UFC Fight Night 123 results: Marlon Moraes KOs Aljamain Sterling with ridiculous knee

Fighting for the second time in a month, Marlon Moraes made a major statement to the UFC’s bantamweight division with a brutal knockout of Aljamain Sterling.

Moraes (20-5-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) took out Sterling (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) with a knee to the chin. The knee landed before Moraes’ high kick could get to the mark. The end came 67 seconds into the bout.

The bantamweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 123 event at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Moraes caught a kick early and tossed Sterling to the canvas, but refused to drop down with him. Sterling popped back up and threw a low kick, then danced outside. Moraes tried to press forward, but couldn’t find a home for a right.

Then things got crazy in a hurry. Moraes hurt Sterling with a left and dropped him. He followed him down and landed punches on the canvas, but Sterling grabbed his arm in search of an armbar. Moraes worked his way out of it, leaving Sterling on his back.

Moraes retreated to the center of the canvas, and when Sterling got back to his feet and approached, things were over before they even could get restarted.

Moraes threw a left kick to the head, but before the foot could get there, Sterling lowered his stance and tried to close the distance, and that allowed Moraes’ knee to drill him in the chin. He was out cold before he hit the canvas. No follow-up shots were needed.

“I want to be active. I want to fight again. I fought one month ago, and Sean Shelby gave me an opportunity to be here, and I’m here. Watching on the TV is something, but being in here, feeling this cage, it’s unbelievable. But I think I’m starting to like it here and I think I’m going to give some trouble to the ’35ers. … I went for the kick, but I caught him with the knee.”

Moraes, a former WSOF champion, won for the second straight time after suffering a split-decision loss in his promotional debut to Raphael Assuncao in June. Sterling had a two-fight winning streak snapped.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 123 results include:

• Marlon Moraes def. Aljamain Sterling via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 1:07
• Scott Holtzman def. Darrell Horcher via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Eryk Anders def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25, 29-28)
• Benito Lopez def. Albert Morales via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Alexis Davis def. Liz Carmouche via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Andre Soukhamthath def. Luke Sanders via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:06
• Alex Perez def. Carls John de Tomas via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 2, 1:54
• Frankie Saenz def. Merab Dvalishvili via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alejandro Perez def. Iuri Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Davi Ramos def. Chris Gruetzemacher via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 0:50
• Trevin Giles def. Antonio Braga Neto via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:27

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 123, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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