Tag: UFC Fight Night 196

UFC Fight Night 196 results: Marvin Vettori outlasts Paulo Costa in five-round war

Marvin Vettori went 25 minutes with Paulo Costa and walked away with a unanimous decision victory at UFC Fight Night 196.

Despite the shifts in weight during fight week, [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] and Paulo Costa put on an incredible fight for 25 minutes.

The light heavyweight bout was the UFC Fight Night 196 main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It streamed on ESPN+.

The fight was originally scheduled to take place at middleweight, the bout moved to a catchweight of 195 pounds momentarily, before ultimately settling on 205 pounds just days before the fight took place.

Given their differences in the lead-up to the fight, neither man was interested in touching gloves before the action began.

Costa(13-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) opened with a few hard kicks to get the action started. Vettori (18-4-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) seemed content to let his opponent strike first early in the first round as he looked for opportunities to counter. With about two minutes remaining in the round, Vettori kept Costa against the fence and unloaded a flurry of strikes. It was a moment that seemed to change the course of the round, as Vettori started finding home for more and more punches as the round went on as Costa slowed his striking output.

Vettori seemed the fresher fighter as the second round started, but Costa continued to offer hard kicks to the body and punches upstairs. Costa landed a hard kick to the head, and somehow Vettori stayed on his feet and avoided damage from a flurry of strikes from Costa who thought a finish was near.

Vettori was able to weather the storm and continue to pressure Costa, leading to a takedown. Nothing significant occurred on the canvas, but right after they returned to the feet, Costa accidentally poked Vettori’s eye, causing a pause in the action. Referee Jason Herzog took a point for the foul.

When the action resumed, Vettori continued to pressure his opponent. The two traded hard strikes in the center of the cage until the round expired.

The third round started with Vettori continuing to dictate the pace of the fight with higher volume striking than Costa. However, the Brazilian continued to throw kicks and punches with fight-ending intention. Costa secured a nice takedown in the center of the cage, but Vettori would end up on top after a failed guillotine attempt, and maintain the position until the round concluded.

The fourth round started off much like the previous rounds as Vettori continued to lead the dance by pressuring and picking well-placed punches. Costa stayed on the outside early, but started to move forward after Vettori scored with a couple of nice combinations. Vettori’s striking looked sharper throughout the round, landing cleaner punches than Costa.

In the first fifth round of his UFC tenure, Costa came out firing, perhaps feeling he needed a finish. He targeted the body of Vettori early with hard kicks and punches, which prompted Vettori to shoot for a takedown to slow the action. Costa was able to keep the fight standing and continued to rip strikes as he looked to land a fight-ending blow. Vettori may have lost the final round, but he was not finished and the fight would go to the scorecards.

The judges were unanimous in their decision as they all saw the fight in favor of Vettori.

Vettori is now back in the win column after an impressive performance on Saturday, rebounding nicely from his title challenge loss to Israel Adesanya in June at UFC 263. Vettori racked up five wins in a row to earn his shot at the title and will likely have to put together a few more wins together to earn a third bout against Adesanya.

Costa has now dropped two in a row, previously losing his title challenge to Israel Adesanya last year at UFC 253. The pair of setbacks are his only professional losses in 15 fights, but the larger concern going forward will surround the weight class he will compete in, given the last-minute changes during this fight week.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 196 results include:

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UFC Fight Night 196 results: Grant Dawson vs. Ricky Glenn ends in a majority draw

Grant Dawson and Ricky Glenn traded grappling positions en route to a majority draw in the UFC Fight Night 196 co-main event.

[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] and [autotag]Ricky Glenn[/autotag] exchanged dominant grappling positions in the UFC Fight Night 196 co-main event, and in the end, the judges couldn’t pick a winner.

Dawson (17-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) used an onslaught of takedowns and positional dominance to overwhelm Glenn (22-6-2 MMA, 4-3-1 UFC) for the first two rounds. The tables were turned in Round 3, as Glenn completely altered the momentum for a 10-8 round to make the final scores locked a majority draw at 29-28, 28-28, and 28-28.

The lightweight bout was the UFC Fight Night 196 co-main event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It streamed on ESPN+.

Dawson wasted no time implementing his game plan to start the fight. He got Glenn to the mat inside the first minute and started going to work with his grappling attacks. Dawson waited for Glenn to make a mistake and took the back, where he started to unload with strikes and try to sneak in a finishing choke. Glenn showed good defense, but he ended up being controlled for more than four minutes of the frame.

