UFC on FOX 23 results: Jorge Masvidal gets TKO upset of 'Cowboy' on Cerrone's home turf

DENVER – Jorge Masvidal must have know he wasn’t in for an easy night of work, but he probably didn’t realize he’d have to essentially put Donald Cerrone away twice.

But after nearly knocking Cerrone (32-8 MMA, 19-5 UFC) out at the end of the first, a patient Masvidal (32-11 MMA, 9-4 UFC) finished the job in the second, hammering away with left hooks and body shots until referee Herb Dean called a stop to the fight at the 1:00 mark of Round 2.

The welterweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC on FOX 23 event at Pepsi Center in Denver. It aired on FOX following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

While he finished strong, Masvidal initially struggled to find his rhythm. Cerrone was the one who started strong here, shredding Masvidal’s left leg with kicks in the early going and finding a home for his punch combinations while Masvidal was on the retreat.

In the latter half of the opening round, however, Masvidal seemed to find his groove. With his jab finding a home on Cerrone’s nose, Masvidal pressed forward and attacked with his own kicking game.

Late in the round he dropped Cerrone with a vicious combo, then followed him to the mat and battered him with rights as the last few second ticked away. The referee Dean initially appeared to have stepped in before the final horn, but he quickly clarified that only the round had ended – not the fight – despite the fact that Cerrone seemed clearly dazed as he rose to his feet.

Masvidal stayed calm in the confusion, and at the start of the second he methodically resumed his attack, again dropping Cerrone with a hard right hand as he backed into the fence. Cerrone would struggle back to his feet, but Masvidal dug punches to his body as he did so, leaving Cerrone to cover up with no response as he leaned against the cage.

With Cerrone still on his feet, Dean finally moved in to wave off the fight for good, halting the action one minute into the second frame, awarding Masvidal the TKO win.

The victory is Masvidal’s third in a row in the UFC. Cerrone’s loss snaps a four-fight winning streak.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 23 results include:

• Jorge Masvidal def. Donald Cerrone via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:00
• Francis Ngannou def. Andrei Arlovski via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:32
• Jason Knight def. Alex Caceres via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:21
• Sam Alvey def. Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Raphael Assuncao def. Aljamain Sterling via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Li Jingliang def. Bobby Nash via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 4:45
• Jordan Johnson def. Luis Henrique da Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Eric Spicely def. Alessio Di Chirico via submission (triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:14
• Marcos Rogerio de Lima def. Jeremy Kimball via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:27
• Alexandre Pantoja def. Eric Shelton via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Jason Gonzalez def. J.C. Cottrell via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 1, 3:54

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 23, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan and Steven Marrocco contributed to this report on site in Vancouver.)