UFC 165 results and photos: John Makdessi hands Renee Forte a first-round KO

TORONTO – Returning from a brief injury layoff, John Makdessi returned to form with a knockout of Brazilian Renee Forte.

After taking too many follow-up punches, Forte was rescued by Todd Ronald Anderson at the 2:01 mark of the first round.

The lightweight bout was part of today’s UFC 165 event at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims on FOX Sports 1 and a main card on pay-per-view.

Forte was game to exchange punches and kicks with Makdessi, whose UFC career came on the heels of an undefeated kickboxing career. The two spent little time feeling each other out and clashed several times in the center of the octagon.

It was Makdessi, however, that landed the first significant blow when he planted a spinning back-kick on the torso of Forte, who was visibly hurt.

When Forte overcommitted to a punch, Makdessi caught him with a right hand to the temple. Forte went face-first to the canvas and then rolled to his back, where he was woken up and then put out again by punches.

“I feel very blessed to be able to fight in Toronto,” Makdessi said. “I am happy for the victory and I just want to thank everybody for the support.”

“(The) UFC is my dream,” Forte said. “It is the biggest dream that I am living right now. I knew that my opponent wasn’t a foolish guy. It was my second time fighting in the lightweight division and I am in still adapting. I did my best.”

Makdessi (12-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who was forced to withdraw from a UFC 162 fight with Edson Barboza due to injury, now enjoys a three-fight win streak. Forte (8-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) now drops to 1-2 inside the octagon.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 165 results include:

• John Makdessi def. Renee Forte via KO (punches) – Round 1, 2:01
• Michel Prazeres def. Jesse Ronson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alex Caceres def. Roland Delorme via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Daniel Omielanczuk def. Nandor Guelmino via KO (punches) – Round 3, 3:18

For complete coverage of UFC 165, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan, Ben Fowlkes and Mike Bohn contributed to this report on-site in Toronto.