After taking a 20-month layoff in the aftermath of his octagon debut, Clayton Carpenter returned to action Saturday at UFC Fight Night 244 and put on a violent performance against Lucas Rocha.

It was largely one-way traffic for Carpenter (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the flyweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He got top position on Rocha (17-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in the opening round and landed a big elbow to open up a nasty cut. Then, in the next frame, he took the back of his opponent and locked in a deep rear-naked choke for the technical submission finish at the 2:12 mark of Round 2.

Check out the replay of the overwhelming finish from Carpenter below (via X):

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1845198959888957684

With the win, Carpenter keeps his undefeated record in tact, while Rocha fell short in his promotional debut.

“My performance was pretty on point,” Carpenter said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “It took me a second to get calibrated, but I did my thing.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 244.

The UFC will close its 2024 pay-per-view-schedule with a championship doubleheader.

UFC CEO Dana White announced on Saturday that UFC 310 on Dec. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, ESPN+) will feature two title fights.

In the main event, Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) will put his welterweight title on the line for the first time against the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC).

And it’s not often a fighter will make his or her UFC debut in a title fight, but that’s what former RIZIN champion Kai Asakura (21-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will do when he challenges flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja (28-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in the co-headliner.

Muhammad, 35, claimed the 170-pound belt in July when he outworked Leon Edwards to a unanimous decision in their UFC 304 rematch. He is currently riding a 12-fight unbeaten streak.

Rakhmonov, 30, has been tearing through the competition inside the octagon as he sports a perfect record with a 100 percent finish rate. He hasn’t fought since December 2023, however, when he earned a submission win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 296.

Asakura, 30, signed with the UFC in June. He became a star in Japan through Road FC and eventually into RIZIN, which he competed in from 2017-2023. Asakura went 13-3 for the promotion with wins over notables including Kyoji Horiguchi and Juan Archuleta, both of whom he finished with strikes.

Predominantly a bantamweight throughout his career, Asakura will drop down a weight class for his UFC title bout.

Pantoja aims to successfully defend his title for the third time. Since a title challenge win over Brandon Moreno in July 2023, Pantoja has won back-to-back defenses against Brandon Royval and Steve Erceg by unanimous decision. He rides a six-fight winning streak into this matchup.

The latest UFC 310 lineup now includes:

• Belal Muhammad vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov – for welterweight title
• Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura – for flyweight title
• Ciryl Gane vs. Alexander Volkov
• Nick Diaz vs. Vicente Luque
• Movsar Evloev vs. Aljamain Sterling
• Dominick Reyes vs. Anthony Smith
• Virna Jandiroba vs. Tatiana Suarez
• Clay Guida vs. Chase Hooper
• Michael Chiesa vs. Max Griffin
• Cody Durden vs. Joshua Van

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.

Oscar Willis — the man responsible for running Conor McGregor’s website The Mac Life — scored an emphatic first round finish over fellow media member Ben Davis in a lightweight fight at BKFC Spain on Saturday.

Willis came out aggressive as he was launching hard and heavy punches at Davis in every exchange. He ultimately scored four knockdowns with referee Bryan Miner finally seeing enough to stop the contest at 1:57 in the first round with Willis earning the TKO victory.

The wild bare-knuckle brawl saw Willis and Davis step out from behind the keyboard and do battle in the ring in what turned out to be an entertaining affair for as long as it lasted.

From the start, Willis showed no fear stepping into the pocket with Willis as he kept throwing bombs with speed and precision. Davis did his best not to get overwhelmed but he just couldn’t avoid the power coming from Willis as they continued trading punches.

With each knockdown, Davis kept getting back to his feet but he was clearly getting rattled from the damage done.

Davis, who works on the broadcast team for KSI’s Misfits Boxing, beat the 10 count on the third knockdown after it looked like he shook his head, which had the commentary team wondering if he was waving off the fight. Instead, Davis returned to his feet to continue the fight but he only made it a few more seconds before Willis delivered another crushing blow.

As Davis’ mouthpiece went flying, he crashed down to the canvas again and this time when he made it back to his feet, the referee would not allow him to continue.

Once the fight was stopped, McGregor rushed into the ring and held up the arms of both fighters to celebrate a job well done as the media members went to battle in the bare-knuckle ring.

Ramazan Temirov and CJ Vergara meet Saturday on the main card opener of UFC Fight Night 244 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Check out this quick breakdown of the matchup from MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom. 

Last event: 3-2
UFC main cards, 2024: 84-74-3

Ramazan Temirov vs. CJ Vergara UFC Fight Night 244 preview

Temirov (17-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) makes his UFC debut in a main card opening slot, putting his nine-fight winning streak on the line. On his current run, the 27-year-old Uzbekistan native has racked up six first-round finishes, four of which have come consecutively in recent outings. … Vergara (12-5-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC) will look to pour cold water on Temirov’s streak, while remaining about .500 in the UFC. Vergara will need to bounce back from a unanimous decision loss to Asu Almabayev in March.

Ramazan Temirov vs. CJ Vergara UFC Fight Night 244 expert pick, prediction

Despite the impromptu promotion to this spot, Temirov vs. Vergara is an arguable improvement to the endless middleweight slog that the UFC usually force-feeds you in these spots. It’s also great to see more men’s flyweight fights in more prominent positions.

Although the betting line for this fight is a bit wide for my liking, I can understand why Temirov is favored.

Despite Temirov’s lack of UFC sample size, the Master of Sports in hand-to-hand combat looks to be an aggressive athlete with all the instincts for fighting. Temirov is not beyond getting clipped for his aggression early, but the 27-year-old appears capable of powering through both on the feet and the floor.

Vergara strikes should be extra live off clinch breaks, but I’m not sure that Temirov gives the American his preferred space.

For that reason, I’ll semi-reluctantly pick Temirov to force a stoppage by strikes in Round 1.

Ramazan Temirov vs. CJ Vergara UFC Fight Night 244 odds

The oddsmakers and the public heavily favor the Uzbek fighter, listing Temirov -325 and Vergara +250 via FanDuel.

Ramazan Temirov vs. CJ Vergara UFC Fight Night 244 start time, how to watch

Vergara and Temirov are expected to walk to the cage at approximately 7:05 p.m. ET (4:05 p.m. PT). The fight will stream on ESPN+.