A pair of flyweights in Allan Nascimento and Cody Durden faced off in a 130 pound catchweight bout at UFC Vegas 110, kicking off Saturday’s main card.
No weight miss in this instance, in a fight that found Durden looking to snap a two-fight skid, and Nascimento looking for his fourth straight victory, albeit dating back to 2022.
Durden started the opening frame looking to stand and trade with Nascimento. Landing multiple right hands to Nascimento’s face, Durden was jumping out to an early lead. Nascimento tried to keep Durden at distance with leg kicks, but Cody kept finding a home for hard shots upstairs. Nascimento had yet to attempt a takedown in the round and was repeatedly getting tee’d off on by massive combinations. After five minutes Durden had landed the more consequential blows. The large betting favorite Nascimento looked lost and unsure of himself on the feet in round one.
To start the second Durden landed a solid left-right combination upstairs that rocked Nascimento. A massive straight right hand by Durden got through the guard of Nascimento, who was bleeding from the nose. Durden continued to press the action , while Nascimento circled throwing jabs and leg kicks at distance. Suddenly, Durden marched forward right into massive elbow that knocked him to the ground. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt was all over him locking in the Anaconda choke submission on the ground.
Durden was seemingly winning every second of the fight until the elbow landed late in round two. Nascimento had lost a majority of the striking exchanges throughout the night on the feet, but he only needed to win one to get to a dominant position on the ground and finish the fight by submission. This was the 16th submission win in the career of Nascimento.
Official Result: Allan Nascimento def. Cody Durden by submission (Anaconda choke), Round 2, 3:13
