UFC 259: Early Prelims Highlighted By Thrilling Finishes

The UFC packed UFC 259 with 15 bouts, and thankfully, they all made it to Saturday night.

Thankfully because we might have missed out on one of the thrilling early finishes that the first slate of prelims brought us.

Airing live on both ESPN+ and UFC Fight Pass from the Apex in Las Vegas, the six-fight lineup more than delivered in getting fans ready for the triple-main event later in the night.

Starting things off was Trevin Jones, as he finished Mario Bautista in the bantamweight division. 

Jones picked up the win less than a minute into the second round when he floored Bautista. 

Uros Medic followed that up with a first round finish of Aalon Cruz at lightweight.

In the first female bout of the night, Amanda Lemos stopped Livia Renata Souza inside of the opening four minutes. Lemos picked up the strawweight win, improving to 9-1-1 and stretching her win streak to three in a row.

Sean Brady locked up a submission on Jake Matthews in a welterweight clash. With the two battling through to the third round, Brady secured an arm-triangle choke for the win. 

Brady is now a perfect 14-0 in his career including three victories inside the Octagon. Half of his wins have come via either knockout or submission.

In the light heavyweight division, Kennedy Nzechukwu made sure people would know his name, finishing off Carlos Ulberg in a thriller. 

Nzechukwu stopped Ulberg in the second round, knocking him to the canvas with a perfect hook. The 28-year-old has picked up back-to-back wins since a submission loss to Paul Craig, as he is 9-1 overall.

Tim Elliott capped off the prelims with a one-sided decision over Jordan Espinosa.

UFC 259 Results

Jan Blachowicz (c) vs. Israel Adesanya for the UFC light heavyweight championship

Amanda Nunes (c) vs. Megan Anderson for the UFC female featherweight championship

Petr Yan (c) vs. Aljamain Sterling for the UFC bantamweight championship

Lightweight: Islam Makhachev vs. Drew Dober

Light Heavyweight: Thiago Santos vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Bantamweight: Dominick Cruz vs. Casey Kenney

Bantamweight: Song Yadong vs. Kyler Phillips

Catchweight: Joseph Benavidez vs. Askar Askarov

Flyweight: Rogerio Bontorin vs. Kai Kara-France

Tim Elliott def. Jordan Espinosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)

Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg via KO (strike) at 3:19 of Round 2

Sean Brady def. Jake Matthews via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:28 of Round 3

Amanda Lemos def. Livia Renata Souza via TKO (strikes) at 3:39 of Round 1

Uros Medic def. Aalon Cruz via TKO (strikes) at 1:40 of Round 1

Trevin Jones def. Mario Bautista via TKO (strikes) at :47 of Round 2