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Following last week's UFC 250 which was headlined by Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer, the UFC brought to us another high-octane card headlined by women. UFC Fight Night 172, the second of UFC's closed doors events in Las Vegas was held inside the promotion's Apex facility on Saturday night.
Although people expected this card to be a bit of a dampener compared to last week's UFC 250 or the upcoming UFC 251 due to the lack of popular names, the fights were entertaining and the card an engaging one, full of breakneck finishes as well as nail-biting thrillers.
The scheduled main event saw Cynthia Calvillo make her flyweight debut against former title contender Jessica Eye. Calvillo claimed a lopsided unanimous decision win against Eye and emerged as the new contender for reigning UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko's title.
The co-main event from the night saw a grudge match between middleweights Karl Roberson and Marvin Vettori. Vettori claimed the bragging rights as he destroyed Roberson in the first round, forcing the latter to submit to a nasty rear-naked choke.
Without further ado, let's glance through the highlights of UFC Fight Night 172.
Preliminary card
The UFC Fight Night 172 card prelims had a few noteworthy contests and perfectly set the stage for the main card to follow. Here are the quick results of the prelims of UFC Fight Night 172:
Merab Dvalishvili def. Gustavo Lopez via unanimous decision (30-26 x2, 30-25)
Julia Avila def. Gina Mazany via first-round TKO (0:22)
Tyson Nam def. Zarrukh Adashev via first-round KO (0:32)
Christian Aguilera def. Anthony Ivy via first-round TKO (0:59)
Main card
Cynthia Calvillo def. Jessica Eye via unanimous decision (live blog)
Charles Rosa def. Kevin Aguilar via split decision (28-29, 29-28 x2)
Andre Fili def. Charles Jourdain via split decision (28-29, 29-28 x2)
Jordan Espinosa def. Mark De La Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Mariya Agapova def. Hannah Cifers via sub (RNC) (R1, 2:42)
UFC Fight Night 172 Results - Main Card
#6. Mariya Agapova vs. Hannah Cifers (women's flyweight)
Mariya Agapova has announced her arrival in the UFC in style, finishing off Hannah Cifers in just two minutes and forty-two minutes of the first round via rear-naked choke in the main card opener of UFC Fight Night 172 held inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The main card at UFC Fight Night 172 kicked off with a women's flyweight contest between UFC debutant Mariya Agapova and Hannah Cifers. Agapova headed into the fight with a sturdy 8-1 professional record and her only loss came in season three of Dana White’s Contender Series to Tracy Cortez via unanimous decision.
Both fighters engaged in a slugfest from the get-go as they rushed to the center of the Octagon, trading heavy shots on each other. Agapova used her greater reach to her advantage and landed several good shots from the outside.
Cifers however, remained unfazed amid great adversity and stuck to her initial plan of stand and trade, engaging in a risky fistfight with Agapova. Agapova continued pressing forward and attempted a straight left that Cifers managed to duck but unfortunately for the latter, it put her head in a vulnerable position and Agapova immediately landed a thunderous head kick that rocked Cifers. Agapova then jumped onto Cifers' back and locked in the rear-naked choke, forcing her to submit
Following her impressive debut, Agapova was quick to call out a fellow flyweight who she thinks is ducking her.
“Shana Dobson, stop running away from me. I’ll fight you here.”
#5. Jordan Espinosa vs. Mark De La Rosa
Heading into his bantamweight encounter with Mark De La Rosa at UFC Fight Night 172, Jordan Espinosa knew he required a win in the column desperately and come fight night, he showed up with a dominant performance.
Coming off a couple of disappointing losses on the trot, Espinosa knew what he had to do and he went about it with much elan, punishing De La Rosa throughout the three scheduled rounds and earning a lopsided unanimous decision win. Two judges scored the fight 30-27 in favor of Espinosa and the other scored it 30-26 in his favor.
Post the win, Espinosa expressed his relief at finally getting a win in the column after back to back defeats.
