UFC 163 results and photos: Amanda Nunes elbows way to TKO of Sheila Gaff

RIO DE JANEIRO – Amanda Nunes apparently had little interest in finding out what it would feel like to see Round 2 in her UFC debut.

Against Sheila Gaff, the Brazilian bantamweight started fast and ended fast, earning a TKO stoppage via elbow strikes at 2:08 of the first round.

The women’s bantamweight bout took place today at UFC 163 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. It aired on FX ahead of the pay-per-view main card.

Nunes and Gaff signaled right away that theirs was not the kind of business that would likely take long to resolve. The two women met in the center of the cage and traded heavy leather in the opening seconds, though it was Gaff who initially tried to get the action to the mat.

Nunes shrugged off an early attempt at a rear-naked choke, then muscled Gaff back to the floor moments later before unloading with a barrage of elbow strikes from inside the German’s guard that forced referee Herb Dean to call a stop to the bout.

“I’d like to tell everyone that I’m fighting here in my hometown,” Nunes said via an interpreter after the win. “Who does she think she is that she can beat me here in my hometown with this fantastic crowd out here?”

Nunes (8-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) notches a victory in her UFC debut with the win, bouncing back from a unanimous decision loss to Sarah D’Alelio at Invicta 4 in January. Gaff (10-6-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has now lost two straight in octagon, following on the heels of her TKO loss to Sara McMann at UFC 159 in April.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 163 results include:

• Amanda Nunes def. Sheila Gaff via TKO (elbows) – Round 1, 2:08
• Sergio Moraes def. Neil Magny via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 3:13
• Ian McCall def. Iliarde Santos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Rani Yahya def. Josh Clopton via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Francimar Barroso def. Ednaldo Oliveira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Viscardi Andrade def. Bristol Marunde via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:36

For more on UFC 163, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Rio de Janeiro.