UFC Fight Night 84 results: Teemu Packalen quickly taps Thibault Gouti

LONDON – Teemu Packalen wasted no time against Thibault Gouti after dropping his man with a right hand uppercut and then smoothly transitioning to his back.

With Gouti (11-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) still woozy from the punch, Packalen (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) sunk the rear-naked choke and squeezed for the finish, forcing the tap just 24 seconds into the first round.

The lightweight bout was part of today’s UFC Fight Night 84 preliminary card at The O2 in London. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

For Packalen, his second UFC fight could hardly have been more different than his first. After suffering the first defeat of his pro career in a unanimous decision loss after 15 hard minutes against Mikael Lebout last July, Packalen needed less than half a minute to get the win in his second UFC fight.

Packalen’s uppercut caught Gouti just as he inadvertently ducked into the punch, and the force of the blow immediately dropped him straight down in the opening seconds. Packalen pounced with a few follow-up punches, but as Gouti tried to sit up Packalen spun to his back and cinched in the choke without even fitting his hooks in to secure back mount.

It hardly mattered by that point, as Gouti could get no defense going against the choke that was already in before he realized the danger. With Packalen squeezing from his back, all Gouti could do was submit.

The victory puts Packalen back in the win column for the first time since his lone career loss last summer. Gouti loses the first fight of his pro career in his UFC debut.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 84 results include:

• Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:24
• David Teymur def. Martin Svensson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:26

For more on UFC Fight Night 84, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in London.)