"I feel freaking great. My last two fights barely went two and half minutes total so I think this is the kind of performance I needed.”
Espinosa looked the hungrier of the two fighters from the beginning of the fight as he got to work with the jabs during the early exchanges. The stiff jabs started to visibly hurt De La Rosa as his head snapped back from the connection, time and time again. De La Rosa was left with no other choice but to shoot for the takedown but his plans backfired completely as Espinosa unleashed a barrage of nasty elbows on the former's head.
As the fight progressed, Espinosa assumed full control and started landing combinations vicious on his opponent at will. De La Rosa tried to mount some kind of an offense but couldn't as he was unable to enter Espinosa’s range.
In the third and final round, Espinosa changed his gameplan and decided to take the fight to the mat and landed some nasty ground and pound on a defeated De La Rosa who knew he had already lost the fight by then. However, De La Rosa showed great heart to stay in the fight till the end of the three scheduled rounds.
Espinosa revealed that he is looking for a quick turnaround and wants to compete again as soon as July.
“I’m trying to get ‘Fight Island. I’ve never even been overseas before. I’m down to get on the July 25. Tyson Nam just got a knockout. I’d be down to fight him.”
#4. Andre Fili vs. Charles Jourdain
Andre Fili must have had his heart in his mouth when the fate of his fight against Charles Jourdain at UFC Fight Night 172 in Las Vegas went to the judges' scorecards at the end of the three scheduled rounds. During his time with the UFC, Fili has been the victim of some controversial judges' decisions in the past but was fortunate enough to walk away with the win tonight. Two UFC judges scored the fight 29-28 for Fili while the third scored it a 29-28 in favor of Jourdain.
There were a lot of kicks flying in the early exchanges of this combustible featherweight clash as Jourdain went for the body and his counterpart aimed for the head. Jourdain sent Fili crashing down on the mat as he connected with a clean left hand halfway through the first round. Fili however was quick to recover and got back to his feet almost immediately.
In the second round, Fili got more aggressive and pressed Jourdain across the octagon while banking on his kickboxing skills to land some good shots on the latter. Jourdain's strategy of using body kicks started to wane off in the second round as he was being chased for most of the round and it's difficult to kick when you're on the backfoot in a fight.
Fili probably bagged the win due to greater output and more takedowns during the fight. He also controlled the Octagon and kept pressing Jourdain throughout the fight. Fili's proactiveness inside the Octagon shone through tonight and that's probably the reason why he got the nod from the judges and picked up an important win at featherweight.
Fili hopes to face a ranked opponent for his next fight in the UFC.
“I’m just getting started. I’m still getting better. It’s time for people to really see me as an elite fighter. I want a big name next.”
#3. Charles Rosa vs. Kevin Aguilar
After succumbing to a disappointing loss in his last Octagon outing a month ago, Charles Rosa is back to winning ways with a hard-earned split decision win over Kevin Aguilar at UFC Fight Night 172 held inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight turned out to be a nail biter as both fighters chose to stand and trade shots over the scheduled rounds with Rosa landing heavier of the two. Two judges scored the evenly poised fight 29-28 in favor of Rosa while the other scored it the same 29-28 in favor of Aguilar.
Following the fight, Rosa said that he wanted to finish Aguilar in the fight but is happy with the wibn nonetheless. Rosa also revealed that he has signed a new multi-fight contract with the UFC.
“I was fighting to finish him the whole time. I went in there for the kill the whole time. I got the win, that was the mission so mission accomplished.”
Coming to the fight, both Rosa and Aguilar seemed comfortable standing and trading. Aguilar is known to possess dangerous knockout power in his hands and Rosa's plan could have backfired but the former decided to opt for a more careful approach to the fight by not getting overly aggressive and picking his spots when the time is right.
In the second round, both Rosa and Aguilar stepped on the accelerator, trading a series of hard shots inside the Octagon. Rosa got a nasty cut over his eyebrow as a result of the exchange between the fighters but it was actually Aguilar who bore the maximum brunt of that exchange as he was rocked by a pair of clean punches from Rosa.
