UFC Fight Night 64 results: Stevie Ray pounds out Marcin Bandel in second round

Stevie Ray

KRAKOW, Poland – After stepping up on short notice to fight hometown favorite Marcin Bandel, Stevie Ray likely made a bunch of Polish fans sad by being a much tougher out than many expected.

After going submission-for-submission with the leg lock specialist in the first round, Ray (17-5 MMA, 1-0 UFC) capitalized on a mistake by Bandel (13-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) in the second and then punched his way to a bloody TKO win at 1:35 of Round 2.

The lightweight bout was part of the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 64 event at Tauron Arena in Krakow, Poland. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Bandel’s strategy in this fight was hardly a surprise. Known for his arsenal of leg locks, Bandel wasted little time trying to get the fight to the floor, even if that meant dropping to his back in order to attack Ray’s legs.

Ray defended these early attacks well, then turned the tables on Bandel late in the first frame, using his willingness to go to his back as an opening for an arm-triangle choke that appeared to have Bandel in real trouble before time ran out on the round.

In the second, Ray again capitalized on Bandel’s risky approach for getting the action to the mat, seizing full mount as Bandel effectively flopped to the floor in a dangerous position. From there, Ray opened up from the top, battering an already bloody Bandel until he rolled to his side and lay unresponsive as Ray hammered him again and again, finally forcing the stoppage after a brutal series of blows.

The win in his UFC debut is the third in a row for Ray. Bandel has now lost two straight in the UFC.

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For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 64, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Krakow.)