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While it wasn’t the most memorable show, largely because it lost its headliner on short notice. UFC Fight Night: Andre Muniz vs. Brendan Allen was pretty entertaining overall.
This UFC Fight Night featured few ranked fighters in action, but some of its bigger winners will be hopeful of climbing the ladder into contention very soon.
Whether they make it to the top, or fall down trying remains to be seen. However, based on last night, it’ll definitely be worth watching them going forward.
Here are the five biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Andre Muniz vs. Brendan Allen.
#5 Augusto Sakai – defeated Don’Tale Mayes in a UFC heavyweight bout
It wasn’t pretty by any means, but the fact that Augusto Sakai was able to get his hand raised in his heavyweight bout with Don’Tale Mayes makes him one of last night’s biggest winners.
Coming into the bout, Sakai was on a four-fight slide, and had not won a fight in the octagon since May 2020. Sure, his losses all came to high-level contenders like Alistair Overeem and Tai Tuivasa, but it’s almost certain that a defeat to Mayes would’ve ended his UFC career.
As it was, the Brazilian managed to largely dominate a slow-paced fight both standing and in the clinch, never really allowing ‘Lord Kong’ to get comfortable.
Sure, he never came close to finishing, but when the fight went to the scorecards, there was no doubt that Sakai had won.
Was it entertaining? Absolutely not, it was more of a war of attrition than matchmakers Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby would’ve hoped for, but it wasn’t the worst fight of 2023, either.
At the end of the day, for a mid-level veteran like Sakai, merely remaining in the promotion is probably the goal right now. To that end, he ensured that would be the case – making him a big winner on the night.
#4 Jordan Leavitt – defeated Victor Martinez in a UFC lightweight bout
Given that his last visit to the octagon saw him largely embarrassed by Paddy Pimblett, Jordan Leavitt was in somewhat of a must-win situation last night.
Sure, his UFC career probably wouldn’t have ended with a loss to Victor Martinez, but it’s almost certain that he would’ve vanished from any kind of relevance had he fallen to the debutant.
In the end, though, "The Monkey King" looked surprisingly fantastic. He defeated Martinez via TKO, stopping him after displaying a much-improved striking game. In fact, outside of his slam win over Matt Wiman, this was the first TKO finish of his career.
Leavitt looked bad in his fight with Pimblett, but the truth is that he’s better than that performance suggested, and his charismatic display in the post-fight press conference hinted at a fighter with genuine star quality.
If he can keep winning like he did here against trickier competition, then he could well become a surprisingly popular member of the roster in the future.
#3 Mike Malott – defeated Yohan Lainesse in a UFC welterweight bout
Genuine high-level prospects were few and far between on last night’s card, but Mike Malott may well stand as the exception to that rule.
The Canadian impressed by knocking out Mickey Gall in his UFC debut last year, and despite nearly a year passing since that bout, he looked fantastic in his victory over Yohan Lainesse.
"Proper Mike" was able to avoid the majority of Lainesse’s strikes before taking him down. From the top position, he thoroughly dominated, submitting his foe with an arm triangle with just under a minute to go in the first round.
How far can Malott go in the largely packed welterweight division? It remains to be seen. He definitely looks like a strong, well-rounded fighter, and the fact that none of his nine wins have gone the distance bodes well for him.
At the age of 31, he’s a little old for a prospect, but if he can get back in the octagon sooner rather than later, he could become a surprising success story. As it is, ‘Proper Mike’ should be considered one of last night’s big winners regardless.
#2 Brendan Allen – defeated Andre Muniz in a UFC middleweight bout
There’s absolutely no question that Brendan Allen should be considered one of the biggest winners on last night’s UFC event.
Not only did ‘All In’ end up in the headline spot after the clash between Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann was called off on late notice, but he also picked up the biggest win of his career over Andre Muniz.
Most impressive was the nature of Allen’s win. Many people might’ve expected him to get the better of ‘Sergipano’ on the feet, but ‘All In’ actually had his best success on the ground, eventually submitting his foe.
Given that Muniz was not only considered the dark horse of the middleweight division, but arguably the best grappler in the division too, it was hard not to be impressed.
Will this win move Allen into title contention? It ought to move him into the top fifteen, given Muniz was ranked at #11, but his losses to Chris Curtis and Sean Strickland still haunt him somewhat – which is why he called both men out post-fight.
Either way, at the age of 27, he still has plenty of time to improve, and based on this fight, his future is very bright indeed.
#1 Tatiana Suarez – defeated Montana De La Rosa in a UFC flyweight bout
While her victory didn’t come under as bright a spotlight as it might’ve, the biggest winner at last night’s UFC event was Tatiana Suarez.
Not only did the TUF 21 winner return from nearly four years out with serious injuries to defeat Montana De La Rosa, she did it without really missing a beat.
Suarez’s takedowns were on point, just as they’d been in her earlier career, and on the ground, she dominated Montana en route to a second-round submission win.
Given that her victory last night came at 125lbs, many fans figured that she’d probably stay at flyweight to attempt to chase down Valentina Shevchenko. Post-fight, though, Suarez immediately spoke of dropping back down to 115lbs.
Whether this will be a smart move for her, only time will tell. After all, it might be considered better for her to cut less weight and stay at 125lbs.
However, given that there are no wrestlers on her level at strawweight, then she could well become an instant contender there after one win in the division.
Either way, though, Suarez is a definite title contender in either division and a potential future champion too. The fact that she showed no ill effects after being away for so long was amazing, and that makes her the event’s biggest winner.
