Munhoz vs O’Malley ruled a no contest after eye poke halts the bout

UFC 276 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.

In the main event, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (22-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) puts his title on the line against Jared Cannonier (15-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC). In the co-feature, featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski (24-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC) takes on former titleholder Max Holloway (23-6 MMA, 19-6 UFC) in a trilogy rematch.

In the opening bout on the main card, “Sugar” Sean O’Malley (15-1) and his vociferous personality takes on Pedro “the Young Punisher” Munhoz (19-7). O’Malley comes in ranked 13th and has momentum going 6-1 in the UFC so far. Munhoz is coming off losses to Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz and still holding the #9 ranking among bantamweights. Here is how the 135 lb clash went down, including round by round scoring from MyMMANews…

Round 1

45 seconds in and we haven’t really had any action as the fighters are feeling each other out. They exchange a couple of leg kicks. The action is still deliberate and slow to this point as both fighters look like they would rather counterattack. O’Malley has gotten the better of the few exchanges with the hands using his reach to his advantage. Munhoz is struggling to find and has done very little except land a few calf kicks in round one as the bell goes off

MyMMANews scores round 1 10-9 O’Malley

Round 2

The action has picked up in round 2 as both guys look to be busier. O’Malley barely misses with a spinning back head kick.

Munhoz still throwing mostly calf kicks and has eaten a couple of punches in exchanges. We have a stoppage for an eye poke from O’Malley. And after several minutes, Munhoz is unable to continue, and we have a no contest. We will most likely see this one run back.

Official score: No contest after accidental eye poke at 3:09

'Beautiful' Bob Meloni

More than 15 years experience in the PA/NJ regional MMA circuit. Commentator/post fight interviews/pre-fight show host @ Art of War Cage Fighting and Ring of Combat The story of the fighter is what Bob loves about the sport. From the lowest level, to the highest, he only cares about the two warriors who do battle once the cage doors close. Everything else is secondary. Without their blood, sweat, and tears, he would not be here enjoying every minute.

See Full Bio