UFC Fight Night 49 results: Chas Skelly stuns Tom Niinimaki with quick win

TULSA – Chas Skelly struck quickly and eventually forced a tap-out from Tom Niinimaki for yet another submission win on his resume.

Skelly (12-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) closed the distance early, took the fight to the mat, and then eventually locked on a fight-ending rear-naked choke on Niinimaki (21-7-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) in the first round.

The featherweight bout opened the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 49 at BOK Center in Tulsa. It aired on FOX Sports 1 after prelims on FOX Sports 2 and UFC Fight Pass.

Skelly quickly corralled his opponent, moved to Niinimaki’s back, dragged him to the mat, moved to mount and then ultimately returned to his back during a transition. Once he secured his hooks, he slapped on a rear-naked choke. While the hold appeared more of a jaw crank that an actual choke, it nonetheless forced a stoppage.

The ref waved off the bout at the 2:35 mark of the opening round.

“I’m the type of guy that I’m going to be in your face the whole time, so if you sign to fight me, know you’re signing for a fight,” he said.

Skelly successfully rebounds from his first loss, which came via majority decision to Mirsad Bektic, and now has seven career submissions. Niinimaki, whom Niklas Backstrom also submitted in May, drops his second straight.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 49 results include:

For more on UFC Fight Night 49, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Tulsa.)