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UFC 269 was built as one of the biggest pay-per-view events of 2021, and it undoubtedly delivered like few UFC shows before.
Not only was UFC 269 filled with explosive finishes, it was also topped with a pair of dramatic title fights and featured one of the promotion’s all-time greatest upsets.
So with plenty of fighters picking up huge wins, the aftershocks of UFC 269 will be felt for some time to come.
With that in mind, here are the five biggest winners from UFC 269: Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier.
#5. Dominick Cruz – defeated Pedro Munhoz in a UFC bantamweight bout
After vowing to make a run at the UFC bantamweight title in 2022, there was plenty of pressure on former champion Dominick Cruz coming into last night’s fight with Pedro Munhoz.
‘The Dominator’ was coming off a solid win over Casey Kenney, but Munhoz – who was ranked at No.8 in the division coming into the fight – felt like another level of opponent entirely.
Early on, it didn’t look like it would be Cruz’s night at all. He was caught by two heavy shots from ‘The Young Punisher’. The second one – a right hand – looked like it may have even knocked the former champion out.
Showing phenomenal toughness, though, Cruz recovered from the setback and, as the fight began to tick into its later rounds, ‘The Dominator’ upped the pace. He began to find his range and used his movement and cleaner striking to pick his Brazilian foe apart en route to a decision win.
Sure, unlike some of the other winners on this card, Cruz was unable to deliver an impressive finish, but then that’s never been his forte. Of his seven victories in the octagon, just one came via stoppage.
At the end of the day, this was a key victory for Cruz to launch himself back into the top ten at bantamweight – and now a run at the UFC title next year isn’t as unlikely as it might’ve seemed.
#4. Sean O’Malley – defeated Raulian Paiva in a UFC bantamweight bout
In a lot of ways, it’s a stretch to consider Sean O’Malley one of UFC 269’s biggest winners. After all, he wasn’t faced with a highly ranked opponent and essentially did exactly what was expected of him in dispatching Raulian Paiva.
However, the fact that ‘The Suga Show’ took the Brazilian out in such impressive fashion – lighting him up en route to a first round TKO stoppage – and earned the love of the Las Vegas crowd earns him a spot here.
Essentially, it never looked like Paiva stood a chance in this fight. He was dwarfed by O’Malley, and he also looked gunshy in the face of his opponent, never really shooting for the takedown that could’ve put him in control.
Once ‘The Suga Show’ found his range, the fight was essentially over. O’Malley sniped at Paiva with heavy shots, chaining some beautiful combinations together until the Brazilian simply wilted under the power.
Will 2022 finally be the year that O’Malley steps up and fights someone in the top 10 at bantamweight? Who knows. The last time he tried to do so, he was stopped by Marlon Vera, but it’s clear that he’s got the power to give anyone at 135lbs problems.
Hopefully the UFC forces his hand because after a performance as good as this, it’s time to deliver or get off the pot.
#3. Kai Kara-France – defeated Cody Garbrandt in a UFC flyweight bout
While his win was overshadowed by a far bigger upset a little later on the card, Kai Kara-France’s knockout of Cody Garbrandt was still pretty huge and stands as his biggest UFC win to date.
‘Don’t Blink’ was clearly put into this fight with the former UFC bantamweight champion as a stepping stone. Sure, his octagon record of 5-2 was solid enough, but nothing he’d done before suggested he could take out ‘No Love’.
However, there were always two nagging thoughts around Garbrandt at 125lbs. Firstly, would his speed – such an asset at 135lbs – hold up against the faster fighters at flyweight? Secondly, would his weight cut play havoc with an already questionable chin?
In the end, both questions were answered in devastating fashion for ‘No Love’. Kara-France looked smaller but faster than Garbrandt from the outset. When he tagged the former UFC champ and dropped him early on, it was clear that he was in trouble.
Garbrandt simply couldn’t recover, and ended up falling to a TKO with just under two minutes of the first round remaining.
It’s hard to play down what this win could do for Kara-France’s career. Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo are set to fight for the UFC flyweight title in early 2022. After that, there’s every chance that ‘Don’t Blink’ could steal the next title shot based on this win.
That alone makes him one of UFC 269’s biggest winners by far.
#2. Charles Oliveira – defeated Dustin Poirier to defend the UFC lightweight title
On any other UFC show, Charles Oliveira would undoubtedly be considered the biggest winner of the night. The UFC lightweight champ throttled top contender Dustin Poirier in the third round of their headline clash, cementing himself as the world’s best 155lber in the process.
This was a hugely impressive showing from Oliveira because he had to weather quite the storm to find victory.
‘Do Bronx’ seemed content to strike with Poirier in the first round – landing some nasty shots to the body in particular. However, it seemed to be a mistake once ‘The Diamond’ began to connect with his power punches, dropping the champion at one point.
Showing the same toughness that allowed him to come back from the brink to defeat Michael Chandler at UFC 262, Oliveira hung in there. When he secured a takedown in the second round, the tide turned.
He dropped big elbows to break Poirier down slowly. In the third round, he wasted no time in taking the back of ‘The Diamond’ before choking him out.
Who is next for Oliveira? It seems like Justin Gaethje, but in reality, the biggest test for him may be Islam Makhachev – assuming the Dagestani can get past Beneil Dariush.
Either way, right now ‘Do Bronx’ is not only at the top of his game, but he’s clearly the best lightweight on the planet right now. This win over Poirier only proved it further.
#1. Julianna Pena – defeated Amanda Nunes to win the UFC bantamweight title
Naturally, the biggest winner at UFC 269 was Julianna Pena. After she produced one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, who else could be considered for this spot?
Literally nobody was giving ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ a chance at dethroning Amanda Nunes for the UFC bantamweight title. Not only was Nunes considered the greatest female fighter of all time, but she’d also destroyed seemingly better fighters than Pena, who had lost to Germaine de Randamie just two fights ago.
However, Pena didn’t pay any attention to that kind of talk. She’d been promising to pull off the upset in the months leading up to the fight. Sure enough, she backed her talk up inside the octagon.
It was the second round where the magic happened. The first round was tough for Pena, but in the second, she decided to throw caution to the wind and exchange with ‘The Lioness’ in a move that felt like suicide.
However, not only was Pena tough enough to take Nunes’ shots, she also appeared to possess the faster hands. She tagged ‘The Lioness’ with a series of jabs that set up a combination to hurt her.
When she managed to drag Nunes to the ground, taking her back and applying a rare no-hooks choke, the upset was complete as the champion submitted.
It’s literally hard to put into context how big of an upset this was. There are tons of questions coming out of it too; will Nunes take the title back in a rematch? If she doesn’t, how long will the Pena era last for?
Regardless of those, though, it’s impossible to take anything away from ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ and this accomplishment. This was not just one of the biggest wins of 2021, it was one of the biggest in UFC history.
