The lone heavyweight fight of the UFC 312 main card delivered a fast finish.
Making his UFC debut, undefeated Tallison Teixeira stepped into the octagon to face fellow hard-hitter Justin Tafa. The fight was the third on the pay-per-view main card at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, and only lasted 35 seconds.
Teixeira (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) quickly brought the fight to Tafa (7-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC). The 6-goot-7 Brazilian initiated a takedown attempt, pushing New Zealand’s Tafa into the fence. A couple of knees connected, and then a big right elbow sent Tafa crashing to the canvas. Teixeira added a few follow-up punches to prompt the referee to step in as Tafa turtled up on the ground.
Teixeira has yet to see Round 2 in his professional MMA career. He earned his way into the UFC after finishing Arthur Lopes in under two minutes at Dana White’s Contender Series in September. He proved his speed and power is still effective on the big stage, and likely earned a Performance of the Night bonus in his debut.
Tafa has dropped two straight. He entered this contest after a unanimous decision loss to Karl Williams last March, which came after a first round finish of Austen Lane at UFC 293.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 312 results include:
-
Tallison Teixeira def. Justin Tafa via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:35
-
Rodolfo Bellato vs. Jimmy Crute ruled a majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
-
Jake Matthews def. Francisco Prado via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-
Gabriel Santos def. Jack Jenkins via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:06
-
Tom Nolan def. Viacheslav Borshchev via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
-
Wang Cong def. Bruna Brasil via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-
Aleksandre Topuria def. Colby Thicknesse via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-
Rong Zhu def. Kody Steele via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-
Jonathan Micallef def. Kevin Jousset via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
-
Quillan Salkilld def. Anshul Jubli via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:19
Related
UFC 312 live updates: Results, round-by-round coverage of every fight
UFC 312: Best photos from Sydney
UFC 312: Official scorecards from Sydney
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 312 results: Tallison Teixeira blitzes Justin Tafa to score 35-second debut TKO
