UFC London: Results and reaction as Tom Aspinall suffers freak injury, Paddy Pimblett and Molly McCann produce back-to-back finishes

Summary

Heavyweight Tom Aspinall blows knee in first round against Curtis Blaydes
Blaydes declared winner after Aspinall goes down injured after 15 seconds
Liverpudlian lightweight Paddy Pimblett submitted Jordan Leavitt in second round
Pimblett breaks down in tears after dedicating win to late friends
Molly McCann produces another spinning elbow moment in win over Hannah Goldy
Get involved #bbcmma

Live Reporting

Ben Collins

A close round?published at 21:55 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Who have you got so far? Paddy Pimblett yet to find his groove yet...
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Round 1published at 21:54 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Jordan Leavitt wrapped up Paddy Pimblett early on before picking him up and slamming him into the canvas.
Pimblett then gets Leavitt in a choke but can't make it stick. There's more grappling before Pimblett ends the first round with some ground and pound. A strong finish but Leavitt possibly edged that one.
Image source, Getty Images
"He needs to walk away"published at 21:50 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Krylov beats Gustafsson by knockout
Former champion and Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier hands out some advice after Alexander Gustafsson suffered his fourth successive loss.
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Tale of the Tapepublished at 21:47 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Image source, BBC Sport/Getty
Love him or hate him, do you think he'll keep his winning streak going? Hit those thumbs people...
Merseyside takes over Londonpublished at 21:45 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Paul Battison
BBC Sport at the O2 Arena
A keen ear would have been able to pick out Merseyside accents around the O2 Arena all week in build-up to tonight's card.
A lot of fans have made the journey from Liverpool to London to see team-mates Molly McCann and Paddy Pimblett in action tonight.
It's just got very noisy as Pimblett makes his way to the octagon.
Paddy celebrates Molly's winpublished at 21:44 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
This was Paddy a little earlier, celebrating gym-mate Molly McCann's win.
Now he's heading out to the octagon, with the crowd chanting 'oh, Paddy the Baddy'.
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'If you love me or hate me, you're going to watch me fight'published at 21:42 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Media caption,
'If you love me or hate me you're going to watch me fight'
Paddy Pimblett is billing himself as the next Conor McGregor, partly because most people tend to either love him or hate him.
Which camp are you in? Let us know by hitting the thumbs below...
Inside Pimblett's remarkable weight transformationpublished at 21:40 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Paul Battison
BBC Sport at the O2 Arena
Paddy Pimblett admits to losing weight unhealthily in the past - referring to an old video where he vomited in the cage following a win - and points to those experiences as being key to the transformation in his training and eating habits.
"I was a stupid idiot when I was younger. I didn't mature until I was 24, 25," he told BBC Sport.
"I used to tell everyone to shut up and say I knew best - my coaches, my mum, my dad, my fiancee, my mates.
"That week [when he vomited] I had to lose 12kg (26lb) from Monday to Friday. I think I started my cut [before the weigh-in day] at 74.2kg (164lb) so I had 8.4kg (19lb) to lose to make weight overnight. And I did it. Very unhealthily, very unprofessionally, but I did it.
"Now I do it very healthily, like a professional. I have a nutritionist who is responsible for my body changing over the last couple of years.
"I used to be a fighter but now I'm an athlete as well, so that's all down to him, and my food prep team, my pro chef. Without them my life would be so much harder."
Pimblett pranks Leavitt with fake handshakepublished at 21:38 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
As you can probably tell by that first picture below, Paddy Pimblett has made a habit of piling on the pounds between fights.
But he's most definitely back to fighting weight now. Check out how he looked at the weigh-in on Friday.
Media caption,
Pimblett and Aspinall weigh in before UFC London
The Baddy's been a busy boypublished at 21:35 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Paddy Pimblett's been a busy boy since last time out.
He threw the ceremonial first pitch before the baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs at Petco Park in May.
He's also been hanging out with British rapper Stormzy at F1's British Grand Prix earlier this month.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Reuters
