UFC Vegas 87: Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Shamil Gaziev: Full card results

UFC Vegas 87 is in the books. The event took place at the UFC Apex Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 2, 2024. The event seemed to have been overshadowed by the upcoming UFC 299 and UFC 300 events. However, great performances are often witnessed on cards that appear weak on paper, and that's exactly what happened on March 2.

In the main event, No.12-ranked heavyweight contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik fought undefeated Dagestani fighter Shamil Gaziev. Rozentruik, who lost five of his last eight fights after a 10-0 start to his MMA career, was coming off a first-round submission loss against Jailton Almeida in his last outing.

Meanwhile, Gaziev made his UFC debut with a second-round knockout win over Martin Buday at UFC 296 in December 2023.

Rozenstruik weathered the early storm of Gaziev's aggressive but reckless attack. The Surinamese outworked Gaziev from round two with effective use of jabs, body punches, and occasional leg kicks.

As the rounds progressed, the Dagestani fighter's takedown attempts and striking became more labored while Rozenstruik paced himself to maintain a sustained attack till the end of round four.

Referee Mark Goddard, who was suspicious about Gaziev's ability to fight in round five, called the cage-side doctor to take a look at the Dagestani fighter. After inspection, Goddard waved off the fight, declaring Rozenstruik the winner by TKO.

In the co-main event, light heavyweight contenders Vitor Petrino and Tyson Pedro fought in a three-round fight to further their progress towards a top-15 spot.

After three rounds of back-and-forth action, Petrino retained his undefeated record and defeated Pedro via unanimous decision to score the biggest win of his career so far.

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UFC Vegas 87: Umar Nurmagomedov survives early scare, Vinicius Oliveira scores a devastating walk-off knockout

No.8-ranked flyweight contender Muhammad Mokaev returned to action against Alex Perez on the UFC Vegas 87 main card. Coming off a bonus-winning submission win over former title challenger Tim Elliott at UFC 294, Mokaev challenged Perez for the seventh spot in the rankings.

Unlike most of Mokaev's opponents, Perez resisted the takedowns well and made the fight a lot closer. However, Mokaev did enough to convince the judges and scored a unanimous decision win to extend his record to a perfect 12-0 with one No Contest.

No.13-ranked Umar Nurmagomedov, who was the biggest betting favorite on the card, scored a dominant unanimous decision win over newcomer Bekzat Almakhan.

While the 28-year-old controlled the fight for the most part, a huge right hand from Almakhan dropped Nurmagomedov in round one and threatened to turn the fight into one of the biggest upsets of the year.

In the main card opening bout, Steve Erceg scored an impressive knockout win over Matt Schnell.

The preliminary card produced a series of impressive finishes as well. Loik Radzhabov kicked off the event with a third-round knockout of Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady.

Highly touted bantamweight fighter Vinicius Oliveira delivered a knockout of the year contender when he finished Benardo Sopaj with a flying knee.

Aemann Zahabi, who was a massive +600 underdog heading into the event, handed massive favorite his first professional MMA loss in one of the biggest upsets on the card.

Catch the full UFC Vegas 87 results below:

Main Card

Heavyweight - Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Shamil Gaziev via TKO (R4, 5:00)

Light heavyweight - Vitor Petrino def. Tyson Pedro via unanimous decision (30-27 X 2, 29-28)

Flyweight - Muhammad Mokaev def. Alex Perez via unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)

Bantamweight - Umar Nurmagomedov def. Bekza Almakhan via unanimous decision (30-26 X 2, 30-25)

Flyweight - Steve Erceg def. Matt Schnell via knockout (R2, 0:26)

Preliminary Card

Middleweight - Eryk Anders def. Jamie Pickett via unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)

Bantamweight - Vinicius Oliveira def. Benardo Sopaj via knockout (R3, 4:41)

Bantamweight - Aiemann Zahabi def. Javid Basharat via unanimous decision (29-28 X 3)

Middleweight - Christian Leroy Duncan def. Claudio Ribeiro via knockout (R2, 1:57)

Lightweight - L'udovit Klein def. AJ Cunningham via knockout (R1, 4:36)

Lightweight - Loik Radzhabov def. Abdul-Karim Al-Selwady via knockout (R3, 0:49)