UFC Fight Night 142: dos Santos vs. Tuivasa | Event Profile, Full Results & Legacy
- Roe Jogan
- May 21
- 7 min read
Table of Contents
Introduction
UFC Fight Night 142: dos Santos vs. Tuivasa took place on Sunday, December 2, 2018 (Saturday December 1 in North America) at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 to 702,000 average viewers (883,000 peak, 471k FS1 prelims). The card drew 8,652 fans for a gate of $1,026,937. It was the second UFC event in Adelaide, following UFC Fight Night: Miocic vs. Hunt in May 2015. The main event was a heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Tai Tuivasa.
Dos Santos stopped Tuivasa by TKO at 2:30 of round two with punches, ending Tuivasa’s 10-fight unbeaten professional record. Mauricio Shogun Rua earned Performance of the Night for a third-round TKO of Tyson Pedro. Sodiq Yusuff earned Performance of the Night on his UFC debut. Kai Kara-France and Elias Garcia earned Fight of the Night. Justin Willis defeated Mark Hunt by unanimous decision. Jim Crute submitted Paul Craig with a kimura in his UFC debut.
Second UFC in Adelaide — JDS & Shogun’s Bounce-Back Card
Adelaide Entertainment Centre holds approximately 11,000. The 8,652 attendance and $1,026,937 gate were strong for a second-visit Australian market. Tai Tuivasa’s undefeated professional record and Australian identity gave the card its most commercially charged storyline: a 25-year-old Mount Druitt, New South Wales fighter who had gone 10-0 professionally (3-0 in the UFC) against the former UFC HW Champion who had defeated Blagoy Ivanov in Boise six months earlier.
The co-main event featured Shogun Rua’s return just four months after his first-round KO loss to Anthony Smith at UFC Fight Night 134 in Hamburg in July 2018. Smith had knocked him out cold in 1:29 of round one. Shogun’s Adelaide co-main booking reflected the UFC’s confidence in his ability to produce competitive results against an Australian opponent before an Australian crowd. Tyson Pedro — a 26-year-old Sydney LHW with a 7-1 professional record — was the crowd’s preferred fighter for the co-main.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: December 2, 2018 AEDT / December 1 ET (2nd UFC in Adelaide; first since May 2015)
📍 Venue: Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
👥 Attendance: 8,652
💰 Gate: $1,026,937
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 — 702,000 avg. viewers (883k peak, 471k FS1 prelims)
🏆 Main Event: Junior dos Santos vs. Tai Tuivasa — HW (Tuivasa 10-0 undefeated; 3-0 UFC; former HW champions Arlovski and Hunt already beaten; JDS on 2-fight win streak)
✅ Result: dos Santos def. Tuivasa via TKO (punches) — R2, 2:30 (JDS dropped Tuivasa mid-exchange R2 then finished; Tuivasa’s 10-0 unbeaten record SNAPPED; JDS 3rd consecutive win)
Main Event: JDS Stops Tuivasa’s Perfect Record in Round Two
Tuivasa’s opening round was aggressive: leg kicks and forward pressure that damaged JDS’s lead leg. JDS’s boxing quality — his combination timing and punch accuracy — was the tactical counter. His ability to absorb Tuivasa’s leg kicks and maintain striking output across round one set up the mid-exchange left hook in round two that dropped Tuivasa. The follow-up punches produced the TKO at 2:30.
Tuivasa’s submission to JDS’s boxing accuracy — despite the leg damage JDS absorbed — was the Adelaide result’s central competitive story. JDS’s consecutive HW wins (Ivanov in Boise, Tuivasa in Adelaide) positioned him as a top-three HW contender for a title fight with the winner of Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier 2. His Adelaide result earned him a fight against Junior dos Santos vs. Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 146 in March 2019.
Shogun’s PoN, Yusuff’s Debut, Kara-France’s FotN & The Card
Shogun Rua’s third-round TKO of Tyson Pedro at 0:43 of round three was the Adelaide card’s most crowd-affecting individual result — for the opposite reason to Tuivasa’s loss. The Adelaide crowd’s support for Pedro as an Australian LHW was strong; Shogun’s TKO in 43 seconds of round three, after Pedro had shown competitive quality in rounds one and two, was the card’s most dramatically charged individual finish. The Performance of the Night bonus was Shogun’s second consecutive PoN from his Boise and Hamburg appearances.
Sodiq Yusuff’s debut Performance of the Night TKO of Suman Mokhtarian at 2:14 of round one opened the UFC FW career that produced wins over multiple ranked opponents. Yusuff — a Nigerian-born, Georgia-raised featherweight — had gone 9-1 professionally before Adelaide. Kai Kara-France’s Fight of the Night over Elias Garcia was the preliminary card’s most competitive exchange: Kara-France won comprehensively on all three scorecards but Garcia’s sustained engagement earned both fighters the FotN. Jim Crute’s kimura of Paul Craig in his debut was a technically precise Australian LHW debut.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Junior dos Santos def. Tai Tuivasa — TKO (punches) — R2, 2:30 — HW (Tuivasa’s 10-0 unbeaten record SNAPPED; JDS dropped Tuivasa with left hook mid-R2; JDS 3rd consecutive UFC win)
Mauricio Rua def. Tyson Pedro — TKO (punches) — R3, 0:43 — LHW (PoN $50k; Shogun BOUNCE-BACK 4 months after Hamburg 1st-round KO loss to Smith; Pedro Australian crowd favourite)
Justin Willis def. Mark Hunt — Unanimous Decision (29-28x3) — HW (Hunt career decline continues; Willis HW contender build)
Tony Martin def. Jake Matthews — Technical Submission (anaconda choke) — R3, 1:19 — WW (Matthews Australian WW; Martin anaconda choke of local favourite)
Sodiq Yusuff def. Suman Mokhtarian — TKO (punches) — R1, 2:14 — FW (PoN $50k; YUSUFF’S UFC DEBUT; Nigerian-American FW; future top-5 FW contender!)