Star names out in forcepublished at 21:35 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
As expected, cageside is packed with some big stars. We've got Leon Edwards, Michael 'Venom' Page, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Michael Chandler AND rapper Stormzy.
Stormzy's already been handing out hugs - Molly McCann got one after her fantastic finish.
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Meet Paddy the Baddypublished at 21:33 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Pimblett v Leavitt
Now it's time for Paddy Pimblett. And if you haven't already had the pleasure of learning what the Liverpudlian is all about, here's what he had to say before his UFC debut.
Media caption,
MMA fighter Paddy Pimblett tells his story ahead of his UFC debut on Darren Till's card
Another quickfire knockoutpublished at 21:31 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Krylov beats Gustafsson by knockout
Blimey, it's another quickfire knockout!
Nikita Krylov bounces back from his defeat by Paul Craig in March by flooring Alexander Gustafsson with an overhand right. He then follows it up with some ground and pound to finish the job off.
Image source, Getty
Tale of the Tapepublished at 21:28 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Krylov v Gustafsson
Next up it's a light heavyweight clash between Ukraine's Nikita Krylov and Sweden's Alexander Gustafsson.
Image source, BBC Sport/Getty
Meatball does the businesspublished at 21:26 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
McCann beats Goldy by knockout
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Have you seen lightning strike twice?published at 21:24 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
McCann beats Goldy by knockout
"It's those walkouts and that energy you bring that gets those finishes," said Molly McCann .
"I will not let you down, I'm not Everton football club.
"Have you ever seen lightning strike twice? Well now you have, how about that?"
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Mokaev continues to impresspublished at 21:23 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Mokaev beats Johnson by unanimous decision
After a 58-second win on his UFC debut last time out, Muhammad Mokaev put in another impressive performance.
UFC's youngest fighter at 21, Mokaev set a UFC record for the most takedowns landed in a three-round flyweight fight with 12. He attempted a whopping 26!
Fancy learning more about the rising star? We'll we've got you covered with his Born to Brawl episode right here.
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British success among the Prelimspublished at 21:19 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Just as at UFC London in March, there has already been plenty for the home crowd to cheer - even before that Molly McCann knockout.
The British contingent on the prelims included Jai Herbert, Muhammad Mokaev, Nathaniel Wood and Marc Diakiese, who all won by unanimous decision.
However, Welsh lightweight Mason Jones now has an 11-2 record after suffering his second defeat in four fights, with Slovakia's Ľudovit Klein winning by unanimous decision.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Diakiese prevailed against Bosnia's Damir Hadzovic to improve his record to 16-5
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
In his first fight for almost two years, Wood survived a scare late in the first round to beat American Charles Rosa and go 18-5
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Mokaev claimed a dominant win over American Charles Johnson to stay unbeaten
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Herbert beat Canada's Kyle Nelson to bounce back from defeat in March and go 12-4
Lightning strikes twicepublished at 21:17 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
McCann beats Goldy by knockout
Paul Battison
BBC Sport at the O2 Arena
Just like four months ago, it was Molly McCann's spinning elbow which did the damage, rocking Hannah Goldy up against the cage.
After a flurry of punches, referee Herb Dean had to step in.
Seconds after the victory, team-mate Paddy Pimblett was shown on the big screen celebrating wildly backstage, sparking more cheers from the crowd.
This is starting to feel like March all over again...
McCann wins by knockoutpublished at 21:15 British Summer Time 23 July 2022
Breaking
McCann beats Goldy by knockout
Wow, she's only gone and done it!!
Molly McCann stops Hannah Goldy in the first round and it was another spinning back elbow that started it. That rocked the American and McCann kept the pressure on to force the stoppage.
She then charged out of the octagon and jumped into the arms of Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy. McCann and gym-mate Paddy Pimblett have both signed up with Barstool as their UFC profiles soar.
Image source, Getty Images