The Real Winners and Losers From UFC on ESPN 47

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Call it the near-miss main event.

Middleweights Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier fell short in their pay-per-view headlining opportunities opposite 185-pound king Israel Adesanya, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up hopes for another bite at the apple once again held by “The Last Stylebender.”

Toward that end, the 29-year-old Italian and 39-year-old American got together to sort out their places in the weight class hierarchy in the finale of a 12-bout card at the Apex in Las Vegas, with the fourth-ranked Cannonier winning a unanimous decision.

The show came a week after a historic PPV event in Canada at which consensus women’s GOAT Amanda Nunes defended her bantamweight title and subsequently announced her retirement after a career that covered 17 years, including a decade-long UFC run in which she won 16 of 18 fights and captured championships in two divisions.

Vettori, Cannonier and the other 22 fighters on this weekend’s card had some ground to cover to earn those accolades but the B/R combat team was in place to take in their efforts and report on the biggest winners of a show competing for Father’s Day weekend viewers with the U.S. Open and the College World Series, among others.

Check back to take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.

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The primary goal for a once-beaten title challenger?

Give people a reason to believe a championship rematch might look different.

Consider it done for Jared Cannonier.

The heavyweight-turned-light heavyweight-turned-middleweight battered his highest-profile rankings contemporary from corner to corner, leaving Marvin Vettori a swollen, bloody mess on the way to a well-deserved unanimous decision in their 25-minute main-event slugfest.

“After the Adesanya fight my goal was to increase my output and be a more effective striker,” Cannonier said. “Marvin’s a tough dude. He remains unfinished in this Octagon. I wanted to show more wrinkles to my game. If I can get you down to the ground, I can hurt you there, too.”

The judges gave Cannonier margins of four, four and two points on the scorecard and the winner also walked away with a middleweight record for significant strikes in a single fight—providing additional evidence, in his mind at least, that he’s deserving of a second go-round with the champ.

Adesanya won a desultory five-round decision when the two met atop UFC 276 last summer.

“I’m still at the top of my game and getting better,” Cannonier said. “I want the title shot. That’s what I’m here for. I’m willing and ready to step in or do whatever I have to do to get that fight.”

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A funny thing happened on the way to the payout window on Saturday night.

Oh sure, prohibitive favorite Arman Tsarukyan did what he was supposed to and walked away with a defeat of substitute foe Joaquim Silva in their lightweight co-main, but it was hardly a blowout.

The less-heralded 34-year-old Brazilian did manage to land some significant shots and found himself beyond the halfway point of the third round before finally succumbing to a barrage of ground shots shortly after Tsarukyan had scored his fourth takedown in five attempts.

“I want to thank (Silva). We couldn’t find anybody to accept a fight,” Tsarukyan said.

“It’s the first time I felt like a punch was super tough. He’s super strong. But I knew I was gonna finish him. I’m not just talking.”

Indeed, Tsarukyan was on wobbly legs after Silva connected with a counter left hook and a follow-up right hand in the second round, but the 26-year-old Armenian took his foe to the floor and regained his senses to ride out the session and get back to the corner.

He was back in control to begin the third and started the decisive sequence with a takedown that saw Silva land awkwardly on his head and neck.

A few dozen ground punches and elbows later, referee Keith Peterson pulled the plug.

The official time was 3:25 of the third, the latest finish of Tsarukyan’s career.

“I’m gonna be No. 1 contender,” he said. “If you’re gonna give me eight weeks (to fight champion Islam Makhachev) I’m gonna smash him. I’ll take anybody in the top five. Michael Chandler? They’re gonna give me that fight and I’m gonna kill that guy.”

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Sometimes, simple is better.

Middleweight Christian Duncan came into his main card fight
with Armen Petrosyan with a pristine record and a toolbox full of flashy
spinning and jumping techniques.

But when push literally came to shove against his rugged Dagestan-reared
foe, his resume and reputation came out worse for the wear.

The highlight-reel strikes never arrived for the unbeaten Duncan and the Englishman saw his opponent’s hand raised for the first time as Petrosyan was awarded a unanimous decision victory.

Officially, the scores were 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

It was Petrosyan’s ninth win in 11 career fights and third in four tries in the UFC, following up on a defeat of AJ Dobson at UFC 280 last fall. He out-landed Duncan in each of the three rounds, successfully defended each of his foe’s three takedown attempts and wound up with nearly three times as much control time across 15 intermittently violent minutes.

And in the aftermath it was a jubilant Petrosyan, not his more celebrated opponent, calling for bigger
things.

“Dana White, I’m ready for the top 15 fighters,” he said. “Give them to me. I know all of them. I know I can take all of them.”

Manuel Torres is not a man who likes wasting time.

The lanky Mexican lightweight arrived to the Octagon on Saturday night having not gone beyond the first round in nearly five years, spanning five wins and seven fights.

The mindset didn’t change against Nikolas Motta.

The 28-year-old quick-finish artist delivered the 13th first-rounder of his career, nearly bringing ESPN’s Paul Felder to delirium in the aftermath of a one-shot elbow KO.

“Oh, my god,” Felder exclaimed as referee Herb Dean stopped the fight to rescue a helpless Motta.

“That was the most beautiful elbow I’ve seen in a long time.”

