
Athletes
After a one-week hiatus, the UFC returned to action on Saturday in Las Vegas, with an entertaining collection of fights capped by a pair of electric performances to wrap up the evening.
In the co-main event, Dana White’s Contender Series standout Joe Pyfer continued to impress, registering his third straight stoppage win since graduating to the UFC, while Bobby Green used his second main event opportunity to collect the biggest victory of his career.
An entertaining evening of fights wrapped in spectacular fashion, and we’ve got all the details from the opening bout of the evening to the final blow for you below.
Former training partners JJ Aldrich and Montana De La Rosa opened up Saturday’s fight card, pairing off for a technical, competitive battle to get things started.
The fundamentally sharp Aldrich controlled the exchanges for the most part, using her quick hands and sound footwork to get in, land, and get out, frequently making De La Rosa miss or hesitate.
When De La Rosa would land, Aldrich was right there to respond in kind or stifle her advances, continuing to land the better blows throughout.
After 15 minutes of action, the judges were called upon to determine the victor, and all three saw it the same way, awarding Aldrich the unanimous decision win. That’s two wins in six weeks for the 31-year-old veteran, and a third consecutive loss for De La Rosa.
The bantamweight scrap between Aoriqileng and Johnny Munoz Jr. was a classic “striker versus grappler” battle on paper and that’s exactly how it played out inside the Octagon.
In space and in striking interactions, Aoriqileng was clearly the better of the two, landing heavy shots and looking to punish Munoz Jr., while in the grappling entanglements, “Kid Kvenbo” showed his superiority, threatening with submission attacks and neutralizing the offensive output coming back his way.
After Munoz Jr. did well in the opening stanza, Aoriqileng did well to dictate the terms of engagement and pile up the damage.
The judges were once again tasked with rendering a final verdict, and just like in the opener, they were unanimous in how they saw things, awarding the fight to “The Mongolian Murder,” Aoriqileng. After getting stopped last time out, the 30-year-old is back in the win column, and now stands at 3-1 since moving to bantamweight.
Saturday’s tense, competitive start to the action carried over into the strawweight clash between Kanako Murata and Vanessa Demopoulos.
“Lil Monster” had success in the opening stanza, landing quality knees in the clinch and threatening when the action hit the canvas. In the second, the returning Murata worked from top position, landing ground-and-pound while avoiding the submission attacks Demopoulos hunted for throughout.
With the fight likely hanging in the balance in the third, the Japanese fighter was able to spill Demopoulos to the canvas and drive home a couple clean, heavy punches, settling into top position and continuing to score.
For the third consecutive fight, the judges were asked to weigh in, and once more, they saw things the same way. This time, however, it was a surprising result, as Demopoulos came out with the victory, getting herself back in the win column by winning the first and second round on all three scorecards.
Nate Maness ended the run of decisions on Saturday’s card, pounding out a first-round finish against Mateus Mendonça.
The Brazilian was gung-ho to secure a leg lock, and Maness made him pay, pasting him with heavy shots at every turn as Mendonça refused to abandon his attacks. Late in the round, the Kentucky native cranked up the output and forced the stoppage, connecting with a string of powerful shots that nearly put Mendonça out.
After suffering back-to-back losses to standout grapplers, Maness gets himself back into the win column and moving in the right direction again. He’s earned each of his last three wins by stoppage, and could be an interesting addition to the flyweight ranks going forward.
Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Diana Belbita wrapped the prelims with a quality back-and-forth punch-up in the strawweight division.
The women ran level through the opening stanza, each connecting with quality shots and having positive moments, while Kowalkiewicz appeared to land the slightly more telling blows in the middle stanza.
In the third, the former title challenger Kowalkiewicz found more success early, attacking with uppercuts and more clean, technical striking.
The fight went the distance and the cards were required to sort things out, with Kowalkiewicz getting the unanimous decision win. That’s now four straight for the resurgent Polish veteran, who advanced to 16-7 overall with the victory.
Bill Algeo notched his second straight win on Saturday, kicking off the main card with a unanimous decision victory over Alexander Hernandez.
The Pennsylvania-based veteran was the sharper, more effective of the two in the first two frames, edging out Hernandez in the first before sitting him down in the second with a beautiful left hand. While Hernandez tried to step on the gas on the third, the fluid Algeo continued to find success and stymie his advances more often than naught.
Algeo got the nod on all three scorecards, and has now won four of his last five, including a victory over Joanderson Brito that continues to age like a fine wine. For Hernandez, this is a second loss in as many featherweight starts and a third loss in his last four fights.
Drew Dober got back in the win column in impressive fashion, blasting through Ricky Glenn in the opening round.
The Nebraska native was patient out of the gate, waiting for opportunities to connect with his heavy left hand, and once he did, Glenn began to teeter. Dober dropped him early, let him back to his feet, and put him back down again, pounding out the finish.
After being on the business end of a comparable result in May, the always entertaining lightweight made a hasty return to the win column here with a blistering effort. Dober has now won four of five, and should be right back in the mix on the fringes of the Top 15 in the treacherous lightweight division.
Joaquin Buckley and Alex Morono locked up in a competitive, back-and-forth battle in the middle of Saturday’s main card, with the former coming away on the happy side of the scorecards.
In all three rounds, Buckley’s power and superior physicality gave him the edge, as the impact from the shots he landed resonated far more than most of what Morono sent back the other way.
He busted up Morono early in the final round, and tried to chase down a finish, selecting heavy shots and distancing himself more and more down the stretch.
Buckley had mixed results at middleweight, but looks right at home in the welterweight division, registering a second straight quality win to set himself up as an intriguing dark horse on the edges of the Top 15.
Joe Pyfer continues to march forward collecting finishes after registering a second-round submission win over Abdul Razak Alhassan in the co-main event.
The Dana White’s Contender Series graduate looked for a standing arm triangle choke at the outset of the fight, and found his way back to it following a high amplitude slam early in the second, putting Alhassan to sleep.
He had the choke set as soon as he slammed the veteran to the canvas, and squeezed out the impressive finish.
That’s now three straight in the UFC and five straight overall for the Philadelphia native. He has a ton of upside and continues climbing in the middleweight ranks, and should find himself in the Octagon with another established name next time out.
Bobby Green didn’t waste any time dispatching Grant Dawson, closing out the show with a sudden stoppage win.
Dawson looked to engage on the feet right away, and Green clocked him with a left hand that put him on the canvas. Dawson covered up as the follow-up blows came crashing down and referee Keith Peterson was forced to step in and halt the action.
Just a massive victory for Green, handing Dawson his first UFC loss while registering the biggest win of his lengthy professional career. That’s now consecutive finishes for the 37-year-old veteran, who should find himself with a number next to his name next week.
UFC Fight Night: Dawson vs Green took place live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 7, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!