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The UFC Vegas 102 headliner was a fight of major momentum swings.

While the last of those belonged to Jared Cannonier in a fourth-round technical knockout victory, both he and opponent Gregory Rodrigues received an additional $50,000 for their efforts. The middleweight clash, which saw Cannonier recover from two first-round knockdowns to put “Robocop” away 21 seconds into Round 4, was an easy choice for “Fight of the Night” honors on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Edmen Shahbazyan earned a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” award for his quick finish of Dylan Budka in a featured middleweight clash. The Dana White’s Contender Series alum sent his foe to the canvas with a perfectly-timed counter right hand, then sealed his victory with a few follow-up strikes on the floor 1:35 into the opening period.

Finally, Gabriel Bonfim secured the evening’s other $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check by putting Kalinn Williams to sleep in their preliminary welterweight bout. The Bra…

Jared Cannonier may not be as far over the hill as some thought.

The 40-year-old MMA Lab star stood his ground in the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division, as he punched out Gregory Rodrigues in the fourth round of their UFC Fight Night 251 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Cannonier (18-8, 11-8 UFC) closed it out 21 seconds into Round 4, rebounding from back-to-back defeats to Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho in resounding fashion.

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Rodrigues (16-6, 7-3 UFC) roared out of the gate with an overwhelming first round, as he decked “The Killa Gorilla” twice with right hands. However, it proved to be an unsustainable pace for the Brazilian. Cannonier called upon his guile and big-fight experience to push the former Legacy Fighting Alliance titleholder out of his comfort zone and beyond his bounds. He leveled Rodrigues with a standing elbow and followed up with ground-and-pound near the end of the third round, and as th…

Sherdog's live UFC Vegas 102 coverage will begin Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The event is also known as UFC Fight Night 251. BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Cavalcanti (-440), Avila (+340)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:

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Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round: The Official Result BETTING PREVIEW | SCOUTING REPORT | ODDS: Walker (-225), Mayes (+185)Round 1 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 2 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler Treese scores the round:Round 3 Sherdog Scores Jay Pettry scores the round:Tristen Critchfield scores the round:Tyler…

Jose Delgado sent a loud-and-clear message to the rest of the Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division: He intends to stick around awhile.

The MMA Lab prospect made quite the impression in his organizational debut, as he wiped out Connor Matthews with elbows and punches in the first round of their featured UFC Fight Night 251 prelim on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Matthews (7-3, 0-2 UFC) succumbed to blows 2:58 into Round 2.

Delgado (9-1, 1-0 UFC) took his time, probed for openings and unleashed his hands. He floored Matthews with an overhand right and immediately powered into full mount, prompting the New England Cartel product to surrender his back. A few elbow strikes and punches from Delgado were enough for referee Dan Miragliotta to wave it off.

Meanwhile, Alliance MMA standout Angela Hill rebounded from an Aug. 24 loss to Tabatha Ricci and did just enough to skate past fellow former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Ketlen Souza …

Gracias! @RagingPandaMMA anuncia su retiro de la competencia #UFCVegas102 pic.twitter.com/vWHqyo6dXS

— UFC Español (@UFCEspanol) February 15, 2025

UFC bantamweight Julia Avila (9-4) called it a career inside the Octagon on Saturday.

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Avila fought streaking up-and-comer Jacqueline Cavalcanti on the prelims at UFC Vegas 102 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. The Portuguese prospect beat up Avila for three rounds to earn a dominant unanimous decision victory, which makes her unbeaten in four Octagon trips.

Avila subsequently laid down her gloves inside the Octagon and announced her retirement from the sport.

“This is it. I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to fight on the world’s best stage,” Avila told Daniel Cormier in her post-fight interview. “Usually I start my fight with the Psalm 144:1 — May God strengthen my fists for battle and my fingers for warfare. But today I say, God says, ‘Well do…

The UFC Mexico City card continues to take shape with the addition of three new fights.

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The Las Vegas-based promotion on Friday announced the following bouts: Drew Dober vs. Manuel Torres at lightweight; Lupita Godinez vs. Julia Polastri at strawweight and Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Kevin Borjas at flyweight.

UFC Mexico City — also known as UFC on ESPN 64 — takes place at Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico, on March 29 and is headlined by a flyweight showdown pitting Brandon Moreno against Steve Erceg.

Dober has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances, including a third-round TKO defeat to Jean Silva at UFC on ESPN 59 this past June. Mexico’s Torres had a three-bout winning streak snapped in his last outing, when he suffered a first-round TKO loss to Ignacio Bahamondes at UFC 306.

After winning all four of her fights under the UFC banner in 2023, Godinez dropped back-to-back decisions to Virna Jandiroba and Mackenzie Dern last year. P…

🗣️ Islam Makhachev on Ilia Topuria:

“I heard [Ilia] has problems cutting weight… he’s probably already gained fat from the good life…

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Let him move up, and when he earns his chance we will definitely fight.”

