On Saturday, April 13th, the UFC hosted their three-hundredth pay-per-view event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Billed with the tagline “Unrivaled Greatness”, the card featured Light-Heavyweight Champion Alex “Poaton” Pereira taking on former champion Jamahal “Sweet Dreams” Hill in the main event, with the card featuring 12 former/current champions and 17 ranked fighters. Here is a breakdown of how each fight went down, starting with the early prelims all the way to the main event:
To kick off the night, former Bantamweight champion Cody “No Love” Garbrandt took on former Flyweight champion Deivison “God of War” Figueiredo. After a back-and-forth round one which saw each fighter having moments (Cody landed several hard punches while Figueiredo secured takedowns) Figueiredo would find the finish in round two via rear-naked choke. The win puts Figueiredo, ranked 8th in the Bantamweight division, one fight closer to a title shot.
Veteran Lightweights Bobby Green and Jim Miller clashed next, with Green winning a lopsided decision after picking Miller apart on the feet. Miller, who appeared on both UFC 100 and 200, ate heavy shots and remained in the fight until the final bell, but Green emerged victorious. After the fight, Green called out Paddy “the Baddy” Pimblett for a matchup in London.
Former women’s Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade defeated Marina Rodrigues via split decision, with Andrade’s effective grappling being enough to outwork Marina’s outside boxing strategy.
Ranked Lightweights Renato “Money” Moicano and Jalin Turner collided in the next fight, with Turner knocking down Moicano at the end of round one. After Turner walked away and failed to secure the finish in a baffling move, Moicano rallied to find a ground-and-pound TKO finish in the second round.
Prospect Diego Lopes took on “Super” Sodiq Yusuff in a Featherweight bout, with Lopes securing the early finish with a TKO less than a minute and a half into the first round. With this win, Lopes will vault into the UFC Featherweight Rankings in an already-stacked division.
2-time Olympic Judo Gold medalist Kayla Harrison defeated former UFC women’s Bantamweight champion Holly Holm with a vicious rear-naked choke in the second round. Harrison, who was making her UFC debut, secured multiple takedowns and landed hard elbows before securing the submission win.
Former Bantamweight champion Aljamain “Funkmaster” Sterling soundly defeated Calvin Kattar via decision in his first fight at featherweight. Sterling secured multiple takedowns and held suffocating ground control throughout the fight as Kattar struggled to get his boxing going. Sterling hinted at a potential title shot in the near future after his win.
Capping off the prelims, Light-Heavyweights Jiri Prochazka and Aleksandar Rakic went toe-to-toe in an explosive clash. Rakic dominated round one with heavy leg kicks and crisp boxing combinations, but Jiri showed his heart in the 2nd, rallying to secure a TKO finish. The win vaults Jiri right back into title contention following his loss to Alex Pereira.
To kick off the main card, undefeated middleweight prospect Bo Nickal defeated Cody Brundage by second round submission. Nickal is now 6-0, and despite a lackluster performance before the finish, still has his eyes set on UFC gold.
Charles Olivera and Arman Tsarukyan competed in a hard-fought close fight which saw Tsarukyan land multiple takedowns with Olivera nearly getting the finish by submission twice. Tsarukyan prevailed with a split-decision victory, and now looks to challenge the winner of Makhachev vs. Poirier for the Lightweight title after UFC 302.
In what many consider to be the best fight of the night, Max Holloway battled it out with Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje for the BMF title. Holloway dominated the fight, landing multiple spinning back kicks and breaking Gaethje’s nose before landing an incredible knockout in the final seconds of round five. Following the victory, Holloway called out featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, exclaiming “I’m him!”
Women’s strawweight champ Zhang Weili defeated Yan Xiaonan in a close decision to retain her title. Xiaonan was winning the stand-up fight, but it was Zhang’s takedowns and submission threats that proved the difference maker.
In the main event, Light-Heavyweight champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira defeated Jamahal “Sweet Dreams” Hill by TKO in the first round. Pereira closed the show with a brutal left hook followed by ground strikes and notched his first defense of the title, which was the first defense of the LHW title since Jon Jones’s departure from the division.
All in all, a spectacular and historic night of fights capped off by a legendary performance from Max “Blessed” Holloway and a stunning knockout from Alex Pereira. Next up, Flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja takes on Steve Erceg at UFC 301 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.