The Real Winners and Losers from UFC Fight Night

UFC Fight Night 204 went down on Saturday night time in Las Vegas, and it introduced a few crucial motion in numerous divisions.

The maximum applicable combat of the night time took place withinside the primary occasion whilst Chicago's Belal Muhammad regarded to avenge a quick and brutal 2016 knockout loss to Brazil's Vicente Luque. He succeeded on his mission, out-preventing his rival to a unanimous selection win that ought to earn him a niche withinside the welterweight division's Top five.

Beyond the primary occasion, UFC Fight Night 204 turned into without large names, however multiple warring parties nevertheless scored vital wins. Chief amongst them turned into American light-weight Drakkar Klose, who rebounded from a loss to Beneil Dariush—and extra importantly, a shove-caused damage on the fingers of validated hothead Jeremy Stephens—with a 2d-spherical stoppage win over Brandon Jenkins.

This can be one of these playing cards this is misplaced to the sands of time pretty quickly, however make no mistake—it nevertheless produced a few large winners and larger losers.

Keep scrolling to peer who surely received and misplaced the maximum floor on the occasion.

Winner: Getting It Right the Second Time

Chicago's Belal Muhammad suffered the worst lack of his profession in 2016, wilting below a typhoon of moves on the fingers of Brazil's Vicente Luque in only seventy nine seconds.

The pair met once more withinside the UFC Fight Night 204 primary occasion—with a niche withinside the welterweight Top five at the line—and Muhammad did not allow the possibility visit waste.

The 2d time around, the 33-year-vintage defeated Luque through unanimous selection, tallying rankings of 49-forty six, 49-forty six and 48-forty seven.

In victory, Muhammad is now on an 8-combat unbeaten streak. The simplest blemish in his latest fights is a No Contest contrary pinnacle contender Leon Edwards, which turned into the end result of an inadvertent eye poke.

He nevertheless has a few paintings to do to get in advance of welterweight contenders like Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington, however make no mistake, Muhammad is on his manner to a welterweight name shot. The truth that he progressed his function through avenging his largest L is simply the icing at the cake.

Loser: Team Canada

There turned into a time whilst Canada turned into one of the maximum a hit international locations in MMA. That turned into returned whilst Georges St-Pierre turned into the king of the welterweight division, and warring parties like Sam Stout and Mark Hominick have been making waves at light-weight and featherweight, respectively.

Things have changed.

While there are surely lots of exceptional Canadian warring parties out there, the "Great White North" is undeniably suffering with effects withinside the UFC in 2022.

UFC Fight Night 204 reaffirmed that truth, as Canadian light-weight Jesse Ronson misplaced a selection to Rafa Garcia, and Canadian featherweight TJ Laramie misplaced a selection to Pat Sabatini in a while the broadcast.

Both guys are nevertheless winless withinside the Octagon.

Loser: Jeremy Stephens

Drakkar Klose scored a large win at UFC Fight Night 204, defeating Brandon Jenkins with a volley of 2d-spherical punches.

It turned into Klose's first look considering that a loss to pinnacle-ranked light-weight contender Beneil Dariush in a wild 2020 slugfest—however his extended absence turned into now no longer his fault.

Klose turned into out of motion for extra than years after Jeremy Stephens, one of the maximum skilled warring parties in UFC history, shoved him so tough on the weigh-in for his or her deliberate 2021 combat that Klose suffered a concussion and a spinal damage. Klose could not combat that weekend and turned into not able to combat once more for over a year.

Stephens, who has considering that been dropped through the UFC and signed with the PFL, is a 35-year-vintage adult. He had no cause to shove Klose the manner he did and ought to have regarded better. He has additionally proven no actual regret for his absolutely unjustified actions.

Long tale short: Klose turned into a large winner at UFC Fight Night 204. The man who nearly ended his profession with the intention to appearance hard remains a loser.

Loser: Living Up to Expectations

Slovakia's Martin Buday made his Octagon debut towards the ever-famous Chris Barnett at the UFC Fight Night 204 undercard. The 30-year-vintage heavyweight did so with a 9-1 report and stoppages in 8 of his 9 victories—with an enforcing 6'4" body to boot.

Needless to say, he lumbered into the Octagon with pretty a chunk of hype at the back of him. He did now no longer stay as much as it.

Despite being a validated finisher, the Slovakian large guy hired a snooze-inducing, clinch-heavy method thru rounds one and . He then capped off his stinker of a overall performance through blasting Barnett with an unlawful elbow to the returned of the top to win the combat through technical selection in spherical three.

In an exchange timeline, Buday knocked out Barnett with some thing flashy and right away introduced himself as a heavyweight prospect—possibly as the only we concept he turned into whilst he knocked out Lorenzo Hood with a first-spherical knee to earn a UFC agreement on Dana White's Contender Series ultimate year—to watch.

In our timeline, he introduced his arrival withinside the least memorable style possible. Hopefully, he learns from the experience.

Winner: Starting with a Bang

Chinese bantamweight Heili Alateng (15-8-2) is aware of the way to kick matters off in style. The 30-year-vintage from Inner Mongolia proved that at UFC Fight Night 204, demolishing Kevin Croom in only forty seven seconds withinside the starting bout of the night time.

Heili wasted no time withinside the Octagon, on foot Croom down and cracking him with a blistering proper hook withinside the early going. The hook did not definitely positioned Croom down, however Heili did not supply his rival any time to recover, swarming him with a salvo of moves.

Seconds later, Croom turned into face-planting at the mat, and referee Chris Tognoni leaped into the fracas to spare the American from any similarly abuse.

It turned into a exceptional manner to kick off an below-the-radar card—large ups to any lovers who tuned in early sufficient to trap it—and a vital win for Heili.

The Chinese fighter turned into winless in his ultimate fights, having suffered a selection loss to Casey Kenney and battled Gustavo Lopez to a disappointing draw after kicking his UFC profession off with -directly wins.

Belal Muhammad

UFC Fight Night