🎥 @MatchTV #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/7RjHW94szK

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 14, 2025

Islam Makhachev believes Ilia Topuria’s primary motivation to move up is his inability to cut weight.

Topuria has recently been planning a move up to lightweight to challenge Makhachev for the lightweight title. The ever-confident featherweight champ believes he can have his way with Makhachev, currently the UFC’s pound-for-pound king.

However, Makhachev isn’t willing to offer Topuria an immediate title shot upon moving to lightweight. The lightweight champ believes Topuria’s plans to move up to 155 pounds stem from an inability to make 145 pounds due to the “good life.” While he is willing to fight T…

UFC 313 is turning into quite the striker’s delight showcase.

Per a Friday report from ESPN Deportes, Jalin Turner (14-8) will take on Ignacio Bahamondes (16-5) on March 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The 155-pound pairing on UFC 313 was confirmed shortly after its posting by Bahamondes on Instagram.

Currently ranked in the top 15 on Sherdog’s Official Rankings at 155 pounds, Turner has dropped three of his last four within the past two years. After consecutive split decision losses against Mateusz Gamrot and Dan Hooker, “The Tarantula” bounced back by blasting Bobby Green at the end of 2023. His lone 2024 outing did not go his way, as Renato “Money” Moicano put the screws to him and handed Turner his first stoppage loss since 2018.

Meanwhile, Bahamondes is coming off back-to-back first round knockouts over Christos Giagos and Manuel Torres, both taking place in 2024 and the latter at UFC 306, also known as Noche UFC. Since debuting in the league in 2021…

[embedded content] The Professional Fighters League listened to the mixed martial artists who comprise its roster, to the fans and to the critics. One year after their purchase of Bellator MMA, the PFL decision makers moved to abandon their season and points-style format in favor of a single-elimination World Tournament in 2025.

While it was easy to bring over Bellator fans and some of the company’s well-known veteran fighters, the PFL gave rise to its own stars in 2024, most notably Dakota Ditcheva. The American Top Team standout proved she was the best women’s flyweight in the promotion by cruising to the 125-pound championship in convincing fashion. The PFL leaned into Ditcheva and other young talents, including Ireland’s Paul Hughes, who shined in a closely contested defeat to Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov in January.

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By altering its format, moving on from some of the biggest names on the integrated roster and building toward …

You can't miss this middleweight main event tomorrow night 🤩

Jared Cannonier vs @Gregory_MMA

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[ #UFCVegas102 | TOMORROW | 7pmET on @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/E9kW8lPTpI — UFC (@ufc) February 14, 2025 The Ultimate Fighting Championship continues its busy February with UFC Vegas 102, which had one speed bump at the weigh-ins before its otherwise quick conclusion.

The main event is a middleweight showdown between former title challenger Jared Cannonier and Gregory Rodrigues. Ever the professionals, both men made weight for the five-round headliner. Every fighter that hit the scales made their proper marks, however Mashrabjon Ruziboev never weighed in due to illness and his match with Jared Gordon was nixed.

Cannonier (17-8) is looking to snap a two-fight losing streak against Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho. "The Killa Gorilla" had previously won four of five fights, with key wins over Marvin Vettori, Sean S…

Count Caio Borralho among those who think Dricus Du Plessis should stay in his lane at 185 pounds.

Right after cornering Bruna Brasil at UFC 312, top-ranked middleweight Borralho, conducted an interview with Brazilian journalist Laerte Viana. There, the top contender broke down what he thought about the champion of his division, Du Plessis, as well as what the future lies for him and the rest of the weight class.

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“He doesn’t have a beautiful game but he makes it work,” Borralho said of the champ. “He has heavy hands [and] a strong chin. His biggest quality in my opinion is that even [when] tired, he keeps the same pace. [He is] always very disciplined on his strategy and never leaves a punch without an answer.”

Outside of the top five and looking in courtesy of his latest win, a decision over former title challenger Jared Cannonier, Borralho has his sights on the best middleweight currently offers. Even if he does not want a specific fight for hims…

It might come as a surprise that the man known as “The Black Belt Hunter” is expecting to pick up a submission win in his next outing.

Rodolfo Vieira (10-2) will make his Octagon return against Andre Petroski (12-3) at UFC Fight Night 251, which is scheduled for Feb. 15 inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The middleweight grapplers are expected to ply their trade on the main card of an event also headlined by 185ers. Vieira talked with Sherdog about this upcoming pairing, who discussed what he expected and where he wanted to go from a win.

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“The camp was excellent,” Vieira admitted. “We just have to make some adjustments, because I was initially scheduled to face Jacob Malkoun, [Robert] Whittaker’s training partner, but five weeks to the fight he got injured, so Andre Petroski replaced him. [Considering] Petroski is a southpaw, we had to make some adjustments.”

With only a few weeks to prepare for an entirely new styled opponent, the Brazilian stuc…