Miguel Baeza stops Matt Brown, 18 seconds into second-round

Miguel Baeza showcases power by getting TKO win over Matt Brown.

The UFC continues its COVID-19 comeback with UFC on ESPN 8 tonight, Saturday, May 16

Heavyweights Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris headline the event at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. In the co-main event, Claudia Gadelha looks to stop Angela Hill’s three-fight win streak.

Headlining the prelims will be Matt Brown and Miguel Baeza, who were originally scheduled to fight on March 28 in Brown’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

Brown, a UFC veteran, retired in 2017 after knocking out Diego Sanchez. He then decided to come put out retirement in December 2019 and picked up a knock out win over Ben Saunders.

Baeza enters the fight at a perfect 8-0 in his career. This fight will only be his second in the UFC. Baeza earned a UFC contract on the Dana White Contenders Series last summer and won his UFC debut over Hector Aldana last October.

Here’s how their fight went down with a round-by-round breakdown of the fight.

Round 1

Brown comes out and starts pressing forward keeping Baeza circling around the cage. Baeza lands a nice leg kick and a stiff jab as the first minute of action comes to an end. Baeza having success with the leg kicks, but Brown is still swinging hard and coming forward.

With three minutes left in the round, Brown comes forward and lands a bomb that knocks Baeza’s mouthpiece out and Brown starts landing heavy shots. Baeza was able to get himself out of the jam and is back standing in the middle of the octagon.

After eating some shots from the from Brown, Baeza then flips the script. With 1:45 left in the opening round, Baeza lands a nice one-two combination that drops Brown. Baeza then gets on top of Brown, but Brown got back to his feet and Brown now has blood on the top off his nose. Great round with a lot of action.

MyMMANews scores it 10-9 Baeza

Round 2

Baeza lands a nice hook as the round begins and then just seconds later he lands another short powerful left hook that sends Brown to the canvas and referee Jason Herzog stops the fight.

Official Result: Miguel Baeza wins by TKO 2nd round (0:18)