UFC Fight Night 26 results and photos: James Vick chokes out Ramsey Nijem

BOSTON – Ramsey Nijem came in looking for the takedown, while James Vick showed up in search of the choke.

It was Vick’s that proved to be the winning strategy, as he locked up a guillotine choke submission at the 0:58 mark of the first round.

The lightweight bout opened up today’s UFC Fight Night 26 at Boston’s TD Garden. It streamed on Facebook ahead of additional prelims and a main card on FOX Sports 1.

After the bout, Vick said he’d drilled the choke “literally (2,000) or 3,000 times” in the lead-up to the bout, which showed in the way he seized on the opportunity when Nijem left his neck open in search of the takedown.

“I’m so happy because I’ve been working on my submission game very hard for the last year,” Vick said. “It definitely paid off. I was injured for over a year, and this means so much to me. It seemed like an eternity that I was sitting out watching everyone fight on TV at home, and all I wanted was to get back in there. I expected a finish, but not that quickly. It was the greatest experience of my life getting the win tonight. It all went according to plan.”

“It sucks,” Nijem said. “I really wanted to redeem myself after my last fight, and now I’ve put myself in an even deeper hole.”

Vick (5-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) maintains his undefeated record with a win in his UFC debut. Nijem (7-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has now lost two in a row in the octagon.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 26 results include:

• James Vick def. Ramsey Nijem via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 0:58

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 26, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on-site in Boston.