UFC Fight Night 99 results: Ex-Bellator champ Alexander Volkov edges Timothy Johnson

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – It was far from easy, but former Bellator champion Alexander Volkov made a victorious UFC debut.

Volkov (27-6 MMA, 1-0 UFC) survived an early knockdown and hung on to score a split-decision victory over Timothy Johnson (10-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC).

The heavyweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 99 event at SSE Arena Belfast in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The entire event streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Johnson jumped out to an early lead in the fight after scoring a knockdown with a right uppercut and then delivering ground and pound for much of the remainder of the first round. Volkov landed a few early blows, but Johnson’s knockdown and sustained ground attack made him the clear round winner.

In the second, Johnson continued attacking with his right hand, but Volkov mixed in a few big shots of his own. The damage mounted on both fighters, and the round was much closer than the first.

In perhaps the deciding frame, both fighters noticeably slowed, and much of the fighting came in the clinch and close quarters. Neither seemed particularly interested in firing first, and when out in the open, both seemed content to wait and counter. Volkov, though, scored with some knees and was quick enough to avoid Johnson’s desperation power shots as the fight came to a close.

Volkov ultimately got the win via 29-28, 27-30 and 29-28 scores.

Volkov stretches his winning streak to three while Johnson has dropped two of three.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 99 results include:

• Alexander Volkov def. Timothy Johnson via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
• Artem Lobov def. Teruto Ishihara via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Jack Marshman def. Magnus Cedenblad via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:32
• Kyoji Horiguchi def. Ali Bagautinov via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Kevin Lee def. Magomed Mustafaev via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:31
• Amanda Cooper def. Anna Elmose via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Justin Ledet def. Mark Godbeer via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:16
• Zak Cummings def. Alexander Yakovlev via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:02
• Marion Reneau def. Milana Dudieva via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 3:03
• Brett Johns def. Kwan Ho Kwak via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Abdul Razak Alhassan def. Charlie Ward via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:53

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 99, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson and Mike Bohn contributed to this report on site in Belfast.)