Grant denied Dawson’s initial entry to begin the second round, but Dawson stayed relentless in pursuit of the takedown and managed to get the position he wanted. Dawson worked from guard and side control, chipping away with short punches and waring Glenn down to secure another one-sided round in his favor.

There was no veering from the strategy on Dawson’s end going into Round 3. He shot for the takedown as soon as he saw the opportunity, but he was fatigued and a desperate Glenn managed to keep him away in the early minutes of the round. Glenn found his way into top position and tried to threaten with submissions and ground-and-pound. He nearly finished it with an anaconda choke late, and said he thought Dawson was out.

The judges felt Glenn’s work on the mat was enough to warrant a 10-8 in Round 3, making it a draw.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 196 results include:

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UFC Fight Night 196 video: Alex Caceres extends streak with comeback finish of Seungwoo Choi

Alex Caceres earned on of the most resilient wins of his career to date when he rallied to tap out Seungwoo Choi at UFC Fight Night 196.

[autotag]Alex Caceres[/autotag] earned one of the most resilient wins of his career to date when he rallied to tap out [autotag]Seungwoo Choi[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 196.

After struggling with Choi’s (10-4 MMA< 3-3 UFC) striking and getting dropped in the fight, Caceres (19-12 MMA, 14-10 UFC) turned in the tables and found his way to the back of his opponent in the second round for a come-from-behind submission victory courtesy of a rear-naked choke.

It was the 25th octagon appearance for Caceres, and his current five-fight winning streak is the longest of his tenure with the promotion.

Check out the replay of Caceres’ handiwork below (via Twitter):

Caceres admitted post-fight that this was no easy result for him. He said he was hurt badly by Choi, but managed to gather himself and win the fight.

“I didn’t know what happened, honestly – he hit me really hard and I went to the floor,” Caceres said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “I flashed and was like ‘Oh crap, this might be it.’ I gained my composure right away. I definitely thought I was going out for a second, but the fight in me is a little stronger than that.”

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UFC Fight Night 196 results: Nick Negumereanu scores quick TKO over Ike Villanueva

Nick Negumereanu makes quick work of Ike Villanueva in the first main card bout of UFC Fight Night 196.

The first fight on the main card of UFC Fight Night 196 didn’t last very long.

Light heavyweights [autotag]Nick Negumereanu[/autotag] and Ike Villanueva didn’t waste much time getting into the action at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday.

In a fight that had early finish written all over it, the result certainly met the expectation. Negumereanu (11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Villanueva (18-13 MMA, 1-4 UFC) met in the center of the cage and slugged it out to see who would remain standing. Both offensive-minded fighters landed strikes, but it would be Negumereanu who got the better of the exchanges.

Just over a minute into the action, Negumereanu dropped Villanueva and put the finishing touches on his opponent with follow-up hammerfists, which prompted the referee to call a stop to the bout as Villanueva covered up on the mat. The official stoppage time was 1:18 in the first round.

The stoppage was not without controversy, however, as a few of the punches that Negumereanu landed on the ground landed to the back of the head. Villanueva immediately complained to the referee about where the strikes landed, but there would be no change in the official result of the contest.

Negumereanu picks up his second victory of the calendar year, following his split decision victory over Aleksa Camur in June.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 196 results include:

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UFC Fight Night 196 results: Gregory Rodrigues finishes Junyong Park in a wild brawl

Gregory Rodrigues picks up his second UFC victory in a wild brawl at the UFC Apex.

The final preliminary bout of UFC Fight Night 196 delivered an incredible back and forth battle.

Middleweights [autotag]Gregory Rodrigues[/autotag] and Junyong Park were not afraid to exchange strikes in the octagon, resulting in wild action at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

After a first round that saw Rodrigues (11-3 MMA, 2-0 UFC) get the better of Park (13-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) for most of the five minutes, things quickly escalated in the second round.

Park came out the gates swinging hard and often. A wild slugfest unfolded for a few moments before Rodrigues decided to slow the action with a takedown. Park defended it well though, and the two men went right back to trading huge shots on the feet.

Park landed big punches that rocked Rodrigues, but “Robocop” continued to move forward and landed a huge right hand to hurt Park and send him moving backward. Rodrigues, still hurt himself, continued to move forward on his wobbly opponent and landed another series of punches on Park before the referee called a stop to the wild contest.

Rodrigues keeps his winning streak alive making it four in a row by finishing Park. The Dana White’s Contender Series veteran now has two consecutive wins under the UFC banner.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 196 results include:

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UFC Fight Night 196 results: Mason Jones wears down David Onama for decision win

Mason Jones’ grappling was the difference in a unanimous decision win over newcomer David Onama at UFC Fight Night 196.

