Jamahal Hill Shuts Off Johnny Walker's Lights in UFC Fight Night 201 Headliner

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The bigger they are, the harder they fall — if Jamahal Hill has anything to say about it.

In the main event of UFC Fight Night 201 on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, the 6-foot-4 Hill (10-1, 1 NC) found himself at a rare size disadvantage against titanic 6-foot-5 Johnny Walker (18-7), but was unfazed. The light heavyweight knockout artists spent the duration of the fight throwing their hardest shots at one another; both men had their moments, but the chaos ended in an instant when Hill landed an overhand right to the side of Walker’s head. The towering Brazilian stiffened and fell, hitting his head against the fence and floor on his way down, just in time for Hill to land a diving follow-up shot. Referee Jason Herzog called the action off at 2:55 of Round 1, giving Hill his second win in a row, and third in his last four. Meanwhile Walker, once the sensation of the UFC light heavyweight division, has now lost four of his last five.

Daukaus Hits Buzzer-Beater Sub

Kyle Daukaus made the best of a tough situation, forcing late replacement opponent Jamie Pickett to tap to a brabo choke as the horn sounded to end the first round of their 195-pound catchweight co-main event. Daukaus (11-2, 1 NC) had the round well in hand already, taking down Pickett (13-7) multiple times and keeping him on the defensive, but when Pickett countered a takedown with a guillotine attempt, Daukaus took full advantage. He briefly worked for a shoulder choke before grabbing a front headlock and cinching up the fight-ending choke. Confusion reigned for a moment when Pickett tapped at the horn, but referee Herb Dean quickly ruled it a submission win at 4 minutes, 59 seconds. The win gets Daukaus back on track with his first win since November 2020, while Pickett falls to 2-3 in the Octagon.

Porter Takes Down Baudot

Parker Porter used forward movement, kicks and a couple of well-timed takedowns to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision over Alan Baudot in the feature bout of “UFC Vegas 48.” Porter (12-6, 3-1 UFC) carried the first round on the back of his jab, wrestling and especially his thudding low kicks. The second round appeared to go to Baudot, as he denied Porter’s takedowns and bloodied his face with sharp counters. The third round began in much the same way, but Baudot’s showboating jig in the first two minutes turned out to be premature, as Porter took him down once again, then moved into mount as the round expired, likely winning him the round and the fight. In the end, the 36-year-old Connecticut native earned 29-28 scores from all three judges, for his third straight victory since losing his UFC debut to Chris Daukaus. Baudot falls to 8-3 with one no contest (0-2, 1 NC UFC).

Miller Mashes Motta

For the second fight in a row, Jim Miller (34-16, 1 NC) stopped a highly touted Octagon newcomer. On Saturday, the unfortunate victim was Nikolas Motta (12-4), who made his long-awaited debut after an impressive performance on the Contender Series in November 2020. Miller looked sharp from the get-go, as he marked up Motta’s lead left leg and kept him off-balance with inside leg kicks for most of the first round. The second round picked up right where the first left off, but when another leg kick left Motta stumbling, Miller pounced, blasting the Brazilian in the face with a right hand. The stunned Motta fell with one arm trapped beneath him, but Miller nonetheless had to tack on another 10 or 12 punches before referee Keith Peterson intervened at 1 minute, 58 seconds. The win was Miller’s 23rd in the UFC, tying him with Donald Cerrone for the all-time record and representing the first back-to-back knockout wins of his 51-fight career.

Buckley Outlasts Alhassan

While few probably foresaw it going to the final horn, the clash between knockout artists Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan did precisely that, as the burly middleweights engaged in an exhausting 15-minute battle in the main card opener. “New Mansa” seemed to have the first two rounds in the bag — especially the second, when he backed Alhassan to the fence and unloaded largely unanswered punch combinations for most of the round. Alhassan came out with renewed purpose in the final round, however, and lived up to his “Judo Thunder” nickname for perhaps the first time in his Octagon career, grounding Buckley repeatedly and threatening there with heavy strikes. Buckley survived the round, however, and both men collapsed to their backs in exhaustion when it was all over. Buckley prevailed by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) to move to 14-4 overall, 4-2 in the UFC; Alhassan falls to 11-5 (5-5 UFC).

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