UFC Fight Night 121 results: Alex Volkanovski dominates short-notice opponent Shane Young

Alex Volkanovski made Shane Young’s UFC debut a pretty unwelcome one on Saturday night.

Volkanovski (16-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) beat Young (11-4 MMA, 0-1 UFC) up for 15 minutes for a dominant unanimous decision. It should be noted Young took the fight on just a week’s notice, and Volkanovski was the heaviest favorite on the card. Volkanovski couldn’t put Young away, but scores of 30-27 and a pair of 30-26s told the story.

The 150-pound catchweight bout opened up the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 121 event at at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Volkanovski kicked high 30 seconds in and just missed. He pressured Young on the outside, then kicked to his body. A big right hand from Volkanovski a minute in was just off the mark, and before he could go off balance, he tied Young up on the fence. There, Volkanovski landed a knee. They tied up again after breaking, and Volkanovski briefly brought Young to the canvas. He stayed glued to his back, though, and kept him frustrated.

Midway through the round, Young managed to break away, but Volkanovski smashed him with a right hand, then got a takedown. Volkanovski worked for an arm-triangle choke, then tried to work around to the back. But Young used that to get back to his feet. With a minute left, Volkanovski started throwing like he wanted to get out of there in the first round. He just missed a spinning back fist with 20 seconds left in the round.

Volkanovski kicked Young’s lead leg early, then drilled a heavy right elbow 30 seconds into the round along the fence. He tied Young up, then just missed a spinning elbow on the break. Ninety seconds in, Volkanovski landed a right hand, then tried to trip Young to the canvas. He got the takedown along the fence, then tried to jump to mount.

When Young rolled out of it and back to his feet, Volkanovski hit him with a right hand. With 90 seconds left, Volkanovski picked Young up after another right hand and dumped him. When Young was back up quickly, Volkanovski dumped him again. He briefly got to full mount, but then had to settle for half-guard when Young recovered.

Volkanovski stayed after the finish in the third round, and Young had very few answers for him. But 90 seconds into the round, he pushed forward out of desperation for a takedown and got it. But Volkanovski reversed and picked him up to dump him over his shoulder, then went to work on top with three minutes left. He never could put Young away, but there never was much doubt about the outcome of the fight from the outset.

Volkanovski ran his winning streak to 13 fights, including his first three in the UFC. Young’s five-fight winning streak came to an end.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 121 results include:

• Alex Volkanovski def. Shane Young via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
• Ryan Benoit def. Ashkan Mokhtarian via knockout (head kick) – Round 3, 2:38
• Nik Lentz def. Will Brooks via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 2:05
• Tai Tuivasa def. Rashad Coulter via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 4:35
• Frank Camacho def. Damien Brown via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Nadia Kassem def. Alex Chambers via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
• Eric Shelton def. Jenel Lausa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-25)
• Adam Wieczorek def. Anthony Hamilton via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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