Garbrandt clobbers Almeida at UFC Fight Night 88

Cody Garbrandt entered his first Ultimate Fighting Championship main event bout on Sunday night outside the top 15 in the organization’s official bantamweight rankings.

He may have left the cage a star.

Garbrandt unleashed a series of vicious right hands to knock out previously undefeated Thomas Almeida just 2:53 into the first round in the UFC Fight Night 88 headliner at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

“Hats off to Thomas Almeida. You don’t get to 21-0 (without being very good). I have respect for him and he’s a future champion as well,” Garbrandt said. “But can I get some respect now?”

Garbrandt improved to 9-0 overall and won for the fourth time in the UFC with his third knockout.

“I’m the hardest hitter in my division,” he said. “I’ll knock anybody out, (champion) Dominick Cruz, whoever. I’m going to be the champion one day.”

It was the only fight on a six-bout main card to not go the distance.

Former bantamweight champ Renan Barao’s first experience at 145 pounds wasn’t pleasant. After a strong first round in his featherweight debut against Jeremy Stephens, Barao took big punches to the face and couldn’t get back into rhythm.

Barao attempted nine takedowns to get the fight on the mat where he would have an edge, but Stephens stuffed all but two.

On his feet, Barao was susceptible to hits to the chin by Stephens. Barao had moved up to 145 pounds after several brutal weight cuts and knockout losses in his last two title fights and said he wasn’t ready to make any decisions after suffering his third loss in four fights.

“I will think about my future and what else I will do later, but not right now,” Barao said. “I felt strong in the cage tonight but things just didn’t go my way.”

After more than 18 months out of action, welterweight Rick Story returned with a unanimous decision victory over former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine.

Story worked his way inside and attacked Saffiedine’s body each time they clinched against the cage.

Veteran middleweight Chris Camozzi won for the third consecutive time, taking all three rounds in a unanimous decision over Vitor Miranda.

Camozzi was the aggressor from the opening bell, never allowing Miranda to mount much of an attack until the final few minutes when he started to get desperate and throw haymakers that never really had a chance.

Welterweight Lorenz Larkin won for the third time in four fights with a split decision victory over Jorge Masvidal.

Masvidal has now lost three of four, with all of the setbacks coming by split decision.

“I don’t know how to win decisions,” he said. “I just go out there and fight.”

Paul Felder, by far the biggest favorite on the main card at more than minus-300, survived some wild exchanges in the pocket to earn a unanimous decision victory over veteran Josh Burkman.

Felder dropped the first round on all three cards before rallying to sweep the final two in the opening fight of the main card.

Las Vegan Bryan Caraway highlighted the preliminary card by handing bantamweight contender Aljamain Sterling the first loss of his career.

After a dominant first round by Sterling, Caraway rallied to win the final two rounds on two of the scorecards by wearing down Sterling and winning a grappling battle.

“I got off to a slow start and he’s obviously a good grappler himself,” Caraway said. “I was just too cautious at first. I think the theme of this fight was heart over hype. He’s the No. 4 guy and the only ones ahead of him are (T.J.) Dillashaw, (Urijah) Faber and Barao, so I think I should be the next guy up for a shot at the title.”

Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann utilized her wrestling skills to win all three rounds in a unanimous decision victory over Jessica Eye in a matchup of fringe women’s bantamweight contenders.

Eye was hesitant to commit to her aggressive offensive attacks out of concern for getting too close and allowing McMann to tie her up. In the end, her caution allowed McMann to pick her spots for takedowns and once Eye was on the ground, she had no answer.

Lightweight Erik Koch returned from more than two years away from action due to a series of injuries to score a second-round submission victory over Shane Campbell.

“A lot of people thought I had added pressure because I haven’t been in the cage for two years, but I felt great,” Koch said. “The best I ever have. I’ve been doing combat sports since I was 4 years old.

“I’m rising from the ashes.”

Abel Trujillo won a unanimous decision over Jordan Rinaldi in a lightweight bout and middleweight Jake Collier rebounded after suffering a broken nose in the early moments to knock out Alberto Uda in the second round.

Also, heavyweight Adam Milstead knocked out Chris De La Rocha late in the second round of a heavyweight bout.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.