Twitter reacts to Magomed Ankalaev’s ho-hum win over Thiago Santos at UFC Fight Night 203

See the top Twitter reactions to Magomed Ankalaev’s win over Thiago Santos in the UFC Fight Night 203 main event.

[autotag]Magomed Ankalaev[/autotag]’s climb up the light heavyweight rankings continued on Saturday when he defeated [autotag]Thiago Santos[/autotag] in the UFC Fight Night 203 main event.

Ankalaev (17-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) extended his winning streak to eight consecutive fights when he earned a unanimous decision victory over Santos (22-10 MMA, 14-9 UFC) in the headlining bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Ankalaev’s victory over Santos at UFC Fight Night 203.

UFC Fight Night 203 results: Marlon Moraes drops fourth straight with quick KO vs. Song Yadong

Song Yadong needed just 126 seconds to knock out Marlon Moraes at UFC Fight Night 203, sending the Brazilian to a fourth loss.

[autotag]Song Yadong[/autotag] sent [autotag]Marlon Moraes[/autotag] to a fourth consecutive defeat in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203 co-main event, marking the most significant victory of his young career.

The 22-year-old Chinese fighter is a prospect no more. Yadong (19-5-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) needed just 126 seconds to run through Moraes (23-10-1 MMA, 5-6 UFC) for the knockout win over for the former WSOF champion.

The bantamweight bout was the UFC Fight Night 203 co-headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on ESPN+.

Yadong and Moraes came out of the gate extremely aggressive, trading power shots in a thrilling manner. It was Yadong who connected with the first big punch, though, and Moraes’ body language only went downhill from there. Yadong refused to let Moraes off the hook, as he pressured until landing a clipping shot to the side of the head that send Moraes down with his head snapping against the canvas.

Referee Keith Peterson decided he’d seen enough, and waved it off at the 2:06 mark of Round 1.

Yadong was elated to get the victory, and after the fight called out former two-time UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, who has a storied rivalry with his camp at Team Alpha Male.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 203 results includes:

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UFC Fight Night 203 video: Khalil Rountree takes out Karl Roberson with ruthless flurry

Watch Khalil Rountree score a vicious TKO win over Karl Roberson at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203.

[autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] was not playing around on Saturday night.

The UFC light heavyweight put on one of his most dominant showings, dispatching Karl Roberson in ruthless fashion on the main card of UFC Fight Night 203 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The official stoppage came at the 0:25 mark of Round 2.

After an evenly matched first round where both fighters were active on the feet, Rountree (10-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC) came out on the second to put an end to the contest. Rountree poured it on from the start of the round on Roberson (9-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) and didn’t stop until the referee called the fight.

Rountree connected hard on Roberson and dropped him early in the round. He then followed up with a kick to the body on a grounded Roberson and heavy ground-and-pound there after. It was too much for Roberson to handle and the referee had no choice but to stop the fight.

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With this victory, Rountree now finds himself on a two-fight winning streak. He had stopped Modestas Bukauskas with a TKO in his previous bout back in September. Meanwhile, Roberson is on a two-fight skid. This was his first fight back up to light heavyweight since early 2019.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 203 results includes:

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UFC Fight Night 203 video: Drew Dober derails Terrance McKinney with wild comeback TKO

Drew Dober derailed the hype of the highly touted Terrance McKinney at UFC Fight Night 203.

[autotag]Terrance McKinney[/autotag] looked like was about to have another quick highlight reel knockout for his resume at UFC Fight Night 203. However, [autotag]Drew Dober[/autotag] had other plans.

After McKinney (12-4 MMA, 2-1 UFC) started the lightweight fight on Saturday the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with a flurry of strikes and knockdowns, he looked on the verge of his biggest win to date on a 14-day turnaround. Dober (24-11 MMA, 11-6 UFC) hung tough, though, and stormed back to secure the TKO.

Dober turned the tables on McKinney, got top position and unleashed a series of strikes that forced the referee to step in at the 3:17 mark of Round 1.

Check out the replay of the wild comeback below (via Twitter):

Dober was naturally thrilled to get the win after a slow opening.

“The guy hits hard,” Dober said in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “It was one of the toughest first rounds of my career. But I know I have experience. … I don’t quit. I just got to persevere and I knew he would start fading in the late rounds.”

After the win, Dober called his shot for his next opponent.

“There’s a guy out there Bobby Green,” Dober said. “I’m interested, I’m available.”

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 203 results includes:

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UFC Fight Night 203 results: Alex Pereira moves to 2-0 in the UFC, edges Bruno Silva in hard-fought bout

Former kickboxing champion Alex Pereira extends his unbeaten run in the UFC at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203.

[autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] continues his successful run in the UFC.

The former Glory kickboxing champion picked up his second win under the UFC banner outpointing [autotag]Bruno Silva[/autotag] in a hard-fought battle to open up the main card for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203. Pereira (5-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) defeated Silva (22-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) via a unanimous decision that read 30-27 across all judges’ scorecards.

It was an evenly matched contest from start to finish.

To many’s surprise, Silva was not too overwhelmed on the feet against Pereira. In the opening round, they traded shots and both landed and connected flush. Silva would occasionally look for the takedown and was able to get one towards the end of the first round. Pereira would get up with just a few seconds remaining and land the more significant combination of the round.

The second was very similar with Silva stepping up even more on the feet, as his confidence grew. Pereira would make sure to keep Silva honest, also landing combinations of his own. It was a closely contested round.

