UFC 217 results: Paulo Costa continues to shine, stops Johny Hendricks in second

Paulo Costa got a name change earlier this week, but it certainly didn’t affect his performance.

Costa (11-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) stayed perfect and took out former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks (18-8 MMA, 13-8 UFC) with a second-round TKO. He had to go farther into a fight than ever before, but got the finish 83 seconds into the middle frame.

The middleweight bout opened up the main card of today’s UFC 217 event at Madison Square Garden in New York. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Costa tried a low kick early, then went to the body with a hard left kick. Costa went right back to the midsection seconds later. The Brazilian tried a high kick after that. Ninety seconds in, Costa got inside for a pair of rights. a left-right was good, and Hendricks moved in for a takedown. But he was met with a knee and Costa stayed on his feet. Costa tried a spinning kick, but it was just off the mark.

Costa continued to get inside, and Hendricks was forced to try to counter – but most fell short. With less than two minutes in the round, Hendricks got a combination off, but it wasn’t much. Costa kept delivering, and Hendricks landed – only to have Costa tell him to come forward. When Hendricks landed two straight lefts with 30 seconds left, Costa laughed at him and again told him to come forward.

Hendricks landed a left and a kick early, then had a short wait after an eye poke. But Hendricks wanted to restart quickly and not give Costa a chance to rest. Costa put together some major punches and kicks after that, though, and was relentless in coming forward. Hendricks tried to fire back, but it just wasn’t there. Costa landed a head kick, then punches right after it. But Costa was too much.

Costa stayed perfect in his pro career and moved to 3-0 in the UFC. Hendricks lost for the second straight time and has dropped two of three since moving to middleweight. Overall, he has lost five of six and seven of his past 10.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 217 results include:

• Paulo Costa def. Johny Hendricks via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:23
• James Vick def. Joseph Duffy via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 4:59
• Mark Godbeer def. Walt Harris via disqualification (illegal kick) – Round 1, 4:29
• Ovince Saint Preux def. Corey Anderson via knockout (head kick) – Round 3, 1:25
• Randy Brown def. Mickey Gall via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
• Curtis Blaydes def. Aleksei Oleinik via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 1:56
• Ricardo Ramos def. Aiemann Zahabi via knockout (spinning back elbow) – Round 3, 1:58

For complete coverage of UFC 217, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan, Mike Bohn, Ken Hathaway and Abbey Subhan contributed to this report on site in New York.)