5 biggest winners from UFC 269: Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier

#4. Sean O’Malley – defeated Raulian Paiva in a UFC bantamweight bout

After his KO of Raulian Paiva, will Sean O'Malley now step up to face the elite of the UFC's bantamweight diviison?

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.

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#3. Kai Kara-France – defeated Cody Garbrandt in a UFC flyweight bout

Kai Kara-France may be vaulted into UFC title contention after his KO of Cody Garbrandt

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.