Heavyweight action on the UFC Vegas 124 prelims saw Thomas Petersen welcome Gabriel Lorenco of Brazil to the octagon.
Lorenco, who won a UFC contract on the Contender Series in 2025, had been waiting over a year to make his promotional debut. Petersen, entering with a 3-4 record in the company, had been trading wins and losses of late.
A moment of feeling out gave way to a clinch as Petersen punched his way inside, but “The Train” wasn’t able to derail Lorenco, who escaped. Moments later Petersen would land his desired takedown, working from side control and taking the back as Lorenco scrambled to the fence. When Lorenco tried to dump Petersen off over the top, Petersen rolled with it, but soon Lorenco was out, and moments later, he had Petersen hurt. The problem being, it was a clearly illegal knee that went unnoticed by the ref. Not to mention some elbows that appeared a bit close to the back of the head.
Despite having his bell rung, Petersen fought on, but was tagged moments later! Nearly out, he swung back, and bought himself a brief reprieve. Lorenceo, however, was all over him, dropping Petersen again. Petersen somehow crawled his way out and go back to his feet, seemingly running on sheer heart and determination. It wasn’t looking good for Thomas Petersen, however, as he was still being lit up as they entered the final minute. However implausibly, though, he survived the round.
Between rounds, Lorenco was warned for elbows to the back of the head. And in the first minute, it was Petersen putting the hurt on, landing a left hand, then another, getting Lorenco on his back, and chasing a kimura. Loreno, who had landed upwards of 50 significant strikes in the opening round, appeared to be gassing a little. He did escape eventually, and they’d go back to the feet, where Petersen appeared to have recovered after the beatdown in the first frame.
Depending on how the judges scored the first frame, where a 10-8 could be in play given an illegal knee and illegal elbows by Lorenco weren’t called, it could still have been anyone’s fight heading into the third. When they went to the ground a minute in, it was Petersen on top, working from half-guard. Staying belly to belly, Petersen slipped in punches to the body, and when the opening came, a few elbows to the head. Legal ones, in his case. When Lorenco turned to his side, Petersen landed a few punches, and even more when Lorenco returned to his back. Had he not been forced to drain the tank just surviving that opening round, Petersen might have put the fight away then and there. Instead, it would be another 20 seconds or so before he could finally muster the energy to put Lorenco away – but put him away he did!
Official Result: Thomas Petersen def. Gabriel Lorenco by TKO (ground n’ pound), Round 3, 4:47