Curtis Millender celebrated a win in the first round that wasn’t there yet. Then he had to do another round’s worth of work to get his hand raised.
But Millender (15-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) knocked out Thiago Alves (22-12 MMA, 14-9 UFC) with a major-league left knee in the second round and more than made up for thinking he had a knockout prematurely in the first. The stoppage came at the 4:17 mark of the round to give Millender a victory in his UFC debut.
The welterweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 126 event at Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Millender’s length seemed to make things difficult on Alves early. He tried a jumping knee that was just off the mark, and a few leg kicks after that kept Alves guessing. With about two minutes left, Millender landed a big left hand that wobbled Alves. He tried to keep him in trouble with a knee, but it was off the mark.
Alves threw his own punches, but with 75 seconds left, Millender drilled Alves with a right and put him on the canvas. He moved in for the finish and landed two more punches. When Alves went down, Millender raised his arms in brief celebration. But Alves wasn’t done, and Millender had work still to do. Somehow, Alves survived it all and landed a takedown in the closing 15 seconds of a round that clearly was for Millender.
Alves worked leg kicks in the second round, and no doubt was just happy to be fighting in the frame when Millender seemed to be close to putting him away in the first. Millender continued to give him some problems in terms of being able to put some offense together. Millender stayed patient, though, and worked jabs and rights throughout the round.
But then, out of nowhere, the patient Millender seemed ready to call it a night. He threw a huge left knee right up the middle. Alves hit the canvas, and Millender stayed back, believing it to be a one-and-done strike. This time, it was.
“I’ve been working five years – working hard to get here,” Millender said. “I’m just happy I’m here, and I’m dominant. I’m always on the defense just to make my offense great. It doesn’t matter what you do, I’ve got a counter for it. I’ve got a welterweight hit list, and everybody’s on it. Come get it.”
Millender won for the seventh straight time. Alves is back in the loss column and has dropped three of his past four fights.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 126 results include:
- Curtis Millender def. Thiago Alves via knockout (knee) – Round 2, 4:17
- Brandon Davis def. Steven Peterson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-26)
- Sage Northcutt def. Thibault Gouti via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Diego Ferreira def. Jared Gordon via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:58
- Geoff Neal def. Brian Camozzi via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:48
- Roberto Sanchez def. Joby Sanchez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:50
- Lucie Pudilova def. Sarah Moras via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
- Alex Morono def. Josh Burkman via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:21
- Oskar Piechota def. Tim Williams via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:54
For complete covearge of UFC Fight Night 126, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Austin.)