Dominick Reyes appears to have established himself in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The Teixeira MMA export stopped former Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder Anthony Smith with punches and elbows in the second round of their featured UFC 310 prelim bout on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In his first outing since the death of his longtime friend and mentor Scott Morton, Smith (38-21, 13-11 UFC) finished at 4:46 of Round 2.

Reyes (14-4, 8-4 UFC) utilized an active kicking game at all levels and demanded strong jab-cross combos.
Smith lunged for a single-leg takedown attempt early in the second round but was met with sharp elbows. Reyes continued to fire shots to the side of the head, maintaining a steady pace and leaving referee Marc Goddard no choice but to intervene.

Meanwhile, Vicente Luque of Kill Cliff Fight Club put Themba Gorimbo to sleep with an anaconda choke in the first round of their welterweight bout. A short-term replacement for Nick Diaz, Gorimbo (14-5, 4-2 UFC)
fell into the abyss 52 seconds into the first lap.

Luque (23-10-1, 16-6 UFC) floored the Xtreme Couture representative with a counter right hook and then took advantage of the situation. He snaked his arms into place as Gorimbo tried to get back to his feet, curling into his pressure and waiting for his counterpart to lose his grip on reality.

It was the first sub-minute finish of Luque’s stellar 34-fight career.

Further back on the undercard, American Top Team standout Movsar Evloev maintained his perfect professional record with a unanimous decision over Aljamain Sterling in a thrilling three-round featherweight bout. All three cageside judges had the same score: 29-28 for Evloev (19-0, 9-0 UFC).

Sterling (24-5, 16-5 UFC) battled the Russian step-for-step for most of the match, which was marked by tactical takedowns, wild exchanges and explosive turns. Evloev used a textbook Granby roll to gain top position midway through the third round, applied some ground-and-pound and eventually moved to the back. Time ran out before Sterling could give an answer.

Evloev, 30, has gone the distance in all nine of his UFC victories.

Elsewhere, former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Eryk Anders repelled Chris Weidman with punches in the second round of their 195-pound punchweight bout. Anders (17-8, 9-8 UFC) finished 4:51 in Round 1 to win for the third time in four appearances.

Weidman (16-8, 12-8 UFC) had his moments — he delivered a left hook counter to the former University of Alabama linebacker in the first round — but he ran out of energy in the middle stanza.

There, Anders freed himself from an ill-advised guillotine attempt, positioned himself at half guard and unleashed a sustained, minute-long stroke that led to the stoppage.

After losing three of his last four fights, the 40-year-old Weidman looks less and less like the man who once dominated the middleweight division.

Continuing in the preliminary draw, The Ultimate Fighter Season 15 winner Michael Chiesa celebrated his 37th birthday in style, defeating Max Griffin with a rear-naked choke in the third round of their welterweight bout. Griffin (20-11, 8-9 UFC), who had never been submitted before, suffered a loss at 1:56 of Round 3.

Chiesa (18-7, 13-7 UFC) wore down the former Tachi Palace Fights titleholder with a clumsy but effective standup, repeated takedowns and a relentless clinch.
A little over a minute into the third round, he floored Griffin, moved to the back, secured the position with a body triangle and locked in the choke for the finish.

The 39-year-old Griffin has alternated wins and losses in each of his last five appearances.

Griffin wasn’t the only competitor to show off his submission skills, as Chase Hooper defeated former Strikeforce champion Clay Guida with an armbar in the first round of their lightweight affair. Guida (38-25, 18-19 UFC) raised the white flag of surrender at 3:41 of Round 1, suffering his third straight setback.

The 25-year-old Hooper (15-3-1, 7-3 UFC) opened a cut near the Team Alpha Male representative’s eye with slashing left hands and executed multiple takedowns.
Finally, he climbed onto Guida’s back, switched to the armbar, cut off escape routes and activated his hips to trigger the tapout.

Hooper will be on a four-fight win streak heading into his next outing.

Finally, Kennedy Nzechukwu, a two-time graduate of Dana White’s Contender Series, stepped in as a short-notice replacement for Tallison Teixeira and defeated Lukasz Brzeski with punches in the first round of their heavyweight duo. Brzeski (9-5-1, 1-5 UFC) was eliminated at 4:51 of Round 1, losing for the second time in as many games.

Nzechukwu (14-5, 8-5 UFC) stepped forward, leaving targeted jabs, sharp forward kicks to the body and the occasional straight left. Late in the first round,
He knocked Brzeski down with a clean counter right hook, gave chase with cruel intent, and disposed of what was left with hammer fists.

The 32-year-old Nzechukwu has won two consecutive victories.

In another bout, an overweight Bryan Battle (12-2, 7-1 UFC) earned a split decision – 28-29, 29-28, 29-28 – over former Ring of Combat champion Randy Brown (19-6 , 13). -6 UFC) in a three-round welterweight bout; and former Fury Fighting Championship titleholder Joshua Van (12-2, 5-1 UFC) used sharp combination punches to earn a unanimous decision over American Top’s Cody Durden (17-7-1, 6-5-1 UFC). Team in a threesome. round in the flyweight division and received scores of 29-28, 30-26 and 30-27 from the cageside judges.