UFC 212 results: Matthew Lopez pounds his way to TKO win over Johnny Eduardo

RIO DE JANEIRO – After a takedown by Matthew Lopez in the opening round, Johnny Eduardo committed to the the heel hook off his back. Lopez, on the other hand, committed to hitting Eduardo in the head while he left his face unguarded.

It was Lopez’s (10-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) strategy that proved more effective, as he hurt Eduardo (28-11 MMA, 3-3 UFC) with punches and elbows and then finished him off with a torrent of unanswered strikes, forcing referee Mario Yamasaki to finally intervene at the 2:57 mark of Round 1.

The bantamweight bout was part of today’s UFC 212 preliminary card at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It aired on FS1 following the UFC Fight Pass early prelims and prior to the pay-per-view main card.

After a brief feeling-out period, Lopez nabbed a takedown off an Eduardo leg kick, which quickly plunged him into Eduardo’s guard. Eduardo wasted no time digging for a heel hook from his back, and he initially seemed like he might have Lopez in some trouble.

But once Lopez got his leg out of trouble, he quickly focused on hammering Eduardo’s undefended face with punches and elbows even as Eduardo continued trying for the submission. After several consecutive strikes, Eduardo finally gave up on the move, though by that point he was visibly woozy as he rolled to his side to avoid Lopez’s blows.

That’s when Lopez really turned up the heat, battering Eduardo with a ceaseless series of hammerfists while Yamasaki looked on, encouraging Eduardo to defend himself. Yamasaki would continue encouraging even as Lopez continued striking. Finally, after Eduardo seemed to briefly lose consciousness only to snap right back to some dim awareness of events, Yamasaki decided he’d seen enough. With that, Lopez had himself a first-round TKO just under three minutes into the fight.

Lopez has now won two straight in the UFC. Eduardo has lost two of his last three.

Up-to-the-minute results include:

• Matthew Lopez def. Johnny Eduardo via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:57
• Brian Kelleher def. Iuri Alcantara via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:48
• Viviane Pereira def. Jamie Moyle via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Luan Chagas def. Jim Wallhead vis submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:48
• Deiveson Alcantara def. Marco Beltran via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 5:00

For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Fernanda Prates contributed to this report on site in Rio de Janeiro.)