UFC 270: Victor Henry upsets Raoni Barcelos in dominant debut

ANAHEIM — Victor Henry, at 34 and making his UFC debut, had nothing to lose. And in doing so, he claimed the most unlikely victory at UFC 270

The South Gate bantamweight proved he belongs among the best, putting on an electric performance at an incredible pace to earn the unanimous decision over Raoni Barcelos in the final fight of the prelims Saturday at Honda Center.

All three judges scored it 30-27 for Henry, who trains at CSW in Fullerton and took the fight on short notice against the Brazilian who had won six of his past seven fights.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan afterward called it one of the most exciting UFC debuts he’d ever seen.

Henry (22-5), who has been competing in martial arts since he was 14, had fought in 15 different promotions, in location as far away as Tokyo, Russia and Dubai, and as regionally as Commerce and, just three months ago, in Burbank.

A late flurry in the first round had Barcelos (16-3) reeling and on his heels, possibly stealing and round for Henry and infusing him with confidence.

The second round appeared the closest, with Henry continuing to bounce and attack from different angles. By the time the third round arrived, Barcelos’ nose and mouth were bleeding and Henry went to work, unrelenting in his pursuit for triumph.

Hansen comes up short

Jasmine Jasudavicius used her size and length to win her UFC debut over Fullerton flyweight Kay Hansen via unanimous decision in the opening bout.

The judges scored it 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 for the Canadian, who had a 5-inch height and reach advantage over the 5-foot-2 Hansen (7-5).

Jasudavicius (7-1) used takedowns in the first two rounds to control Hansen, 22, who was 1-1 as a strawweight in the UFC before moving up to the 125-pound division for the first time. The one takedown Hansen got early in the second round, Jasudavicius, 32, was able to reverse it and began dropping short, sharp elbows.

The fight stayed on its feet in the third round as they traded punches. The pro-Hansen crowd showed its appreciation with 47 seconds left. Two judges felt Hansen did enough to win the third.

Hansen was fighting for the first time in more than a year after overcoming an eating disorder, which made her move up in weight. She has said she plans to move back down to 115 pounds in the future.

Pereira rallies

Michael Pereira’s corner pulled no punches.

After being told he had lost the first round, the Brazilian welterweight pulled out all the stops with his versatile arsenal, earning a hard-fought unanimous decision over Andre Fialho.

All three judges scored it 29-28 for Pereira (27-11, 2 NC), who has now won four in a row. Fialho (14-4, 1 NC) lost for the first time in five fights.

Quick win for Nurmagomedov

Said Nurmagomedov is making a name for himself

No relation to UFC legend Khabib Nurmagomdeov, the Dagestani bantamweight needed just 47 seconds to clamp down on a guillotine choke on Cody Stamann.

Nurmagomedov (15-2) threw an array of offense before Stamann (19-5-1) shot in for a single leg takedown.  Nurmagomedov alertly snatched the 135-pound veteran’s neck and rolled, earning the quick tapout win.

Morales debuts with TKO

Michael Morales came in with a lot of buzz. The Ecuador newcomer proved he was worthy.

The 22-year-old welterweight knocked out Trevin Giles in the first round of the first fight on the main card, keeping his record undefeated and stamping what could be an impressive future.

Morales (13-0) caught Giles (14-4) with a right and connected with another to drop him. When the hurt Giles turtled up, Morales kept pounding rights until referee Mike Beltran stopped it at 4:06 of the opening round

Frevola wins wild first-round brawl

Matt Frevola kept knocking Genaro Valdez down. The Tijuana lightweight, undefeated and in his UFC debut, kept getting back up.

A little more than three minutes into the fight, he finally got the TKO win as referee Mike Beltran stopped Frevola from delivering more punishment.

The 155-pounders threw all caution to the wind from the start. Frevola (9-3-1) took his share of punches, but ended up recording five knockdowns of Valdez. He finally flattened out Valdez (10-1) and got his back, raining down punches on a defenseless Valdez before Beltran halted the fight at 3:15 of the round.

Della Maddalena stays perfect

In a battle of UFC welterweight newcomers, Jack Della Maddalena looked the part as one of the top prospects in the 170-pound division.

The undefeated Australian southpaw had Pete Rodriguez’ nose bloodied two minutes into the opening round with a steady diet of jabs and straight lefts.

Rodriguez (4-1), who came in as a late replacement for Warlley Alves on less than two weeks’ notice, ate a big left from Della Maddalena (11-0) and finally went down, with referee Frank Trigg stopping the fight at 2:59 of the first round.

Demopoulos taps Juarez

Vanessa Demopoulos says she woke up on the canvas, but she still had her wits about her.

Silvana Gomez Juarez (10-4) floored Demopoulos early with an overhand right, only to have Demopoulos (7-4) trap an arm and patiently work for an armbar and get the submission win at 2:25 of the.first round

Both strawweights were coming off losses in their UFC debuts.

Gravely gets decision

Tony Gravely fought off several guillotine-choke attempts to post a unanimous-decision victory over Saimon Oliveira.

All three judges scored the bantamweight bout 30-27 for Gravely.

When not fighting to pop his head out of the choke, Gravely (22-7) gave Oliveira (18-4) little room to operate, landing 11 takedowns. He even landed a stiff uppercut in the final minute that had Oliveira spiraling away.