UFC 201: Damien Brown blasts Arzamendia as another UFC title changes hands

Damien Brown has proved he belongs in the UFC by stopping Cesar Arzamendia with strikes in the first round of their bout at UFC 201, which opened up the proceedings at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, USA.

It took Brown around a minute to find his range before he landed a huge right hand which dropped Arzamendia to the canvas. The Aussie fighter quickly followed up with a barrage of strikes looking to finish the fight but Arzamendia managed to survive and rolled through to threaten with a heel hook, yet Brown was able to calmly defend the submission.

With the fight back to the feet Brown was quickly able to replicate his earlier counter right hand, landing two huge right hooks that shut Arzamendia’s lights out. The end came only 2:27 into the contest.

Brown capitalized on a full fight camp and really cemented his place in the UFCs lightweight division.

In the main event of the night a year of title upsets continued as Tyrone Woodley blasted Robbie Lawler in the first round. Lawler came out looking respectful of Woodley’s first round power attempting to circle and keep the fight at distance. Yet Woodley was able to effectively close the distance and land his rocket launcher of a right hand.

In the co-main event Karolina Kowalkiewicz was victorious against Rose Namajunes as they earned fight of the night honours in a back and forth bout. Namajunes was able to land the best strikes in the first round, utilising her footwork and movement to best her Polish opponent. In round two the tide started to turn, as Kowalkiewicz started to land stinging elbows and draining knees from the clinch. By the third round Namajunes had faded considerably and Kowalkiewicz was able to continue to land knees and elbows. The win most likely sets up an all Polish showdown against Joanna Jedrzejczyk for Kowalkiewicz, in what is bound to be a brutal, if not hard to pronounce, strawweight title fight.

Results (Main Card):

• Tyron Woodley def. Robbie Lawler via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:12
• Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Rose Namajunas via Decision (Split)
• Jake Ellenberger def. Matt Brown via TKO (Kick to body & punches), Rd 1, 1:46
• Erik Perez def. Francisco Rivera via Decision (Unanimous)
• Ryan Benoit def. Fredy Serrano via Decision (Split)

Results (Preliminary Card):

• Nikita Krylov def. E Herman via KO (Head Kick), Rd 2, 0:40
• Jorge Masvidal def. Ross Pearson via Decision (Unanimous)
• Anthony Hamilton def. Damian Grabowski via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 0:14
• Wilson Reis def. Hector Sandoval via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 1:49
• Michael Graves vs Bojan Velickovic – Majority draw
• Damien Brown (Australia) def. Cesar Arzamendia via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:27