UFC 285 Prelims: Cody Garbrandt Upends Trevin Jones, Halts Two-Fight Skid

Cody Garbrandt, if nothing else, kept his foot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship door.

The Xtreme Couture export outstruck and outmaneuvered a painfully inactive Trevin Jones to a unanimous decision in their featured UFC 285 bantamweight prelim on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All three members of the cageside judiciary struck 29-28 scorecards.

Garbrandt (13-5, 8-5 UFC) picked his spots through the first 10 minutes, steered clear of danger and kept his feet moving. He delivered a pair of takedowns in the second round and moved to the back before briefly threatening with a rear-naked choke. Jones (13-10, 1-4 UFC) finally got in gear in Round 3, where he connected with a few powerful left hands and climbed into top position. However, the finish he needed failed to materialize.

Related » UFC 285 Round-by-Round Scoring

In the penultimate prelim, former KSW champion Dricus Du Plessis wiped out Derek Brunson with punches in the second round of their middleweight clash. Du Plessis (19-2, 5-0 UFC) sealed the deal 4:59 into Round 2, as he remained unbeaten inside the Octagon.

The 39-year-old Brunson (23-9, 14-7 UFC) had the South African reeling with clubbing left hands and largely outgrappled him across a back-and-forth first round. However, the effort he exerted seemed to push his body beyond its bounds. Du Plessis stepped on the accelerator in the middle stanza, connected liberally with both hands and eventually powered into top position once his exhausted counterpart collapsed. Elbows and punches followed, prompting the Brunson corner to toss in the towel.

Du Plessis will ride a seven-fight winning streak into his next assignment.

Meanwhile, volume punching and opportunistic takedowns carried ex-Jungle Fight titleholder Amanda Ribas to a unanimous decision over Viviane Araujo in a three-round women’s flyweight battle at 125 pounds. All three cageside judges scored it for Ribas (11-3, 6-2 UFC): 29-27, 30-26 and 30-27.

Araujo (11-5, 5-4 UFC) nearly cinched a guillotine choke in the first round and later staggered her fellow Brazilian with a chopping right hand. Ribas weathered those difficulties and turned up the heat across the final 10 minutes. She dropped Araujo with a counter right early in the second round, took top position and moved from half guard to three-quarter mount before transitioning to the back. Ribas maintained her pace down the stretch, executed a takedown with a little more than a minute remaining in Round 3 and dodged a Hail Mary armbar attempt from the onetime Pancrase champion.

The 36-year-old Araujo has lost three of her past five fights.

Elsewhere, former two-division TKO Major League MMA champion Marc-Andre Barriault wrecked Julian Marquez with punches in the second round of their middleweight pairing. Barriault (15-6, 4-5 UFC) drew the curtain 4:12 into Round 2, winning for the fourth time in six outings.

Marquez (9-4, 3-3 UFC) broke out of the gate in the first round, where he unleashed his jab, punched well in combination and grew comfortable enough in the standup exchanges to throw a standing hammerfist at one point. However, he ran out of gas in the middle stanza. Barriault answered with overwhelming pressure and punches at close range. He eventually trapped a covered-up Marquez along the fence and let fly with both hands until referee Mark Smith had seen enough.

Barriault, 33, has delivered 10 of his 15 career victories by knockout or technical knockout.

Further down the lineup, blue-chip Kill Cliff Fight Club prospect Ian Garry overcame some significant adversity to keep his perfect professional record intact, as he disposed of Kenan Song with punches in the third round of their welterweight confrontation. Garry (11-0, 4-0 UFC) brought it to a close 4:22 into Round 3.

The 32-year-old Song (19-7, 4-3 UFC) decked the onetime Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titlist with a counter left hook late in the first period and swarmed for a potential stoppage. Garry withstood the assault, then benefitted from the one-minute respite between rounds. From there, he tortured Song with a devastating jab and crippling low kicks, all while incorporating crisp punching combinations to the body and head. Song ultimately broke from all the damage. Garry cut loose with a vicious volley of punches with less than a minute to go in the match and forced his counterpart to somersault backward in a bid to shield himself. Song then retreated into a defensive shell, where a brief burst of punches frm the Irishman prompted referee Marc Goddard to intervene.

Song has now lost back-to-back bouts.

Finally, Brazilian Thai export Tabatha Ricci put away former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Jessica Penne with an armbar in the second round of their women’s strawweight encounter. Penne (14-7, 3-5 UFC) conceded defeat 2:14 into Round 2, suffering her first submission loss in nearly a decade.

Ricci (8-1, 3-1 UFC) battered the Alliance MMA rep on the feet and on the ground throughout a one-sided first round, then picked up where she left off in the second. She executed an exquisite hip toss, chipped away with leg kicks once she returned to her feet and ultimately touched off a scramble that led her to a far-side armbar for the finish.

The 28-year-old Ricci has won three fights in a row.

In other action, Cameron Saaiman (8-0, 2-0 UFC) withstood a point deduction for multiple low blows and escaped with a majority decision—29-26, 28-27, 28-28—over Leomana Martinez (10-4, 2-2 UFC) in a three-round bantamweight scrap; Farid Basharat (10-0, 1-0 UFC) remained undefeated with a unanimous decision over Da’Mon Blackshear (12-5-1, 0-1-1 UFC) in a three-round bantamweight tilt, drawing 29-28 scores from all three cageside judges; and two-time Professional Fighters League finalist Loik Radzhabov (17-4-1, 1-0 UFC) laid claim to a unanimous verdict over Estebean Ribovics (11-1, 0-1 UFC) in a three-round lightweight affair, sweeping the scorecards with 29-28 marks across the board.