Sooo … About Last Night

Last night (Sat., July 12, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee for UFC Nashville. What looked like a fun card on paper absolutely lived up to the hype! There were finishes left and right, making for a fast-paced night of quality action that featured some well-known names like Derrick Lewis, Stephen Thompson, and Calvin Kattar. The promotion’s return to “Music City” featured a ton of violent moments and quick stoppages, so there’s plenty to talk about.

Let’s take a look back over the best performances and techniques of the evening:

Lewis Sees, Lewis Conquers, Lewis Takes Off His Pants

I have no idea why Tallison Teixeira was so heavily favored to defeat Derrick Lewis. Sure, he’s a lanky 25-year-old with knockout power, and those don’t come around the Heavyweight ranks every day, but this was way too early. Anybody who watched Teixeira’s Contenders Series bout knew the Brazilian was hittable.

Is there anything worse to be opposite “The Black Beast?”

Lewis destroyed his opponent almost immediately. Even after taking a knuckle in the eye ball, one of Lewis’ swinging haymakers connected right on the chin. Teixeira hit the floor in a heap, and even if I found the stoppage to be premature, I’m not about to pretend like I think the fight was moving in any other direction.

Getting smashed by Lewis’ power shots in round one is not a recipe for success.

Two Veterans, Two Losses

Calvin Kattar and Stephen Thompson both faced the unenviable task of facing off with rising contenders while trying to shrug off their own losing streak.

Kattar, unfortunately, is shot. Every since his knee injury, he isn’t the same fighter. Steve Garcia was in his face from the first bell, and even that constant aggression couldn’t draw much volume from the boxer. His decline has been a shame, but it must be said that Garcia is also quite good. His aggressive boxing and head movement, general awkwardness, and use of front/inside low kicks is reminiscent of Tony Ferguson back in the day, and that’s high praise!

Thompson, on the other hand, fought quite well. It took him some time to find his punching range, but he generally denied the grappling of a top-notch jiu-jitsu player in Gabriel Bonfim pretty consistently across three rounds. The striking was competitive, but the kicks of Thompson seemed the most significant weapon of either man. Twice, “Wonderboy” head kicks wobbled the knees of Bonfim, but Thompson still ended up on the wrong side of a split.

He may be 42 years old on a three-fight losing streak, but the man can still fight.

Charriere Spoils Landwehr’s Homecoming

Nate Landwehr fought really well for much of his battle versus Morgan Charriere. He stayed in the counter puncher’s face without getting sloppy, allowing him to build volume and frustrate his opponent. He landed plenty of hard shots, and when Charriere tried to wrestle, Landwehr defended the shot nicely.

All the momentum was in Landwehr’s corner heading into round three. Landwehr knew it and played to the crowd, who absolutely loved the Clarksville-native shining on his home stage. Landwehr and the arena alike were HYPE, and it’s worth asking whether or not Landwehr’s focus slipped a bit?

Either way, Charriere gave up on counter punching and started round three like a bat out of hell. It was the correct, overdue adjustment. Charriere stunned Landwehr immediately and didn’t let him off the hook, swinging power punches from the hip until “The Train” careened off the tracks in spectacular fashion. Perhaps this will be a lesson for Charriere, motivation to open up a bit earlier next time? The man is clearly slick and powerful, and more aggression could help prevent him losing those close decisions.

New Weight Class Can’t Fix S—t Wrestling

Junior Tafa vs. Tuco Tokkos was a frustrating fight.

Tokkos did his job. He’s not particularly good or athletic, but he knows how to wrestle a bit and play to his strengths. Apparently, that’s still all it takes to absolutely dominate Tafa, fancy new physique be damned.

Tafa spent more time throwing Travis Browne elbows and searching for ninja chokes than actually fighting off takedowns. Predictably, this landed him on his back early and often. He was able to power his way up a few times, but that energy quickly left him even as Tokkos fatigued as well. Throughout his attempts to scramble, Tafa gave up the two-on-one hand control quite literally a dozen times, which routinely shut down his movement. The ease and frequency with which Tokkos secured that hold — one of the most dominant positions in the sport — was an amateurish grappling display from Tafa.

BKFC is surely in his future.

Additional Thoughts

Vitor Petrino defeats Austin Lane via first-round rear naked choke: Petrino deserves credit for moving up to Heavyweight and not showing up to work with a big ol’ belly. Of course, we also have to acknowledge that Lane is among the worst Heavyweights on the roster … a low bar. Petrino caught a kick and tossed him to the floor with ease to start the contest. After several minutes of hanging around, he finally opened up with ground strikes and immediately created an opening for the choke! If Petrino opts to hang around Heavyweight, it’ll be interesting to see how he handles better opposition, but he certainly seems to have the necessary size and strength.
Jake Matthews defeats Chidi Njokuani via first-round rear naked choke: On paper, this is a great win for Matthews. He steamrolled Njokuani, scoring a slick foot sweep to jump on the back and finish via strangle in roughly a minute. Given Njokuani’s recent success at Welterweight, that should be a big deal! Unfortunately, Matthews is famously inconsistent, capable of stellar performances and mediocre ones just a couple months apart. Until he can fight this way multiple wins in a row, fans aren’t going to get overly excited for “The Celtic Kid.” Still, at 30 years of age, there is time for him to really put it all together and go on a run.
Valter Walker defeats Kennedy Nzechukwu via first-round heel hook (highlights): Heavyweight is such a meme division, and Walker is capitalizing in a unique way by winning three straight fights via heel hook! Many of the big boys have genuinely no idea how to react to a leg entanglement, and we can apparently add former 205-pounder Nzechukwu to that list. In his defense, Walker did stun him with a punch first, but still … heel hooked in 54 seconds? That’s a bad loss.
Mike Davis defeats Mitch Ramirez via second-round knockout (highlights): Davis doesn’t fight very often, and he kind of s—t the bed in his last appearance versus Fares Ziam, but man … when “Beast Boy” is on, he’s clearly a top-notch Lightweight. Unfortunately for Ramirez, Davis was on point last night. He dominated the first frame with a heavy slam takedown and lots of back control, then the two threw down in the second. Ramirez actually landed a few cracking shots of his own, but a powerful knee from Davis sent him to the fence, where a long combination sealed the deal. Hopefully, Davis can fight consistently and keep putting on performances like this, because he’s a ton of fun to watch!
Fatima Kline defeats Melissa Martinez via third-round knockout (highlights): Kline was widely expected to win in impressive fashion here, and the 25-year-old prospect lived up to the hype. She controlled the distance well, enabling her to remain in control of the kickboxing and wrestling exchanges alike. Just as it seemed like a decision win was materializing, a perfectly hidden high kick snuck through the guard and folded Martinez. Kline has now won two straight in the Octagon, and she’s looking like a future player at 115-pounds.