UFC Denver Prelims: Charles Johnson Blows Up Joshua Van With Third-Round Uppercut

Charles Johnson sent a message to Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights: Count him out at your own peril.

Johnson (16-6, 4-4 UFC), who took the fight on 11 days’ notice, capped off the UFC on ESPN 59 undercard with a rousing knockout of red-hot phenom Joshua Van (10-2, 3-1 UFC), handing Van his first Octagon loss and snatching victory from the jaws of probable defeat. “InnerG” got off to a solid start, taking advantage of Van’s penchant for starting slowly and hacking away at his lead leg. However, Van gradually took over as the round wore on, exploding out of his compact stance with his patented body punch flurries and a couple of right hands upstairs that hurt Johnson. Van kept building momentum in the middle frame, marching down the taller fighter and continuing to catch him with clean punches. Johnson was game, weathering Van’s offense and landing some solid blows of his own, but the fight was clearly trending in the direction of the 22-year-old Burmese-born Houstonian. That changed in a flash once Round 3 started, however. Johnson came out on fire, catching Van with an overhand right, then an impossibly long right uppercut that detonated on Van’s chin, dropping him to the canvas senseless. Referee Joe Coca was there in a flash, marking the TKO win at 20 seconds of the third round. It was the third win of 2024 for Johnson, a stunning turnaround after he closed out last year on three straight losses.

Related » UFC Denver Round-by-Round Scoring

Jasudavicius Outmuscles Kline

Jasmine Jasudavicius (11-3, 5-2 UFC) walked into a high-risk, low-reward scenario and made the best of it, turning aside short-notice foe Fatima Kline (6-1, 0-1 UFC) with superior strength and wrestling. Kline, a habitual strawweight who stepped in for Viviane Araujo, took the fight to Jasudavicius right away, taking the wrestler down with a well-timed double-leg takedown. Jasudavicius quickly swept her and escaped back to her feet, whereupon she hoisted Kline and dragged her back to the mat. From there, Jasudavicius’ size and grappling acumen made themselves felt, and she briefly essayed a face crank before she ended the round by dropping elbows on Kline from top position. The second round offered more of the same, as Kline willingly engaged with Jasudavicius and had a measure of success before the bigger woman took over with deliberate, powerful ground work, once again closing out the round by pounding on Kline at the base of the fence. Clearly down two rounds to none, Kline went for broke in Round 3 and managed to put Jasudavicius on her heels with an aggressive charge and several clean punches to the head. However, Jasudavicius once again took over around the midpoint of the round, taking Kline’s back standing as she had done in the first two rounds, dragging her to the canvas and going to work. A big mat return and a rear-naked choke attempt later, the final horn sounded, the trio of 30-27 scores a formality. The win for Jasudavicius is her second straight since losing to “UFC Denver” headliner Tracy Cortez last fall, while Kline’s spirited showing in defeat marked her as someone who might have staying power in the UFC 115-pound division.

Jackson Makes “Quik” Work of Blackshear

Montel Jackson lived up to his nickname and lodged a candidate for “Knockout of the Year,” flattening Da'Mon Blackshear with a blistering left hand just seconds into their bantamweight prelim feature. “Quik” (14-2, 8-2 UFC) and “Da Monster” (14-7-1, 2-3-1 UFC) exhibited some of the expected awkwardness of a clash between lanky kickboxers in opposite stances, but it was southpaw Jackson who reaped the benefit, as he caught the oncoming Blackshear with a huge left that knocked him completely off his feet. Blackshear’s head rebounded from the canvas as he fell, and referee Nick Berens jumped in seconds later, forestalling any unnecessary follow-up shots. The knockout came at 0:18 of Round 1, one of the speediest this year in the UFC, and extends Jackson’s win streak to five straight.

Santos Strangles Agapova

Luana Santos continued her ascent up the flyweight ranks and spoiled Mariya Agapova’s Octagon return in definitive fashion, tossing “Money Mashka” on her head and subjecting her to a constant stream of submission techniques before solving the puzzle with a first-round choke. Agapova (10-5, 2-4 UFC), fighting for the first time since September of 2022, looked tentative early on, throwing single jabs and kicks that came up short by several feet, but Santos (8-1, 3-0 UFC) did not extend her the luxury of shaking off the rust, as she stepped into the pocket and leveled Agapova with a right hand. When Agapova stood back up, Santos launched her with a judo throw, then spent the next minute working for an arm-triangle choke from mount. Agapova survived that sequence and managed to get to her knees, where Santos moved to the back, sank in the hooks and applied a rear-naked choke. Agapova, caught completely unprepared by the speed of the transition, spat out her mouthpiece instantly and was tapping frantically with both hands a second later. Referee Joe Coca stepped in for the save at 3 minutes, 27 seconds of Round 1, finalizing Santos’ third straight win to open her UFC tenure.

Petroski Smothers Fremd

Andre Petroski’s wrestling and top control proved to be much too much for Josh Fremd, as the Renzo Gracie Philly standout rode takedowns, measured ground-and-pound, and sporadic submission attempts to a one-sided decision victory in their middleweight undercard feature. Petroski (11-3, 6-2 UFC) sat Fremd (11-6, 2-4 UFC) down early in the first round with a big right hand. Fremd popped right back up, not hurt so much as knocked off-balance, but Petroski immediately grounded him with an emphatic double-leg. That set the pattern for the remainder of the fight, as Fremd simply had no answer for Petroski’s relentless takedown assault. He acquitted himself well on the ground, avoiding the heaviest of Petroski’s punches and elbows, and staying busy enough to avoid a complete rout, but he had almost no opportunities to get his own offense going. Once the final horn sounded, the judges did not take long to turn in matching 30-27 scores in favor of Petroski, who put the first losing streak of his career in the rearview with the win.

Elder Wilts Flowers with Round 2 Arm-Triangle

In the welterweight opener, Evan Elder (9-2, 2-2 UFC) was a step ahead of Darrius Flowers (12-8-1, 0-3 UFC), getting the better of the striking and wrestling exchanges on his way to a second-round submission finish. In a first round contested nearly entirely on the feet, Flowers displayed an impressive array of antics intended to distract Elder, including exaggerated wobbling in place, mock basketball dribbling and a steady stream of chatter, but Elder declined to engage. The bout came on relatively short notice for both men, but it appeared to take a greater toll on Flowers, who was visibly fatigued at the end of Round 1. There was a brief reprieve when Elder landed a kick to the groin early in the second round, but once Flowers recovered, the end was not long in coming. Elder grounded Flowers with a nicely timed double-leg takedown, fought through a leglock setup, punched Flowers to the body, and then slid into full mount. From there, Elder applied an arm-triangle choke that had Flowers tapping at 1:46 of Round 2.