UFC on FOX 24 results: Alexander Volkov picks apart Roy Nelson for clean-sweep victory

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Even when he could reach the towering Alexander Volkov, Roy Nelson’s power was not the fight-changing force of previous fights.

Mostly, Nelson (22-14 MMA, 9-10 UFC) caught a lot of air as Volkov (28-6 MMA, 2-0 UFC) made him eat jabs and ran circles around him, leading to a shutout on judges’ scorecards.

The heavyweight bout closed out the preliminary card of today’s UFC on FOX 24 event at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. It aired on FOX following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on FOX.

The final scorecards were 30-27 for Volkov, a former Bellator champion whose long arms worked overtime in three rounds with Nelson. With such a huge size disparity, it was easy for the Russian to pick away at his American opponent at a distance. The only variable was whether Nelson could get close enough.

On several occasions, Nelson got inside and put his hands on Volkov, landing his trademark right hand and a few uppercuts. Volkov simply ate them and put some distance between them, at one point raising his hands to dismiss his opponent’s vaunted power.

When Nelson couldn’t rattle Volkov with punches, he desperately tried to take the fight to the mat. He managed to do so early, hitting an outside trip. He did nothing with the position, however, so referee Dan Miragliotta stood the two up. Future attempts were not so successful, and Volkov reasserted control at range.

Volkov ups his current win streak to three while Nelson continues to seesaw after a knockout win over Antonio Silva in his previous outing.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 24 results include:

• Alexander Volkov def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Tom Duquesnoy def. Patrick Williams via TKO (elbows) – Round 2, 0:28
• Rashid Magomedov def. Bobby Green via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Tim Elliott def. Louis Smolka via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Aljamain Sterling def. Augusto Mendes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Devin Clark def. Jake Collier via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
• Anthony Smith def. Andrew Sanchez via knockout (knee, punches) – Round 3, 3:52
• Zak Cummings def. Nathan Coy via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:21
• Ketlen Vieira def. Ashlee Evans-Smith via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

For complete coverage UFC on FOX 24, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson and Simon Samano contributed to this report on site in Kansas City.)