UFC Vegas 89 Results & Recap: Rose Namajunas Enters Flyweight Rankings With Decision Win Over Amanda Ribas

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Las Vegas, March 24: Rose Namajunas entered the women's flyweight rankings after dominating win over Amanda Ribas in the main event of UFC Vegas 89: Ribas vs. Namajunas at the UFC Apex Facility in Las Vegas on Saturday (March 23).

The 13-fight card saw seven fights, including the main and co-main event go the distance, while six fights ended in stoppages. Among the 6 stoppage wins, two were either knockouts (KO) or technical knockouts (TKO), one was a disqualification for biting and three were submission finishes.

Jarno Errens vs Steven Nguyen featherweight bout on the prelims bagged the fight of the night award in UFC Vegas 89, also known as UFC on ESPN 53, where two other fighters also earned performance bonuses.

Apart from Errens and Nguyen, Payton Talbott and Fernando Padilla also took home an extra USD50K for their respective stoppage wins on the main card. Here is the recap for the UFC on ESPN 53 event:

UFC Vegas 89 Recap

In the main event, No. 8 ranked women's flyweight Ribas versus former UFC strawweight champion Namajunas proved to be an incredible contest as both women went toe-to-toe in their striking.

And when Ribas initiated the grappling, Namajunas was more than willing to engage. Ultimately, it was a showcase of styles, with Ribas' furtive post-to-post activity, and Namajunas' tactical striking sending the five-rounder to the scorecards.

The very close unanimous decision went to Namajunas who said, "It's good to get your hand raised! We try not to think about the result, we just control what we can control. I know I've still got things to work on, but she did really good.

"I was just able to stay calm in there with my experience. I'm going to be watching Manon (Fiorot) and Erin Blanchfield fight. So if I could, I'd like to get a rematch with Manon, or fight Erin, either one."

In the heavyweight co-main event between Karl Williams and Justin Tafa, the fight was a nail-biter in the opening 2 minutes. Then Williams brought the fight to the canvas and kept control, and repeated the tactic in rounds two and three, completely negating Tafa's knockout power.

After a surprising 15-minute fight win via the scorecards, Williams said, "I wanted to stand and strike with him a bit more, but that's how it played out. Training with all the big bodies at Xtreme Couture, I was able to get touched and fight through it.

"(Former UFC heavyweight champion) Stipe Miocic works at a firehouse and he said he's going to be barbecuing this summer, so let's do a charity cook off!"

Also on the main card, Edmen Shahbazyan, Talbott, Youssef Zalal and Fernando Padilla all earned stoppage wins in their respective bouts. Shahbazyan stopped AJ Dobson in the closing minutes of the first round in a middleweight bout, while Padilla choked out Luis Pajuelo in the opening stanza of featherweight bout.

Meanwhile, Zalal forced Billy Quarantillo to tap out in the second round of a featherweight bout, and Talbott knocked out Cameron Saaiman in the opening minute of a bantamweight bout.

In the preliminary card, Igor Severino was disqualified for biting Andre Lima in a flyweight bout, while Julian Erosa forced Ricardo Ramos to submit in the opening round of a featherweight bout.

The rest of the card all went the distance with Trey Ogden, Miles Johns, Jarno Errens, Daria Zhelezniakova and Mick Parkin all earning the points on the judges scorecard for unanimous decision wins in their respective bouts. Here is a look at the UFC on ESPN 53 final results:

UFC Vegas 89 Results

• Women's Flyweight Bout: Rose Namajunas defeated Amanda Ribas by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
• Heavyweight Bout: Karl Williams defeated Justin Tafa by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Middleweight Bout: Edmen Shahbazyan defeated AJ Dobson by KO (strikes) at 4:33 of Round 1
• Bantamweight Bout: Payton Talbott defeated Cameron Saaiman by TKO (strikes) at 0:21 of Round 2
• Featherweight Bout: Youssef Zalal defeated Billy Quarantillo by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:50 of Round 2
• Featherweight Bout: Fernando Padilla defeated Luis Pajuelo by submission (D'arce choke) at 2:45 of Round 1
• Lightweight Bout: Trey Ogden defeated Kurt Holobaugh by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Featherweight Bout: Julian Erosa defeated Ricardo Ramos by submission (guillotine choke) at 2:15 of Round 1
• Bantamweight Bout: Miles Johns defeated Cody Gibson by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Featherweight Bout: Jarno Errens defeated Steven Nguyen by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Women's Bantamweight Bout: Daria Zhelezniakova defeated Montserrat Rendon by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Flyweight Bout: Andre Lima defeated Igor Severino by DQ (biting) at 2:52 of Round 2
• Heavyweight Bout: Mick Parkin defeated Mohammed Usman by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)