The final five minutes of the fight were perhaps the more decisive round. Silva had a good start, but half way through the round he was hit hard by Pereira and wobbled. Pereira would go on to cause further damage, but was unable to finish Silva, as his opponent did a great job at staying in the fight.

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The 34-year-old is now on a five-fight winning streak since losing his professional MMA debut back in 2015. The current streak includes two wins under the UFC lights. He defeated Silva and prior to that he stopped Andreas Michailidis with a flying knee in late 2021.

Pereira is the only man to have knocked out UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. He holds kickboxing wins over Adesanya having outpointed him in a decision in 2016 and then knocked him out just a year later in 2017. The Brazilian has four consecutive wins. His only loss came in his MMA debut back in 2015.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 203 results includes:

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UFC Fight Night 203 video: Cody Brundage capitalizes on mistake, rallies from beating for submission win

Cody Brundage took a thorough beating from Dalcha Lungiambula for nearly four minutes before suddenly turning the tables.

[autotag]Cody Brundage[/autotag] needed just one opportunity to put away [autotag]Dalcha Lungiambula[/autotag] at UFC Fight Night 203, but it came after a thorough beating.

Lungiambula (12-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) came out on fire at the opening bell of the middleweight fight Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He landed a ton of punishing shots on Brundage (7-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), putting swelling all over the face and nearing the point of a stoppage.

It just took a simple mistake from Lungiambula to turn the tide, though, as he attempted a level-change near the fence, which allowed Brundage to jump right into a guillotine choke. He locked it in, and Lungiambula tapped at the 3:41 mark of Round 1.

Check out the improbable finish below (via Twitter):

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Brundage said post-fight that he had a feeling it would be a challenging start against Lungiambula. However, he had confidence his durability would hold up against an opponent with poor conditioning, and now he’s in the UFC win column for the first time.

“I knew he was going to fade,” Brundage said during his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “His biggest weakness is his cardio, and I was just waiting for him to gas. He took a sloppy shot, and I made him pay for it.”

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UFC Fight Night 203 video: Guido Cannetti overwhelms Kris Moutinho in first-round TKO

Guido Cannetti returned to the win column for the first time since 2018 in a big way at UFC Fight Night 203.

[autotag]Guido Cannetti[/autotag] was relentless in his first win in a long time.

The UFC bantamweight picked up a quick TKO over Kris Moutinho on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 203 in Las Vegas. Cannetti (9-6 MMA, 3-5 UFC) officially put away Moutinho (9-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) at the 2:07 mark of Round 1.

Both Cannetti and Moutinho traded heavy shots early. Although Moutinho landed a few solid strikes of his own, Cannetti’s did more damage and wobbled him a little over a minute into the fight. The 42-year-old stepped on the gas and overwhelmed Moutinho with strikes.

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Still standing but unable to defend himself, Moutinho was badly hurt, and the referee was forced to step in.

The win ended a three-fight losing streak for Cannetti, who earned his first victory since 2018.

You can watch Cannetti’s TKO finish below (via Twitter):

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UFC Fight Night 203 video: Azamat Murzakanov flattens Tafon Nchukwi with sick flying knee

Azamat Murzakanov opened UFC Fight Night 203 with an electric flying-knee knockout of Tafon Nchukwi.

[autotag]Azamat Murzakanov[/autotag] opened UFC Fight Night 203 with an electric knockout of [autotag]Tafon Nchukwi[/autotag].

Murzakanov (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) added to his unbeaten record Saturday when he landed a flying knee in the third round of the light heavyweight bout to knock out Nchukwi (6-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

After controlling the action for the first and second round, Murzakanov came out looking to close out in the third. He did just that, leaping into a flying knee that instantly put Nchukwi out 44 seconds into the round.

Check out the replay below (via Twitter):

After the fight, Murzakanov said he was pleased with the way his UFC debut came to an end.

“Thank you to the opponent for taking this fight,” Murzakanov said through an interpreter during his interview with Paul Felder. “It wasn’t easy. It was a tough fight. We train for any situation, but it’s key to, before the end of the fight, to find the key to the victory.”

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UFC Fight Night 203 discussion thread

UFC Fight Night 203 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 203 event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which kicks off at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT). You can discuss the event here.

Be sure to follow along with the latest card updates in our UFC Fight Night 203 live results post, and then discuss the event in the comments section below.

Round-by-round updates and official results begin at approximately 4 p.m. ET for the preliminary card and 7 p.m. ET for the main card.

UFC Fight Night 203 play-by-play and live results

Check out live play-by-play and official results from UFC Fight Night 203 in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – MMA Junkie is on scene and reporting live from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203 event, and you can join us for live play-by-play and official results beginning at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT).

UFC Fight Night 203 takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card streams on ESPN+.

In the main event, Thiago Santos (22-9 MMA, 14-8 UFC) takes on Magomed Ankalaev (16-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) at light heavyweight. In the co-feature, Marlon Moraes (23-9-1 MMA, 5-5 UFC) meets Song Yadong (18-5-1 MMA, 7-1-1 UFC) at bantamweight.

Follow along with our round-by-round updates and official results beginning at approximately 4 p.m. ET for the prelims on ESPN+ and 7 p.m. ET for the main card on ESPN+.

To discuss the show, be sure to check out our UFC Fight Night 203 discussion thread. You can also get behind-the-scenes coverage and other event notes from on-site reporters Ken Hathaway (@kenshathaway) on Twitter.

Enjoy the fights, everyone.