A pair of promotional newcomers kicked off the UFC Belgrade main card on Saturday when Milos Janicic took on Noah Gugnon.
The lightweight fight found France’s Gugnon, a former Bellator and ARES FC athlete, riding a five-fight win streak, while Montenegro’s Janicic was fighting close to home having won two straight in MMA, plus three more in Dirty Boxing.
The UFC’s debut on Serbian soil featured nine newcomers and a small army of Serbian talent, yet while some had come up big on the preliminary card, things would not go as smoothly for Janicic.
When the fight started, Janicic came out with the jab up top and another to the body. Noah Gugnon landed a leg kick, and Janicic was clearly already feeling it. He took a few more of those, and Janicic couldn’t bear any more weight on it. Down he went. Instead of letting Janicic back up, Gugnon engaged on the ground. Although it seemed like a bad idea, he quickly took the back, getting hooks in. From there, Gugnon worked and found the rear-naked choke and soon enough it was all over!
A solid debut for Gugnon, who may now look for a quick turnaround given UFC Paris arrives in September.
Official Result: Noah Gugnon def. Milos Janicic by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 1:21
