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The UFC’s latest Fight Night show took place from Las Vegas’ Apex facility last night. As always, there were a number of big winners, as well as big losers, following the event.
In the main event, one UFC middleweight title contender came out with a big victory, even if it took place in the wrong division, while other fighters impressed equally.
So with some fighters moving up the ladder and others solidifying their position on it, here are the five biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori.
#5. Francisco Trinaldo – defeated Dwight Grant in a UFC welterweight bout
At the age of 43, it’s hard not to believe that Francisco Trinaldo might be fighting on borrowed time in the UFC. Admittedly, ‘Massaranduba’ doesn’t look anywhere close to his age, but in MMA, there’s no telling when Father Time might catch up with someone.
That’s why his win over Dwight Grant last night should be considered so important. Not only was it his first victory at 170 pounds in the UFC since his move up in weight earlier this year, but it was also a strong performance in what proved to be a tricky bout.
Early on, at least, it didn’t look like it would be Trinaldo’s night. He just about edged the first round, but then found the second very difficult as Grant upped the pace, took him down and did some damage from the top.
The third round, however, saw ‘Massranduba’ edge ahead again, largely by using his powerful ground game. However, a point deduction for a pair of fouls meant that he was sweating on the result, which looked well like it could be heading for a draw. Thankfully for the Brazilian, though, the judges decided he’d sneaked all three rounds and awarded him the victory.
It’s unlikely that Trinaldo will develop into a title contender at 170 pounds, but this win keeps him afloat in the world’s biggest MMA promotion. It was enough to take his record there to 17-7, which is impressive however you look at it.
#4. Nicolae Negumereanu – defeated Ike Villanueva in a UFC light heavyweight bout
The opening bout of last night’s UFC main card saw a pretty brutal knockout finish. That alone makes Nicolae Negumereanu one of the event’s major winners.
‘Nick’ needed just over a minute to finish off Ike Villanueva. While the result didn’t come without some controversy, it was still enough to move him to a 2-1 record in the UFC and should push him up the ladder at 205 pounds.
After a short feeling-out process, a shot that seemingly landed to the back of the head put Villanueva down. Negumereanu didn’t need any invitation to finish things off, landing a series of follow-up shots that put him out.
Whether those shots were legal is up for debate. It’s been a gray area in the UFC for years, with the likes of Vitor Belfort finishing opponents in similar fashion before. However, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.
What does matter is that ‘Nick’ looks like he has the punching power to worry most of the fighters in the UFC at light heavyweight. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in his next fight.
#3. Gregory Rodrigues – defeated Junyong Park in a UFC middleweight bout
Last night’s Fight of the Night bonus went to middleweights Gregory Rodrigues and Junyong Park. Naturally, Rodrigues, who won the fight via second-round TKO, belongs on a list of the event’s big winners.
The fight was utterly crazy and that means that Rodrigues may not feel like such a winner today. He took a ton of shots from ‘The Iron Turtle’, particularly in the second round. He even found himself caught deep in a guillotine choke at one point following a desperate takedown attempt.
‘Robocop’ managed to free himself, though, and once he found his range, he began to land the cleaner, heavier punches on his Korean foe. He did so until only the fence kept Park standing, forcing the referee to step in.
The win was Rodrigues’ second in the UFC and moved his record to 10-3 overall. Given that he’s lost just once since 2015, it should be clear that he’s a very dangerous man indeed.
Obviously, the Brazilian would be better off avoiding the kind of brawl he became involved in last night, even if it made him $50k richer. Ultimately, a chin can only take so much punishment.
If he does continue down that path, though, he’ll become a definite fan favorite in the UFC and last night probably pushed him further into that area. That makes him a big winner indeed.
#2. Alex Caceres – defeated Seungwoo Choi in a UFC featherweight bout
Alex Caceres has now been in the UFC for well over a decade. Although he’s done far better than many fans expected him to, he’s never really moved into title contention.
Could that change in the future for ‘Bruce Leeroy’? Stranger things have happened. After all, last night’s win over Seungwoo Choi not only saw him pull off a beautiful submission, but it moved him onto a five-fight win streak, his best in the UFC thus far.
It wasn’t easy going for Caceres. He found himself badly outgunned on the feet and suffered some serious punishment throughout the fight. He may well have been stopped had Choi not made the error of throwing an illegal knee following a first-round knockdown.
But the TUF veteran managed to survive. When Choi made one mistake, he capitalized beautifully, somehow snaking onto the Korean’s back and choking him out, basically in one deft movement.
Caceres has now not lost since his February 2019 defeat to Kron Gracie. While he isn’t ranked in the top 15 yet, he probably deserves another shot at it. For a fighter once written off as a TUF gimmick, that’s not bad at all!
#1. Marvin Vettori – defeated Paulo Costa in a UFC light heavyweight bout
The biggest winner last night by a mile was Marvin Vettori, who picked up probably the biggest win of his UFC career. He did it by showing toughness, poise and skill and more impressively, he did it fighting out of his natural weight class.
That change came late on for ‘The Italian Dream’, as opponent Paulo Costa couldn’t make the middleweight limit. A fight at 205 pounds was agreed on instead. At the time, the decision from Vettori to agree to such a late change seemed ridiculous, but in the end, it didn’t make too much of a difference.
The Italian simply outfought Costa in all areas, taking the Brazilian’s heaviest shots with no real issue and giving back far better than he got. ‘The Eraser’ didn’t come close to being finished at any stage as he was last year by Israel Adesanya, but he was clearly second-best in all areas.
Despite taking his own failed shot at Adesanya earlier this year, Vettori had never really beaten a top-level opponent in the UFC until last night. He’s now achieved that and he did it in such a style that he could well find himself at the front of the queue for another title shot in the future.
Will the Italian ever be good enough to dethrone Adesanya and claim UFC gold? It’s highly debatable, but stranger things have happened. Vettori is only 28 years old, after all, and few people expected him to beat Costa here.
One thing is certainly not in doubt, ‘The Italian Dream’ was easily last night’s biggest winner.
