UFC 221 results: Tyson Pedro taps Saparbeg Safarov with brilliant first-round kimura

Saparbeg Safarov looked like he might make Tyson Pedro’s night a challenging one. Then Pedro grabbed his left arm.

That was all he needed. Pedro (7-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) forced Safarov (8-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC) to tap to a tight kimura at the 3:54 mark of the first round. Pedro swept Safarov to the canvas with the kimura sweep, then eventually stepped over his head to tighten it up for the tap.

The light heavyweight bout opened up the main card of today’s UFC 221 event at Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Pedro jabbed early and landed a heavy leg kick, but Safarov got defensive and took Pedro to teh canvas. He pressed him to the fence, but Pedro worked his way back up and pushed back out to the center, where he just missed a knee. Two minutes in, Pedro landed and knocked Safarov off balance. He kicked up high, but somehow Safarov survived.

With two minutes left, he landed a solid punch, but Pedro drilled him and answered a Safarov punch with a knee. Safarov scooped Pedro up for a takedown with 90 seconds left, but Pedro took advantage by grabbing Safarov’s left arm and worked for a kimura. He had to adjust it, but when he stepped over Safarov’s head, he tightened it up and forced Safarov to tap.

Pedro is back in the win column after suffering the first loss of his pro career this past September. Safarov lost for the second straight time after starting his pro career 8-0.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 221 results include:

• Tyson Pedro def. Saparbek Safarov via submission (kimura) – Round 1, 3:54
• “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim def. Damien Brown via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Israel Adesanya def. Rob Wilkinson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:37
• Alex Volkanovski def. Jeremy Kennedy via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:57
• Jussier Formiga def. Ben Nguyen via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 1:43
• Ross Pearson def. Mizuto Hirota via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Jose Quinonez def. Teruto Ishihara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Luke Jumeau def. Daichi Abe via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 28-27)

For complete coverage of UFC 221, check out the UFC Events section of the site.