Rosa’s left hand was the difference maker in the fight, continuously finding its spot on Aguilar’s chin when the latter was throwing haymakers in the hope of a hail mary KO towards the end of the fight. Rosa’s accuracy of strikes helped him escape with the victory on the night.
#2. Marvin Vettori vs. Karl Roberson
They say that there's nothing sweeter than revenge and UFC middleweight Marvin Vettori had nothing else on his mind when he entered the Octagon on Saturday night to face Karl Roberson in the co-headliner of UFC Fight Night 172 taking place inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas.
There's no love lost between the pair and it was evident that Vettori had a lot of pent up anger and frustration towards Roberson and the former unleashed it all once the cage doors closed behind the pair.
Vettori and Roberson finally threw down after several postponements and cancellations and once the fight came to fruition, the Italian fighter showed up big time, making quick work of Roberson and finishing him with a rear-naked choke to take the win in the very first round of the co-main event of the night.
“I just train so hard. This is my reward. I was so hyped up before the fight because this is what I love to do.”
There bad blood between the pair started after Vettori blasted Roberson for failing to make weight a month ago and landing up in the hospital, which forced their fight to be delayed. Roberson failed to make weight this time as well but Vettori didn't care. Catchweight bout it is, the Italian was just hell bent on punishing his opponent.
Vettori flew off the gates like a canon and launched a barrage of strikes at Roberson before ending up grappling. Vettori eventually managed to complete the takedown and from there, the "Italian Dream" just punished Roberson mercilessly into exposing his back, allowing the former to lock in the rear naked choke and force him to submit.
This was Vettori's third win on the trot inside the Octagon and following the fight, he revealed that he's working his way up the middleweight ladder in the hopes of setting up another summit clash with the reigning champion of the 185lbers, Israel Adesanya.
“Everybody’s been dodging me. I don’t think they can hide anymore. I want climb back to a title shot and get my rematch with Adesanya.”
#1. Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Calvillo
Cynthia Calvillo is the new top contender in the UFC women's flyweight division. On her debut fight in the 125lbs division, Calvillo put up a dominating performance against former contender Jessica Eye in the main event of UFC Fight Night 172 held inside the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cynthia picked up the win via unanimous decision at the end of five scheduled rounds.
All three judges scoring the contest gave Calvillo the win with the scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
“I feel great, especially putting on a performance like that with a short amount of training. It just feels amazing to do this during this time.”
Although she won comfortably in the end, Calvillo didn't really gather any steam in the opening round and was heard telling her corner that she needs to up the ante in the later rounds; and Calvillo did exactly that.
Calvillo landed a successful takedown on Jessica in the second round which allowed the former to establish her dominance in the fight. Calvillo displayed a much superior ground game in comparison to Eye in the fight.
Eye came out strongly in the third round having landed a couple of nasty right hands flush on Calvillo's face. However, Eye wasn't putting her foot on the gas and going for the kill; instead, she chose to take a more cautious approach as Calvillo landed another takedown, completely taking away the opportunity for her opponent to launch any kind of offense.
In the final round, it was clear that Eye was so far behind on the scorecards that she needed to finish Calvillo in order to win the fight. However, all that grappling exhausted Eye and she didn't have much to offer in the final round. Calvillo became fearless and started trading shots with Jessica on the feet.
Calvillo has made a huge statement by taking out the No. 1 ranked flyweight on her debut in the division and though she has the title on her mind, for now all she wants to do is keep fighting.
“My last two years have been really slow. I’m down to fight everybody. Just keep me busy. I want four fights this year.”
Although Calvillo might not see herself fighting for the title anytime soon, there is a good chance of the UFC booking her against reigning champion Valentina Shevchenko when the latter decides to return to the cage, especially given the fact that she is being called "the new contender" by the UFC's official Twitter account. Katlyn Chookagian also took to Twitter to call out Calvillo immediately after her fight against Eye.
