Brazil’s Teixeira had burst into the UFC via a spectacular performance on Dana White’s Contender Series, and made a big impression on his UFC debut with a 35-second finish of Justin Tafa.
But in Nashville, Teixeira found himself on the opposite end of a 35-second defeat as Lewis showed him, and reminded the world, exactly why he’s known as the knockout king of the UFC.
A big shot from Teixeira saw a thumb graze the right eye of Lewis as veteran found himself in some discomfort early on. Teixeira saw his moment and stepped in, looking to land big shots, but “The Black Beast” took full advantage as he connected with huge punches of his own.
A huge left hand sent Teixeira flying backward and down to the canvas, and Lewis swarmed him, unloading a barrage of huge ground strikes.
A scrambled Teixeira desperately tried to escape, and grabbed hold of the fence – an illegal move – to pull himself up and away from the onslaught. But the punches kept coming and, with the Brazilian deemed not to be intelligently defending himself by referee Jason Herzog, the fight was waved off at the 35-second mark.
It gave Lewis a statement victory and backed up his pre-fight comments that his opponent was thrown in with him too fast, too early. It also saw Lewis add another knockout finish to his resume as he notched UFC finish number 16, and career KO number 24.
In the co-main event, Gabriel Bonfim edged past welterweight veteran Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson via split decision after their closely-contested bout went all the way to the judges’ scorecards. The only other decision on the main card saw Steve Garcia extend his win streak with a shutout victory over the always-tough Calvin Kattar in their featherweight bout.
Elsewhere on the main card, France’s Morgan Charriere and Nate Landwehr served up the fight of the night as they battled back and forth into the third round of their featherweight bout. But, despite vociferous crowd support for “The Train”, it was Charriere who claimed the knockout victory 27 seconds into Round 3 after a huge barrage of big punches at the start of the final frame.
The main card also saw submission finishes for Vitor Petrino, who defeated Austen Lane via first-round rear-naked choke, and for Tuco Tokkos, who locked up an arm-triangle choke for the win in the second round against Junior Tafa.
The prelims saw Chris Curtis claim a split-decision victory over fellow Octagon veteran Max Griffin, while Jake Matthews submitted Chidi Njokuani in the opening round of their welterweight matchup.
Valter Walker put the rest of the heavyweight division on notice with an inverted heel-hook finish of Kennedy Nzechukwu, and Mike Davis finished Mitch Ramirez with a flying knee and follow-up punches. The night got off to a flying start, with Fatima Kline finishing Melissa Martinez via third-round head kick and punches.
UFC Nashville: Official results
MAIN CARD
- Derrick Lewis def. Tallison Teixeira via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:35
- Gabriel Bonfim def. Stephen Thompson via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Steve Garcia def. Calvin Kattar via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Morgan Charriere def. Nate Landwehr via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 0:27
- Vitor Petrino def. Austen Lane via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:16
- Tuco Tokkos def. Junior Tafa via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 4:25
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Chris Curtis def. Max Griffin via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Jake Matthews def. Chidi Njokuani via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:09
- Eduarda Moura def. Lauren Murphy via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Valter Walker def. Kennedy Nzechukwu via submission (inverted heel hook) – Round 1, 0:54
- Mike Davis def. Mitch Ramirez via TKO (flying knee and punches) – Round 2, 4:08
- Fatima Kline def. Melissa Martinez via TKO (head kick and punches) – Round 3, 2:36
