Felipe Lima got a motivation speech from his corner going into the final round of his debut against Muhammad Naimov at UFC on ABC 6, then he went out and got a finish.
After stepping in as a late replacement for the featherweight fight with Naimov (11-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Lima (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) was putting on a competitive fight over the course of three rounds, but had no assurances of where he stood on the scorecards.
His corner told him to push for the finish for his mother, who he hadn’t seen in nearly two years. He took advantage of an opportunity to take his opponent’s back and got the rear-naked choke at the 1:15 mark of Round 3.
Check out the replay of the finish below (via X):
WHAT A UFC DEBUT ON SHORT NOTICE FOR FELIPE LIMA 👏#UFCSaudiArabia is LIVE NOW on ESPN 📺 pic.twitter.com/BLX59yhR5Q
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 22, 2024
Lima, 26, suffered a loss in his professional MMA debut in August 2015, but since has reeled off 13 consecutive victories. None of them were bigger than this, and Lima appears to be a compelling addition to an already deep 145-pound weight class.
“It’s short notice, but I’m professional,” Lima said in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier. “I’m always in amazing shape, every day in the gym and I was ready. In the second round, I was a little bit sleeping, but my coach woke me up, and I will get to see my mom.”
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 58 results include:
- Felipe Lima def. Muhammad Naimov via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 1:15
- Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Nicolas Dalby via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Muin Gafurov def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Magomed Gadzhiyasulov def. Brendson Ribeiro via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
- ChangHo Lee def. Xiao Long via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ABC 6.