[autotag]Mason Jones[/autotag] proved too well rounded for [autotag]David Onama[/autotag] en route to his first octagon victory Saturday at UFC Fight Night 196.

Jones (11-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) used striking and grappling pressure to wear down short-notice promotional newcomer Onama (7-1 MA, 0-1 UFC) for the unanimous decision by scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 29-28.

The lightweight bout was part of the UFC Fight Night 196 preliminary card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It streamed on ESPN+.

It was an action-packed first round as Jones and Onama went right after each other with heavy strikes. There were big strikes laned from both, but then Jones decided to change the narrative by taking it to the ground. He was able to keep Onama there for a portion of time, but eventually, they got back to the feet and started trading shots again.

They came out of the gate in Round 2 with the same type of energy. Jones and Onama tagged each other to the body and the head, but Jones’ pressure was more effective. He clinched Onama against the fence and secured a takedown, then took the back of his opponent. Onama somehow scrambled free to his feet, where he resumed the striking exchanges. Jones clinched his opponent against the fence and landed an accidental illegal knee while the hand was down, causing a warning from the referee.

Onama landed some hand punches once the action resumed in the second round. Jones retaliated by clinching and trying to force the action back to the mat. He grounded Onama late in the frame, but couldn’t be overly effective in scoring points down the stretch.

With a competitive fight handing in the balance going into the final round, Jones went back to his wrestling and got Onama down early in the round. He advanced to mount inside 90 seconds of the frame, and started to work toward a submission victory. Onama did well to stay composed and avoid getting put away, but Jones kept a firm grip on him and controlled positions until late in the round. Onama had a late flurry, but it wasn’t enough to steal the fight.

“I didn’t expect that,” Jones said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “My gas tank disappeared. I’ve never gassed in 13 fights and that was the first time I got tired. But it’s a learning experience.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 196 results include:

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UFC Fight Night 196 video: Jai Herbert lights up Khama Worthy for early TKO

Jai Herbert was more than confident in his ability to trade shots with Khama Worthy at UFC Fight Night 196, and the result showed why.

[autotag]Jai Herbert[/autotag] was more than confident in his ability to trade shots with [autotag]Khama Worthy[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 196, and the result showed why.

Herbert (11-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) achieved his first octagon victory on Saturday when he unleashed a savage combination of strikes on Worthy (16-9 MMA, 2-3 UFC) early in the opening round of their lightweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Both fighters were keen to trade shots when the fight began, but it was Herbert who landed first and harder as he wobbled his opponent. Worthy tried to throw back, but Herbert was relentless with his output and connected with a shot that set up the fight-ending flurry on the mat for the stoppage at the 2:40 mark of Round 1.

Check out the replay of Herbert’s handiwork below (via Twitter):

Herbert began his UFC career with back-to-back losses against tough competition in Francisco Trinaldo and Renato Moicano. The former Cage Warriors champ finally got his hand raised, and he was thrilled.

“I came in the UFC and I came (up short) against two top veterans,” Herbert said in his post-fight interview with Michael Bisping. “I came against Khama and I knew I had to get the win to stay in the UFC and I did it.”

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UFC Fight Night 196 play-by-play and live results (1 p.m. ET)

Check out live play-by-play and official results from UFC Fight Night 196 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 196 event, and you can join us for live play-by-play and official results beginning at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT).

UFC Fight Night 196 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

In the main event, Paulo Costa (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) meets Marvin Vettori (17-4-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) in a light heavyweight fight. The bout was supposed to take place at middleweight until Costa arrived heavy for fight week and requested the matchup be at a higher weight.

Follow along with our round-by-round updates and official results beginning at approximately 1 p.m. ET for the prelims on ESPN+ and 4 p.m. ET for the main card on ESPN+.

To discuss the show, be sure to check out our UFC Fight Night 196 discussion thread. You can also get behind-the-scenes coverage and other event notes from on-site reporters John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) and Ken Hathaway (@kenshathaway) on Twitter.

Enjoy the fights, everyone.

UFC Fight Night 196 discussion thread

UFC Fight Night 196 takes place Saturday in Las Vegas, and you can discuss the event here.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 196 event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT). You can discuss the event here.

Be sure to follow along with the latest card updates in our UFC Fight Night 196 live results post, and then discuss the event in the comments section below.

Round-by-round updates and official results begin at approximately 1 p.m. ET for the preliminary card and 4 p.m. ET for the main card.

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UFC Fight Night 196 predictions: Marvin Vettori or Paulo Costa in 205-pound main event?

