Against the background of not the strongest card of the tournament, mostly filled with fights involving either debutants of the promotion or little-known fighters, three fights stood out.
In the nominally main one, Sean Strickland, who came out on short notice, tried to break Nassurdin Imavov's winning streak and redeem himself for his failures in the last two duels along the way.
The Russians fought in the other two.
Umar Nurmagomedov was going to break into the top 10 of the lightest division, and Roman Kopylov was going to gain a foothold in the championship and prove that his triumph in the duel with Alessio Di Chirico was not an accident.
Despite his status, the presence of a legendary relative and an impressive unbeaten streak of 15 fights, Nurmagomedov entered the cage before his compatriot.
Perhaps the reason for this was the almost complete lack of intrigue in the battle with Raoni Barcelos.
According to the bookmakers, she was the most uncompetitive among those entered on the show, and the odds for the success of the Brazilian was 9.02.
And it was hard to disagree with them.
Over the past year and a half, he was beaten twice, and by far not the top opponents.
One of them was Timur Valiev, a former teammate of the recently retired Zabit Magomedsharipov.
It is curious that in December 2019, Barcelos managed to cope with Said Nurmagomedov in a fairly equal fight, but he failed to do the same with his namesake.
From the very first seconds, Umar outplayed the opponent and quickly broke his nose, and 20 seconds before the end of the round he sent him to a deaf knockout.
The knee landed in the air, but the left hook that followed was right on target.
The Brazilian instantly “turned off” and collapsed onto the canvas, which was noticed almost immediately by the Russian, who did without a series of control tests to the head.
Nevertheless, Nurmagomedov still delivered one blow to the knocked out opponent.
And although this is a common thing for mixed martial arts, he personally apologized to Barcelos.
He also said hello to his cousin Khabib and announced his desire to re-enter the octagon in March.
The only question is who will dare to answer the challenge of an athlete with a record of 16-0.
Kopylov was waiting for a much more serious test.
Although Punahele Soriano cannot be called a universal and comprehensively developed fighter, he had his own trump cards.
Among them, one could safely include physical strength and a strong left hand, which allowed him to score six knockouts in his career.
And given Roman's style, that could very well be a problem.
The Russian has always preferred to fight in the standing position, but at the same time he was not famous for his defense.
And at first, Soriano really posed a danger: he went forward and threw a lot of punches.
But by the middle of the first segment, he got tired and slowed down significantly, and unsuccessful takedown attempts only increased the negative effect.
And Kopylov took advantage of this, albeit not immediately.
In the middle of the second round, for the third time in a row, he defended himself from a pass to the legs, and then literally scored the opponent.
A powerful left middle kick forced the American to drop his hands, and a series of hits to the head led to the intervention of the referee.
Roman won the second early victory in a row and "went to zero", rehabilitated for two fiascos at the start of his career in the promotion.
In an interview, he admitted that this fight was the last under the current agreement with the organization, and expressed hope for continued cooperation with the UFC.
And in the light of such performances, he has every reason to count on a new contract.
After all, Kopylov not only prevailed in a striking manner, but also received a cash bonus for the first time for the “Performance of the Evening”.
In addition to him, the $50,000 prize went to Nurmagomedov, as well as to Dan Iga and Allan Nascimento.
Ige put down Damon Jackson with a powerful left hook, and the second effectively strangled Carlos Hernandez.
As for the main fight, it turned out to be tense and lasted all the planned five rounds.
For two, the opponents inflicted 305 significant blows, and Strickland recorded almost two-thirds of them at his own expense.
The American, who had about a week to prepare, constantly went ahead and took advantage of Imavov's problems in defense, who never managed to adapt to an uncomfortable opponent.
The French middleweight felt uncomfortable and couldn't find his distance.
As a result, all three judges sided with Strickland, with two giving him four out of five rounds at once.
Sean won for the first time since February 2022 and clearly demonstrated that Imavov is not yet ready to meet the tops.