Sydney’s Theo Christakos made quick work of Kevin Manderson in the Brace 39 main event on Saturday, submitting the Canadian born veteran just 3:10 into the welterweight clash.
The event, which saw all seven contests end inside the distance, took place at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
The taller of the two fighters, Christakos took the advantage in the standup to begin the bout, forcing Manderson to search for the takedown. He was unsuccessful, however, and soon found himself on his back courtesy of a Christakos trip. It was just a matter of time from there as Christakos worked the ground and pound before finding Manderson’s back and snatching the win by rear-naked choke.
Christakos bounces back from his decision loss to Benny Alloway in November with the win, and moves on to the next round of matchups in the 2016 welterweight championship tournament.
The co-main event featured a closely contested, fast-paced lightweight battle between Paul Franchi and Anthony Bynoe which unfortunately ended early with Franchi appearing to dislocate his shoulder in the second round, giving the South Australia based Bynoe the TKO victory.
In the other lightweight tournament clash, 23 year-old SPMA product Nurbolat Kuandyk came back to stop Melbourne’s Sean Le Gourrierec with punches from mount in what was a crowd-friendly back-and-forth scrap.
Meanwhile, 19 year-old Canberra native Caitlin McEwen made an impressive pro debut against Jess Doueihi in a WMMA bantamweight bout. The fight hit the canvas early and McEwen quickly capitalised on the position, gaining mount nicely and forcing the stoppage with short shots to the face of Doueihi.
The next offering from the promotion, Brace 40, will take place on Saturday, May 14 on the Gold Coast.
Results:
- Theo Christakos def Kevin Manderson via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:10 – welterweight tournament bout
- Anthony Bynoe def Paul Franchi via TKO (Injury), Rd 2, 0:51 – lightweight tournament bout
- Nurbolat Kuandyk def Sean Le Gourrierec via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 3:33 – lightweight tournament bout
- Caitlin McEwen def Jess Doueihi via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 1:32
- Joel Vigors def Jarrod Farlow via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 4:50
- Mason Lord def Joe Pollock via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 2:30
- Ryan Gillett def Paul Traish via Submission (Arm-Bar), Rd 1, 3:26
