After an early prelims quartet of fights opened up UFC 261 on UFC Fight Pass, the top four prelim bouts took over both ESPN and ESPN+. The final fights, before a massive main card featuring a championship tripleheader, includes welterweight veterans Alex Oliveira and Randy Brown. Two talented young middleweights in Karl Roberson and Brendan Allen, as they look to bounce back from losses in their recent Octagon outings. Plus, a fan-friendly scrap between featherweight submission aces, when former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder Pat Sabatini and Tristan Connelly go toe-to-toe. MixedMartialArts will be delivering play-by-play and results in this space as each fight comes to its conclusion.
Sabatini grapples his way to debut victory over Connelly
Tristan Connelly, a former lightweight, and welterweight pressured early until Pat Sabatini was able to land an important takedown and take control of the action. However, Connelly is was up to the task of a ground battle. With both being talented grapplers having nine submission wins each to their records. The former CFFC champ faked an armbar and was able to get his opponents back with two minutes left. Despite the dangerous position, Connelly was able to defend and make it out of the round.
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Second starts the same as the first, with pressure from the Canadian but the Philadelphia native changed levels and perfectly timed a double-leg takedown. Sabatini showing great control as he transitions positions. Going from side control, to getting the back, and doing it all over again as “Boondock” tries to escape. Over two rounds, when it comes to the ground game, Connelly has no answers for Sabatini.
Sabatini was unable to get a takedown early in the third, however, he still was able to get in his grappling and control the round when he wanted. Connelly is still pressuring but doing a poor job to cut off the cage, and is just chasing. With a minute left, the 35-year-old was able to get a takedown of his own and likely won the final frame. It was all for naught as the victory went to the newcomer by unanimous decision. Connelly moves to 1-1 in the promotion after being out of action for a year and a half because of the pandemic and a bad neck injury.
Allen taps Roberson with a heel-hook in the first round
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Brendan Allen and Karl Roberson entered this bout looking to bounce back from losses in their last Octagon appearances, and both seemed out to end it fast by putting heat on their punches and kicks early. Allen eventually instigated the grappling and earned the takedown he needed. Roberson tried to force it back to the feet, but Allen’s superiority on the mat showed throughout the round as “Baby K” was stuck on the ground. With 15 seconds left, as Roberson looked to scramble out from the bottom, “All In” maneuvered into a heel-hook position and was able to get the tap with five seconds left in the opening round. The New Jersey native still has not remedied his grappling issues. All four of his losses have been by submission. Allen moves to 4-1 in the UFC.
Dwight Grant earns ‘surprised’ split-decision win over Stefan Sekulic
There was a lot of range finding early between Dwight Grant and Stefan Sekulic. Grant tried to work off a jab while Sekulic seemed to be waiting for that perfect counter that wasn’t quite coming. There was not much to score until about 15 seconds left as the Serbian scored a takedown that will likely be enough to win a quiet fight round.
A couple of minutes into the second round, “The Body Snatcher” seemed to push the aggression button and had a couple moments where he landed some strong strikes and had the 29-year-old backing up and trying to stay out of knockout range. With a little over two minutes left, Sekulic was able to score an important take down that could’ve swayed the judging his way in the second round. Grant was able to get back his feet, but the question was if he did enough to outscore getting taken down.
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The 36-year-old entered the final round with a clear mission statement from his coaches. Win the fight here or it’s a second straight loss. He actually scored a takedown a minute in, but did not like what his opponent was offering off his is back, and actually chose to stand back up. Despite his corner imploring him to go for the finish, Grant did not seem to have the energy to do it. His opponent took advantage of that lack of urgency and became the aggressor late in the fight. Landing a punch that stunned Grant, and nearly submitting him with a guillotine choke with seconds left in the fight.
Yet, despite his performance and what his own corner thought, Grant got the nod from the judges by split-decision. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum moves to 3-2 in the UFC. Sekulic gets welcomed with back to action with a somewhat controversial loss after 30-months away from the Octagon.
Randy Brown snags rare one-armed RNC in prelims featured bout
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Win of lose, an Alex Oliveira fight is unpredictable, and this ones beginning was no different. There was an errant groin kick early, followed by some nasty low kicks by the Brazilian that seemed to hurt Randy Brown. A minute and half in, “Rude Boy” landed a big right hand that floored “Cowboy.” The pair grappled for a bit, after Oliveira was able to survive Brown’s ground-and-pound. However, that was short-lived as the New Yorker was able to get Oliveira’s back and snag a rare one-armed rear naked choke with 2:50 left in the fight. It was a much needed bounce back win for Brown after a tough knockout loss to Vicente Luque in August. The 33-fight veteran Oliveira has now lost two straight, and tapped for the sixth time on 10 losses.
