Garbrandt stays perfect after 1st-round KO to end UFC 202 preliminaries

Bantamweight Bout: Cody Garbrandt def. Takeya Mizugaki via 1st-round KO

Cody Garbrandt is the real deal.

"No Love" continued his meteoric rise with a first-round knockout of veteran Takeya Mizugaki.

Always game to stand and bang, even when at a disadvantage, Mizugaki's fate was sealed from the opening bell. The far superior boxer, Garbrandt dropped Mizugaki, following the knockdown with more punches before referee John McCarthy mercifully stopped the fight just 48 seconds in.

Garbrandt improves to a perfect 5-0 in the UFC, while Mizugaki has now lost three of his last four.

Women's Bantamweight Bout: Raquel Pennington def. Elizabeth Phillips via unanimous decision

Raquel Pennington kept her nose to the grindstone to win her third straight fight.

After 15 minutes of grueling back-and-forth opposite Elizabeth Phillips, the judges favored the grappling advantage of Pennington. She swept the scorecards with a trio of 30-27 scores.

The No. 8-ranked Pennington continues her surge up the charts, having now won two straight fights and three of her last four.

For the majority of their three-round bout, Pennington and Phillips engaged in a war of attrition with both fighters going all out to assert their positional dominance against the cage. It was Pennington who managed to score takedowns and get the better of the clinch exchanges.

The most significant move of the fight was an emphatic slam from Pennington to close out the second round, that kept her ahead on the scorecards.

Phillips falls to 1-3 in the UFC, with all of her losses coming by way of decision.

Featherweight Bout: Artem Lobov def. Chris Avila via unanimous decision

Artem Lobov owes his job to a raw Chris Avila.

"The Russian Hammer," presumably fighting for his job after losing both of his fights in the UFC, controlled the action for a unanimous decision victory. Lobov played aggressor throughout, finding success with leg kicks while Avila struggled to find his range despite a sizeable reach advantage.

The young, debuting Avila never got into a rhythm, and what little he threw at Lobov didn't appear to have much behind it. While the Russian stayed ahead for the entirety of the bout, he showed a lack of killer instinct and a limited arsenal.

Lobov, a teammate of Conor McGregor's, earned his first UFC victory over the Nate Diaz protege in a sub-plot to the card's main event.

Strawweight Bout: Cortney Casey def. Randa Markos via 1st-round submission (armbar)

Persistence paid off for Cortney Casey as she survived an early takedown to defeat Randa Markos by submission.

"Cast Iron" made the most of being in bottom position, throwing her legs up to attack Markos and topple her to the mat. As the first round ticked down, Markos was caught by an armbar that forced her to tap out. It was the first time she'd been finished in an MMA contest.

This is the second straight finish for Casey, who improves to 2-2 in the Octagon.

Markos failed to capitalize on a unanimous decision win over Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger in her last outing. She has alternated wins and losses in her past eight bouts.