UFC 240 results: Neal TKO’s Price in exciting war, Tsarukyan gets past Aubin-Mercier

The UFC 240 PPV main card is in progress and Geoff Neal just stopped Niko Price with ground strikes in the second round after a rather fun back-and-forth affair. The 12-2 Neal is now enjoying a six-fight winning streak with four of them occurring within the UFC and all but one ending inside the distance.

Before that, 22-year-old Arman Tsarukyan earned his first UFC win with a unanimous decision over Canada’s Olivier Aubin-Mercier. Tsarukyan showed off a strong grappling skillset, a solid gas tank, and quite frankly the man fights well beyond his years. The 14-2 lightweight prospect is surely one to keep an eye on.

Kicking off the PPV main card, the formerly ranked middleweight Krzysztof Jotko took a grueling split decision over Marc-Andre Barriault. Jotko really had to earn every bit of this one. This is the first time that the new American Top Team member has picked up back to back wins since 2016.

**See complete results below

Main card:

Geoff Neal def. Niko Price by TKO at 2:39 of round 2: Welterweight

The bout opened with Neal scoring a lifting takedown on his opponent. Price was able to quickly scramble up to his feet. Price threw a set of head kicks that seemed to register, and then the athletes knocked each other down at the same time. Price quickly pounced but was unable to capitalize.

Price came out brawling in the second act, landing some quality strikes in the process. He then jumped a guillotine that gifted Neal top position. Several damaging punches landed for Neal inside of the full guard. Instead of trying to get up, Price was throwing blows from his back. Neal threw back way more powerful strikes that put Price in a daze. The referee was right on top of the action to call it off.

Arman Tsarukyan def. Olivier Aubin-Mercier by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Lightweight

Tsarukyan shot in on OAM to begin the bout and looked to get his grapple going. OAM moved to open space and landed a hard knee that Tsarukyan ate like a champ. Tsarukyan went right back to his grappling attack. He was all over OAM like a wet blanket, causing the crowd to boo hard. OAM landed a couple of really hard knees in the second round that appeared to have hurt his opponent. Tsarukyan tied up and was able to recover and get himself right back into the match.

Tsarukyan started hot in the final round, spamming right hands before attempting the takedown. OAM went for a takedown of his but ended up on the bottom in the scramble. Tsarukyan worked from the top throwing punches and staying busy. OAM didn’t threaten with very much from his back and spent quite some time down there.

Krzysztof Jotko def. Marc-Andre Barriault by split decision (29-28 x2, 28-29): Middleweight

Jotko shot in right away and pressed his foe against the fence. After a bit of a struggle, Barriault was able to escape into the middle of the Octagon. Barriault took his turn at holding his opponent up against the cage, and the jockeying for position continued. Barriault went back to clinch in the seocnd round and was able sneak in some strikes on the inside. The blows dealt out by Barriault had a lot more power on them than those of Jotko. A lot more clinching went on with the middleweights alternating the dominant position.

Jotko failed at a takedown to kick off the third round, resulting in more clinch work. Barriault successfully thwarted the takedown attempts of Jotko to keep the fight standing. This fight kept gravitating back to the clinch, but did spend the final minute or so in open space. Well, until Jotko finally scored a takedown right before the ten second sticks.