Rarely is a card horrendous on paper and equally as bad in reality once the fights take place. UFC Vegas 95 at The Apex was one of the those rare shows for the worldwide leader in MMA.
In 10 fights, there were only three finishes, and no knockouts. Somewhere, Dana White is disgusted. There were more knockouts in the crowd at Vergil Ortiz’s win over Serhii Bohachuk than there was at UFC Vegas 95.
In the main event, Serghei Spivac defeated Marcin Tybura via second-round submission. The finish came via nasty armbar. Here is a look at the finish.
Spivac rebounded from a stoppage loss to Ciryl Gane is his last fight to sneakily submit Tybura. The victory puts Spivac in a position to challenge a higher-ranked opponent in his next fight.
Jailton Almeida, who is currently ranked No. 7, challenged Spivac to face him in their next outing.
That fight probably won’t get a ton of people excited, but it does make sense for a heavyweight division that is low on premier attractions.
The other finishes on the night came from Japan’s Toshiomi Kazama who submitted Charalampos Grigoriou via triangle choke, and Youssef Zalal defeated Jarno Errens by rear-naked choke.
Here is a look at the other finishes:
Kazama’s win was the highlight of the night. He’d taken some damage in the first round but rebounded to win via triangle choke.
The 27-year-old bantamweight from Japan desperately needed the victory, having lost his last two fights, all by stoppage since earning a contract following his participation in the Road to UFC. Youssef Zalal is one of the brightest young stars of the night.
Since returning to the UFC, Zalal has strung together back-to-back wins, and he’s pining for fights against higher-ranked featherweights. He easily handled Errens, backpacking him and getting the submission victory.
Every fighter who got a finish earned a performance bonus.
While Brazilian heavyweight Jhonata Diniz didn’t get a finish, he was impressive with his striking and cardio in earning a unanimous decision win over Karl Williams on the prelims.
He’s a name to watch for moving forward, as the heavyweight division in the UFC isn’t exactly stacked beyond the Top 4 guys.
Here is a look at all of the results:
- Main Event: Serghei Spivac defeats Marcin Tybura by submission (armbar) at 1:44 of Round 1
- Chepe Mariscal defeats Damon Jackson by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
- Danny Barlow defeats Nikolay Veretennikov by split decision (29-29, 27-30, 29-28)
- Chris Gutierrez defeats Quang Le by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Yana Santos defeats Chelsea Chandler by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Toshiomi Kazama defeats Charalampos Grigoriou by submission (triangle choke) at 1:55 of Round 2
- Karol Rosa defeats Pannie Kianzad by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Jhonata Diniz defeats Karl Williams by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Youssef Zalal defeats Jarno Errens by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:52 of Round 1
- Stephanie Luciano defeats Talita Alencar by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Thankfully, things are looking up for the UFC next weekend. UFC 305 features the long-awaited clash between middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and former champion Israel Adesanya.
It’s going to be one of the biggest fights of the year. Be on the lookout for fight week coverage.
