Ateba Gautier proved why he’s one of the most hyped young fighters on the UFC roster with a standout performance on a finish-filled UFC 318 preliminary card.

The 23-year-old from Cameroon earned a first-round technical knockout over Robert Valentin, and it only took 70 seconds.

Gautier is now 8-1 in professional mixed martial arts with seven consecutive wins by KO/TKO, and of those seven wins, only one has gone beyond the opening round. He earned a UFC contract with a stoppage win on the Contender Series in September and impressed in his official UFC debut in March by finishing the durable Jose Medina with a knee in one round.

The UFC 318 prelims began with six consecutive stoppages and concluded with three consecutive decisions.

Middleweights Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori settled a longstanding beef with Allen earning the unanimous decision win after three hard-fought rounds.

The last time the pair fought each other was in the lobby of a casino last August after they both attended a PFL event in Florida to support various teammates who were competing on the card. Punches were thrown before the pair crashed into a roulette table and were separated.

At UFC 318, which took place at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, they let their hands go in a sanctioned scrap and neither held back.

They combined for 220 significant strikes in the 15-minute bout, Allen landing 111 and Vettori 109, with Allen doing more damage overall, including busting up Vettori’s nose early in the opening round. 

Allen, 29, fights out of Covington, La., and had the home crowd advantage fighting in front of family and friends in New Orleans.

“I gave him what he wanted. He thought he could stand with me. I hurt him multiple times. I have nothing but respect for him at the end of the day,” Allen said after snapping a two-fight losing streak. “He stood in here and went toe-to-toe, took some (hard shots), gave some (expletive) punches. Nothing but respect for him. All beef aside, it’s all respect in (the cage) because not many people can do this.”

Vettori has now lost three in a row and four of his past five overall. The 31-year-old Italian was competing with a heavy heart and fighting for the first time since his younger brother died tragically in a house fire in April.

Vettori entered the weekend as the No. 10-ranked contender at 185 pounds with Allen at No. 11 and likely will leapfrog him in the rankings when they are updated next week. 

Vinicius Oliveira extended his winning streak to four in a row with a unanimous decision win over Kyler Phillips in bantamweight action, with Phillips starting strong but fading as the fight progressed, plus Nikolay Veretennikov edged out Francisco Prado and walked away with a split decision win.

Earlier on the prelims, Islam Dulatov made a major impression in his UFC debut. The 26-year-old prospect timed a lead left hook to put Adam Fugitt to sleep late in the opening round of their welterweight contest. Dulatov earned a UFC contract last October on Dana White’s Contender Series thanks to a highlight knockout of Vanilto Antunes.

Brunno Ferreira picked up his second consecutive submission victory via armbar, tapping out UFC newcomer Jackson McVey in the opening round of their middleweight matchup.

Ferreira is now 5-2 in the UFC with all five of his wins coming by finish. In fact, Ferreira has never gone to a decision in his career, win or lose. The 32-year-old Brazilian also holds knockout wins over Dustin Stoltzfus, Phil Hawes and the streaking Gregory Rodrigues.

Jimmy Crute snapped a five-fight winless streak with a first-round armbar submission of Marcin Prachnio, who defended as long as he could withstand before his arm became hyperextended and he tapped out.

Crute hadn’t gotten his hand raised since his perfect 2020 campaign that saw him get back-to-back first-round stoppages of Modestas Bukaukas and Michał Oleksiejczuk.

Carli Judice got the Louisiana crowd on its feet in the opening bout of the prelims as the Lafayette native stopped Nicolle Caliari with a beautiful step-in knee to the body in the third round of their flyweight matchup.

Judice became the first woman in UFC history to record a finish due to both a kick and a knee. The 26-year-old previously used a head kick to finish Yuneisy Duben back in March. 

Ryan Spann made quick work of fellow heavyweight Lukasz Brzeski with a first-round submission win.

This was Spann’s first victory since moving up from the 205-pound division earlier this year. He was finished by Waldo Cortes-Acosta in March in his heavyweight debut, but looked much improved in his second showing. The 33-year-old holds notable first-round stoppage wins over past light-heavyweight title challengers Dominick Reyes and Ovince Saint Preux.

UFC 318 was the organization’s first trip to New Orleans in 10 years and was headlined by a BMF Title matchup between fan favourites Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway.