UFC Fight Night Las Vegas: CM Punk's rival and knockout steal the show in preliminary card

Galo won and earned the right to face CM Punk. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

The preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 82, in Las Vegas (USA), did not feature any fights of great appeal, but the audience at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night (6) liked what they saw at the opening of the event. The highlights were the definition of CM Punk's opponent in his UFC debut and Diego Rivas' flying knee, achieving quite a comeback against Noad Lahat.

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In the second fight on the schedule, the young man Mickey gall he entered with the promise that, if he beat Mike Jackson, he would challenge telecatch star CM Punk in his Octagon debut. A quick and overwhelming victory confirmed the fight, which should take place later this year.

Rivas survived a punishment from Lahat in the first round, in which he was almost submitted. However, a precise and unexpected blow gave him victory, to the surprise and apprehension of those present in the gym.

The first fights of the night also saw another defeat for his training partner. Conor McGregor, Artem Lobov, a standout performance from the promising Justin Scoggins, the run over of Derrick Lewis and Josh Burkman's tepid victory over KJ Noons. Check out the highlights:

Gall runs over and challenges CM Punk

Gall ran over Jackson. Photo: Jared Tilton/ Zuffa LLC

PUBLICITY:

At the beginning of the night, an apparently discreet fight had something very important at stake: the opportunity to challenge CM Punk. The promise was made by UFC president, Dana White, the Mickey gall, who would receive the chance if he defeated Mike Jackson. And the young fighter couldn't have taken advantage of the opportunity in a better way.

In the opening seconds, Gall, 24 years old, surrounded Jackson on the fence and connected with a straight shot, to Jackson's chin, which fell. The young fighter went up, took mount and locked in a rear naked choke, which made Jackson give up in just 45 seconds.

“I'm hungry, CM Punk! Feed me!”, said Gall, who already had his first face to face with the telecatch star while still in the octagon. The meeting was respectful and both greeted each other cordially.

Thus, Mickey gall It will be CM Punk's first challenge in the Octagon. Date and location have not been made official, but Dana White indicated that the fight could take place at UFC 199, in June.

Chilean achieves comeback with beautiful knockout

Rivas' knockout of Lahat was scary. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

The third fight on the card had one of the moves that is already a candidate for knockout of the year. Diego Rivas delivered a flying knee to Noad Lahat's face to achieve a victory that seemed unlikely.

That's because the Israeli applied real pressure to the Chilean in the first round, with mount, back grip and almost submission. Even though he probably lost the first round with a score of 10 to 8, Rivas came back determined after the break and, in the opening seconds of the round, connected the right blow.

Lahat fell unconscious to the ground and only got up minutes later, to the relief of the public present. It wasn't the first time the fighter suffered a tough knockout: in 2014, he lost in a similar way to the Brazilian Geoffrey Pepey. These are his only two defeats in professional MMA.

UFC Las Vegas preliminary card results:

Josh Burkman defeated KJ Noons via unanimous decision (triple 30 to 27)

Derrick Lewis defeated Damian Grabowski by technical knockout (punches) at 2:17 of R1

Justin Scoggins defeated Ray Borg via unanimous decision (double 30-27, 30-26)

Diego Rivas knocked out Noad Lahat (flying knee) at 23 seconds of R2

Mickey gall defeated Mike Jackson via submission (rear naked choke) at 45s of R1

Alex White defeated Artem Lobov via unanimous decision (triple 30 to 27)