And no, he wasn’t overdoing it.

Torres shook off the hard counter shot he’d eaten just moments before, responding with a left elbow strike that was delivered so quickly and cleanly that Felder initially thought it was a punch.

Its impact sent a motionless Motta directly to the floor, where he took one more hammer fist before Dean waved it off at 1:50 of the first—giving Torres his 14th victory since his debut in 2014.

It was his second straight win in the UFC after a 2021 triumph on Dana White’s Contender Series.

“All that stress and everything before the fight, it’s all gone now,” Torres said. “It was sudden. We were exchanging. I saw the moment and it was good.

“I want a second bonus. I want to be the first Mexican to get two bonuses.”

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No, really. Alessandro Costa is a flyweight.

Though he stands just 5’4″ and weighed in Friday morning at only 126 pounds, the 27-year-old Brazilian entered the cage Saturday night with a torso that resembled someone much larger.

So it’s no surprise he treated opponent Jimmy Flick, who looked much more like a legit flyweight, like a speed bump on the way to a second-round finish.

“That was absolute dominance,” ESPN blow-by-blow man Brendan Fitzgerald said.

“Flyweight has another contender to keep an eye on.”

Costa was comprehensively violent for every moment of six-plus minutes against Flick, whom he consistently strafed with both hard punches to the midsection and calf kicks to the left leg—ultimately rendering the limb so unstable that Flick could barely stand.

The prolonged damage prompted Flick to vainly chase a takedown early in the second round, though Costa was quickly able to reverse the position before letting loose with a fusillade of elbows on his grounded foe that prompted a wave-off from referee Keith Peterson at 1:03.

It was Costa’s first official win in the UFC after a successful appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series last July. It was followed by a stoppage loss to Amir Albazi in his official debut in December.

“This is a new phase of my life,” Costa said. “I’m back. I’m here.”

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Referee Keith Peterson goes by the nickname “No Nonsense.”

But it wasn’t hard to detect Dominick Cruz’s cynicism.

The ex-bantamweight champ was on the mic for analysis on Saturday’s card and he wasn’t shy about using his platform after Peterson’s error meant the quick end of a 135-pound prelim between prospects Dan Argueta and Ronnie Lawrence.

Argueta scored a takedown and moved into finishing position
with a guillotine choke attempt in the first round, leaving Lawrence flat on
his back but not in imminent danger of surrender.

Lawrence’s right hand was in the air alongside Argueta’s body as Peterson moved in to take a look, and he touched Lawrence’s hand in the process. Lawrence snapped his hand away as Peterson made contact and the motion apparently resembled a tap, which prompted Peterson to wave the fight off at 2:20.

Lawrence indicated that he’d not intended to give up and Peterson and officials at cage-side consulted replays before deciding the fight had indeed been stopped too soon, rending an official no contest.

Cruz, though, was in no mood to quibble about intentions.

And it was not his first time questioning Peterson, who worked Cruz’s loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC 249 in 2020—after which Cruz suggested in a live post-fight interview that he’d smelled like alcohol and cigarettes.

“If this keeps happening and keeps happening,” he said Saturday, “when do we get an adjustment? Because it’s the fighters that take the hit here. Nobody wants to win like that. And nobody wants to lose like that, by not tapping.”

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Zac Pauga had good reason to look surprised.

The 35-year-old landed more significant strikes than Modestas Bukauskas in all three rounds of their Saturday evening card-opener, scored the fight’s lone takedown and established nearly a minute more control time—yet still found his way to the wrong end of a unanimous decision verdict.

Bukauskas, in fact, was awarded all three rounds on one scorecard and two of three on the others, leading to Pauga’s wide-eyed expression as announced Joe Martinez made the results official.

It was the ex-NFL practice squad player’s second loss in four UFC-sanctioned bouts, including a winning debut on Dana White’s Contender Series last June and another victory by decision over Jordan Wright on a Fight Night show in February.

Pauga played college football at Colorado State and was affiliated with the Houston Texans before transitioning to MMA three years ago.

For Bukauskas, meanwhile, it was a second straight win in octagonal
stint No. 2 after the Lithuanian had gone 1-3 in his initial four-bout run with
the promotion in 2020 and 2021.

“I’m here to stay this time,” he said. “I felt like I rushed things the first time. But I feel like I’m more prepared to succeed here now and this is another step.”

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Main Card

Jared Cannonier def. Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 48-46)

Arman Tsarukyan def. Joaquim Silva by TKO (punches), 3:25, Round 3

Armen Petrosyan def. Christian Duncan by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Pat Sabatini def. Lucas Almeida by submission (arm triangle), 1:48, Round 2

Manuel Torres def. Nikolas Motta by KO (elbow), 1:50, Round 1

Nicolas Dalby def. Muslim Salikhov by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Preliminary Card

Alessandro Costa def. Jimmy Flick by TKO (elbows), 1:03, Round 2

Kyung Ho Kang def. Cristian Quiñonez by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:25, Round 1

Carlos Hernandez def. Denys Bondar by unanimous technical decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Tereza Bleda def. Gabriella Fernandes by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Dan Argueta no contest with Ronnie Lawrence, 2:20, Round 1

Modestas Bukauskas def. Zac Pauga by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)