UFC 159 results/photos: Sara McMann dominates, submits Sheila Gaff

NEWARK, N.J. – Sheila Gaff came out for the first round of her bout with Sara McMann as if she had never heard that McMann had a bit of wrestling experience under her belt.

That turned out to be a mistake, and one she paid for almost immediately as the Olympic wrestling silver medalist took down Gaff twice before achieving a mounted crucifix and raining down blows until referee Gasper Oliver stopped the bout at the 4:06 mark of Round 1.

The women’s bantamweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC 159 event at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. It aired on FX following additional prelims on Facebook and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

After walking straight into a McMann takedown to start the fight, Gaff managed to survive that initial blunder by holding on and hoping for a referee standup. It didn’t take long, however, before McMann nabbed a single-leg takedown and used a Gaff sweep attempt to move into the crucifix. From there, Gaff was stuck. As McMann upped the pressure with strikes, it was only a matter of time before the referee was forced to intervene.

“I just kept telling myself all week that this was going to be like the kind of pressure I felt before a world championship, and I wrestled in like seven or eight world championships,” McMann said after the win. “That helped me to deal with the nervousness and the size of the crowd and the television and everything.”

McMann (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) maintained her undefeated record with the win in her UFC debut, which was just the third women’s bout in UFC history. Gaff (10-5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) dropped her first fight since a decision loss to Milana Dudieva in 2010.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 159 results include:

• Sara McMann def. Sheila Gaff via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:06
• Bryan Caraway def. Johnny Bedford via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:44
• Cody McKenzie def. Leonard Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Steven Siler def. Kurt Holobaugh via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC 159, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

Matt Erickson and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Newark.