Skip to content

Munhoz, Smith, Silva, Velickovic pick up wins on UFC Stockholm prelims

Per Haljestam / USA TODAY Sports

Bantamweight: Pedro Munhoz def. Damian Stasiak via unanimous decision

Pedro Munhoz had to work for his third straight UFC win.

The No. 12-ranked bantamweight wasn't able to dominate the less heralded Damian Stasiak, but he used his jiu-jitsu expertise and improved striking to claim a unanimous decision in the preliminary headliner of UFC Fight Night 109 in Stockholm, Sweden, on Sunday.

Munhoz was the aggressor throughout, backing Stasiak up with leg kicks while trying to set up his takedowns. Stasiak refused to budge and repeatedly blocked Munhoz's attempts to turn this fight into a grappling match.

That left Munhoz to push forward with power strikes, leading to some entertaining exchanges where the scrappy Stasiak did everything in his power to keep Munhoz off-balance.

Munhoz managed to score takedowns off of Stasiak's kicks and advanced to back control on a couple of occasions, but a third consecutive submission wasn't in the cards for him. He still picked up his fourth win in six UFC appearances (excluding one no-contest).

Stasiak saw a two-fight win streak snapped and is now 2-2 with the UFC.

Middleweight: Trevor Smith def. Chris Camozzi via unanimous decision

Staying on his grind was enough to get Trevor Smith back on the winning track.

Chris Camozzi had no answer for the aggressive wrestling of Smith and he spent almost the entirety of their three-round fight on his back en route to losing a lifeless unanimous decision.

Fighting inside the Octagon for the 19th time, Camozzi was made to look like a rookie by the 36-year-old Smith. "Hot Sauce" scored takedowns in every round and while he failed to get past Camozzi's guard, he was able to do plenty of damage from top control and was never in any sort of significant danger.

With the decision win, Smith has now won three of his past four fights. He nudged his UFC record to 5-4.

Camozzi loses for the third straight time and he could see his third run with the UFC coming to an end. He falls to 9-10 in the UFC overall.

Lightweight: Joaquim Silva def. Reza Madadi via split decision

Joaquim Silva and Reza Madadi left it all in the cage.

The two lightweights battled tooth and nail for three rounds, with Silva outlasting Madadi to earn a split-decision win.

Silva kept his 10-0 professional record intact, which includes three victories in the UFC. He knocked out Andrew Holbrook in 34 seconds in his most recent outing, and won another split decision against Nazareno Malegarie in his debut with the promotion in September 2015.

It was Madadi who pulled ahead early in this one, taking Silva down in the opening round and avoiding submission attempts while peppering him with short punches from top control.

The second round was considerably closer, as Silva opened up with kicks while Madadi looked for openings to land counter strikes.

Silva continually used body shots to slow Madadi down, a strategy that paid off in the third as he appeared a step quicker than his opponent in the stand-up and on the mat.

It's hard to blame Madadi for running out of gas. The 38-year-old veteran took the fight on nine days' notice after Mairbek Taisumov was forced to bow out with an injury.

Madadi fell to 3-4 in the UFC with losses in three of his past four contests.

Welterweight: Bojan Velickovic def. Nico Musoke via 3rd-round TKO

Bojan Velickovic wasn't leaving anything in the hands of the judges.

"Serbian Steel" scored a TKO of Nico Musoke with less than 30 seconds to go in what had been a closely fought three-round battle up to that point.

Watch: Velickovic's stunning counter punch puts Musoke on roller skates

It was a clutch strike for Velickovic, who won as a welterweight in the UFC for the first time. He is 2-1-1 in the Octagon, with his only other win coming at 185 pounds. Velickovic is now undefeated in seven of his last eight professional contests overall.

Musoke's grappling gave him plenty of headaches in the early going. The Swedish fighter pressed Velickovic against the fence and managed a takedown in Round 1.

The second period was more favorable for Velickovic who waded through Musoke's jabs to land hard shots of his own. He scored a late takedown as well, making sure the score was close between himself and Musoke heading into the final round.

After another stretch of spirited striking and grappling, Velickovic landed the telling blow that left Musoke on wobbly legs before he was put away with ground-and-pound at the 4:37 mark of Round 3.

Musoke was fighting for the first time since Jan. 24, 2015, a stretch of 855 days. He has now lost two straight and three of his last four.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox