyler Phillips defeated Raoni Barcelos by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

2. Welterweight Bout: Carlston Harris defeated Jeremiah Wells by submission (anaconda choke) at 1:50 of Round 3

3. Featherweight Bout: Billy Quarantillo defeated Damon Jackson by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

4. Flyweight Bout: Cody Durden defeated Jake Hadley by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

5. Catchweight (146.5 lb): Sean Woodson defeated Dennis Buzukja by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

6. Flyweight Bout: Assu Almabayev defeated Ode' Osbourne by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:11 of Round 2