Jim Crute def. Paul Craig — Submission (kimura) — R3, 4:51 — LHW (CRUTE’S UFC DEBUT; Australian LHW building career)
Preliminary Card (FS1 / UFC Fight Pass)
Alexey Kunchenko def. Yushin Okami — Unanimous Decision (30-27x2, 30-26) — WW (Okami career winding down; Kunchenko continuing unbeaten UFC run)
Wilson Reis def. Ben Nguyen — Unanimous Decision (30-27x3) — FLW
Keita Nakamura def. Salim Touahri — Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) — WW
Kai Kara-France def. Elias Garcia — Unanimous Decision (30-25x2, 30-26) — FLW (FotN $50k each; Kara-France building FW career; future UFC interim FLW champion!)
Christos Giagos def. Mizuto Hirota — Unanimous Decision — LW
Damir Ismagulov def. Alex Gorgees — Unanimous Decision — LW
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Kai Kara-France + Elias Garcia — $50,000 each
🥇 Performance of the Night: Mauricio Rua + Sodiq Yusuff — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• Tuivasa’s 10-fight unbeaten professional record — ended by JDS’s second-round TKO.
• Sodiq Yusuff’s debut PoN — the opening result of a top-five UFC FW career.
• Kai Kara-France’s FotN — a step toward the interim UFC FLW championship at UFC 277 in July 2022.
Legacy & Impact
JDS’s Adelaide win produced a fight against Derrick Lewis at UFC Fight Night 146 in March 2019, which JDS won by TKO. Kai Kara-France’s Adelaide FotN was one of multiple FW/FLW wins that built toward the interim UFC FLW Championship fight against Brandon Moreno at UFC 277 in July 2022. Sodiq Yusuff’s debut PoN opened a UFC FW career that produced wins over Andre Fili, Calvin Kattar, and Arnold Allen before a top-five FW ranking.
Jim Crute’s Adelaide debut kimura was the beginning of a UFC LHW career that produced additional wins before a high-profile loss to Anthony Smith at UFC Fight Night 183 in November 2020. Shogun Rua’s Adelaide PoN demonstrated his continued finishing quality despite being 37 years old and just four months removed from a first-round KO loss. His subsequent career produced additional UFC appearances before his eventual retirement at UFC 271 in February 2022.
FAQ
What was Tuivasa’s record before Adelaide?
Tuivasa was 10-0 professionally, with three UFC wins over Rashad Coulter, Andrei Arlovski, and Blagoy Ivanov. All three UFC wins were over fighters with extensive UFC experience and name value. His 10-0 record and the local crowd’s support made him the Adelaide card’s most commercially charged active fighter. JDS’s TKO of him in round two — absorbing leg kick damage in round one before landing the decisive left hook in round two — was the most significant individual competitive result of JDS’s late-career HW run.
What was Shogun’s competitive context?
Rua was 36 years old and had gone 3-3 in his previous six UFC fights. The Hamburg KO loss to Smith had been his second first-round KO loss in four fights. His Adelaide TKO of Pedro was a bounce-back performance that demonstrated his punching power remained functional at LHW despite his age and career wear. Pedro was a younger, physically fresh Australian LHW; Shogun’s TKO of him in 43 seconds of round three reflected patient round-by-round buildup before a clinical finish.
Who was Sodiq Yusuff before his debut?
Yusuff was a 24-year-old Lagos, Nigeria-born, Smyrna, Georgia featherweight who had gone 9-1 professionally before Adelaide. His background in traditional Yoruba wrestling and boxing produced the physical FW style that his Adelaide debut TKO displayed. His ‘Super’ nickname reflected his physical profile — exceptional athleticism for the 145 lb division. His debut PoN over Mokhtarian was a strong commercial introduction to the UFC’s FW market.
Who was Kai Kara-France before Adelaide?
Kara-France was a 25-year-old Auckland, New Zealand flyweight who had gone 15-6 professionally before Adelaide. His striking-based FLW style and Pacific region origin gave him commercial identity in Australian and New Zealand UFC markets. His Adelaide FotN over Garcia was a comprehensive decision that demonstrated both his technical quality and his ability to sustain competitive engagement across three rounds against a credible FLW opponent. His subsequent FLW career produced multiple wins and the interim title shot at UFC 277.
What was Jim Crute’s debut kimura?
Crute was a 22-year-old Geelong, Victoria LHW making his UFC debut. Paul Craig was a 30-year-old Glasgow, Scotland LHW with a 10-2 professional record. Crute’s kimura lock — securing the shoulder isolation from a top position in round three — produced a technically clean submission finish of a legitimate European LHW competitor. His debut kimura was one of the more technically precise Australian UFC debut submissions in the LHW division’s history.
What was the Kunchenko vs. Okami result’s significance?
Yushin Okami was a 34-year-old Japanese welterweight whose career had included a UFC MW title fight against Anderson Silva at UFC 134 in 2011. His Adelaide loss to Kunchenko extended a losing sequence that reflected his career’s late-stage phase. Kunchenko’s win maintained his unbeaten UFC WW record — following wins over Thiago Alves in Moscow and Jordan Mein in earlier UFC appearances — demonstrating that Russian WW depth could produce consistent competitive results against established division veterans.
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