de Randamie earns fast knockout

Germaine de Randamie took a page out of former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s book in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Sacramento, California.

It took the Netherlands native just 16 seconds to beat undefeated prospect Aspen Ladd, dropping her with a big right hand and following it up with a ground strike before referee Herb Dean called off the fight.

The knockout tied Rousey’s record for the fastest in women’s bantamweight history.

The live audience were displeased with the stoppage, thinking that the undefeated Ladd should have been given more time to recover.

With the win, the former women’s featherweight champion de Randamie should undoubtedly be the next challenger for the bantamweight title held by Amanda Nunes, who defeated de Randamie in November of 2013.

Faber comes out of retirement in style

de Randamie wasn’t the only 135-pound fighter to set a record.

After deciding to come out of retirement and fight in his hometown of Sacramento, 40-year-old Urijah Faber faced Ricky Simon in the co-main event on the Fight Night card.

Faber also had a short night at the office, earning his first-ever UFC knockout over Simon in just 46 seconds, the fastest win of his career.

With the win, Faber became the oldest fighter in bantamweight history to earn a victory.

In his post-fight interview, Faber mentioned that he wanted to face champion Henry Cejudo, but that he also wanted to compete again soon because he knows that at age 40, he doesn’t have a lot more time to spare.

It was Faber’s second straight win, both of which took place in Sacramento.

Attendance and Bonuses

UFC Fight Night at the Golden 1 Centre in Sacramento, California drew 10,306 attendees for a $938,734.17 (USD) gate.

Performance of the Night bonuses went to Faber for his win over Simon, Josh Emmett and Andre Fili, both teammates of Faber’s, who earned knockout victories over Mirsad Bektic and Sheymon Moraes respectively and Jonathan Martinez, who had a stellar knockout finish over Pingyuan Liu, also a teammate of Faber’s. All four athletes take home an additional $50,000 (USD).

Masvidal calls out McGregor

Coming off of the fastest knockout in UFC history when he knocked out previously undefeated Ben Askren in just five seconds at UFC 239, Jorge Masvidal is going big game hunting.

Appearing on the Dan LeBatard Show, Masvidal called out former two-division champion Conor McGregor.

“I want to break his face. I think that’s an easy paycheck. He’s got these cash symbols written all over his face for me,” Masvidal told LeBatard during his in-studio interview. “I just don’t see it going his way if I’m honest with you.”

Masvidal is now ranked third in the welterweight division following the win and after his impressive flying knee knockout of Askren, his popularity is at an all-time high.

There have been no updates regarding McGregor’s status and whether he would consider moving back up to welterweight, where he previously went 1-1 against Nate Diaz.

Two flyweights signed

Many felt that the UFC’s men’s flyweight division was being phased out due to an influx of the division’s athletes being cut from the promotion to the point where there were no longer 15 fighters in the weekly rankings.

That changed when, according to reports, the UFC re-signed prospect Brandon Moreno and signed undefeated Russian Askar Askarov to face one another at the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Mexico City on Sept. 21.

Currently, Cejudo is the champion of both the flyweight and bantamweight divisions and it looks like a potential closure of the division has been put on hold for the time being.