Check out our staff members’ picks for the UFC Fight Night 196 main event with Marvin Vettori vs. Paulo Costa at light heavyweight.

Costa
vs.
Vettori		 Dawson
vs.
Glenn		 Clark
vs.
Edwards		 Caceres
vs.
Choi		 Grant
vs.
Trinaldo		 Negumereanu
vs.
Villanueva
MMA Junkie readers’
consensus picks
2021: 167-97		 costa2021
Costa
(57%)		 dawson2021
Dawson
(87%)		 clark2021
Clark
(75%)		 choi2021
Choi
(50.1%)		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo
(63%)		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
(77%)
John Morgan
@MMAjunkieJohn
2021: 172-92		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Simon Samano
@SJSamano
2021: 166-98		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 edwards2021
Edwards		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Nolan King
@mma_kings
2021: 164-100		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 edwards2021
Edwards		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Dan Tom
@DanTomMMA
2021: 161-103
trophy copy 2020 Champion		 vettori2021
Vettori		 glenn2021
Glenn		 clark2021
Clark		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 villanueva2021
Villanueva
Ken Hathaway
@kenshathaway
2021: 160-104
trophy copy 2018 Champion		 costa2021
Costa		 dawson2021
Dawson		 edwards2021
Edwards		 choi2021
Choi		 grant2021
Grant		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Matt Erickson
@MMAjunkieMatt
2021: 160-104		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Mike Bohn
@MikeBohnMMA
2021: 159-105
trophy copy 2014 Champion		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 caceres2021
Caceres		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Brian Garcia
@thegoze
2021: 155-109
trophy copy 2017 Champion		 costa2021
Costa		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Danny Segura
@dannyseguratv
2021: 154-110		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 edwards2021
Edwards		 caceres2021
Caceres		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
George Garcia
@MMAjunkieGeorge
2021: 153-111		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 caceres2021
Caceres		 grant2021
Grant		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Farah Hannoun
@Farah_Hannoun
2021: 151-113		 costa2021
Costa		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Abbey Subhan
@kammakaze
2021: 150-115		 costa2021
Costa		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 choi2021
Choi		 trinaldo2021
Trinaldo		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu
Matthew Wells
@MrMWells
2021: 90-58		 vettori2021
Vettori		 dawson2021
Dawson		 clark2021
Clark		 caceres2021
Caceres		 grant2021
Grant		 negumereanu2021
Negumereanu

The UFC stays home in Las Vegas this week with a key middleweight matchup atop the card – thought it won’t be at that weight class.

UFC Fight Night 196 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, [autotag]Paulo Costa[/autotag] (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) takes on [autotag]Marvin Vettori[/autotag] (17-4-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) in a fight between the most recent two middleweight title challengers. They both lost to champion Israel Adesanya. But this fight won’t be at middleweight thanks to Costa’s failure to make weight. They’ll fight at 205 pounds after Costa came into fight week heavy and intially asked for a catchweight. Vettori is a -185 favorite at Tipico; the comeback on Costa is +140. Our 13 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have Vettori with a 9-4 picks lead.

In the co-feature, [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] (17-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) is the biggest favorite on the card at -420 in his lightweight fight against [autotag]Ricky Glenn[/autotag] (22-6-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC). He’s a near-unanimous pick from our staff members at 12-1.

Also on the main card, [autotag]Jessica-Rose Clark[/autotag] (10-6 MMA, 3-2 UFC) takes on [autotag]Joselyne Edwards[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a women’s bantamweight bout. Clark is a -160 favorite, and she’s got a sizable 9-4 picks lead.

[autotag]Alex Caceres[/autotag] (18-12 MMA, 13-10 UFC) meets [autotag]Seungwoo Choi[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in a featherweight bout. Choi nearly is a 3-1 favorite, and he’s up big in the picks at 9-4.

It’s a close fight at the betting window between welterweights [autotag]Dwight Grant[/autotag] (11-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and [autotag]Francisco Trinaldo[/autotag] (26-8 MMA, 16-7 UFC). Trinaldo is just a -135 favorite, but he’s got a big 10-3 edge in the picks.

And to open the main card, [autotag]Nicolae Negumereanu[/autotag] (10-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is a -230 favorite at light heavyweight against [autotag]Ike Villanueva[/autotag] (18-12 MMA, 1-3 UFC). He’s a near-unanimous pick at 12-1 from our staff members.

In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Costa (57 percent), Dawson (87 percent), Clark (75 percent), Choic (50.1 percent), Trinaldo (63 percent) and Negumereanu (77 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.