The UFC returned to one of the biggest cities in South America last night, as UFC Rio took place from the Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This event marked the first time the UFC has touched down in Rio since it hosted UFC 301 in May 2024, an event that saw Alexandre Pantoja hold off Steve Erceg to retain the UFC flyweight title. It was also the first Fight Night card in Rio de Janeiro since March 2015, which saw Demian Maia score a decision win over Ryan LaFlare in the main event.
This night's main event featured the popular former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, as he took on Mateusz Gamrot. Oliveira had traded losses and wins since losing the UFC lightweight title three years ago, and this was his first fight since getting knocked out by Ilia Topuria for the belt at UFC 317 in June. Gamrot took this fight on short notice after Rafael Fiziev fell out due to injury. Gamrot had won four of his last five, most recently scoring a decision over L'udovit Klein at UFC Vegas 107 in May.
The bantamweight co-main event also featured a former Brazilian UFC champion, as former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo took on Montel Jackson. Figueiredo had lost two straight, and this was Figueiredo's first fight since getting stopped by recent title challenger Cory Sandhagen at UFC Des Moines in May. Jackson had won six straight, having most recently defeated Daniel Marcos at UFC Des Moines.
Who showed out in Rio? Who fell short of expectation? Let's go into it all with the Hits and Misses of UFC Rio!
Miss: Eight-Pound Weight Difference Is Inexcusable
I don't want to take away the credit from Luan Lacerda. He wanted to fight, he wanted the opportunity to earn his win bonus, and he got it. But that doesn't take away from how inexcusable it was for a fighter, Saimon Oliveira in this case, to miss weight by eight pounds and put the bout's status in jeopardy until the day of the fight.
Oliveira's weight was closer to featherweight than it was to bantamweight. There are some commissions that might have scrapped the fight then and there. And if that was the case, it would have been highway robbery for Lacerda.
Yes, weight cutting is a dangerous aspect of combat sports that needs to still be addressed. Yes, the pay structure of the sport is something that needs to be addressed. But this kind of weight miss is something that can universally be shamed, and should bring about ideas for not just commissions, but also promotions, to address on how such actions should be penalized more harshly.
Hit: "Lady GOAT" Bia Mesquita One To Watch
Bia Mesquita is a legend of jiu-jitsu. And while she may just be an MMA rookie, her run thus far has been impressive, leading to a highly successful UFC debut at UFC Rio.
Mesquita flat out dominated Irina Alekseeva, taking her down early in the first round and dominating from full mount with ground-and-pound and top pressure. That continued into the second round, where she quickly locked up a rear-naked choke to score the submission win.
There's no guarantee that Mesquita becomes the top dog at women's bantamweight, but she still presents, as one MMA media mentioned on social media, a needed shot in the arm for women's 135. And maybe one day, whether for a belt or not, we get a fantastic jiu-jitsu vs. judo battle between her and current champion Kayla Harrison.
Hit: Heavyweight Vitor Petrino
Vitor Petrino was on an impressive run at light heavyweight before suffering the first two losses of his career last year to Anthony Smith and and Dustin Jacoby. But his victory over Thomas Petersen may have shown that he may have more opportunities of success competing at heavyweight.
Petrino dropped Petersen during the first round and completely nullified his attempts to wrestle. Petrino's striking appeared to be on point until he started to fatigue in the later portions of round two. Fortunately for him, he needed mere seconds of round three to land a two-punch combination to drop Petersen out cold for the victory.
Petrino obviously needs to work on his gas tank, but with how weak heavyweight is right now in the UFC, he might find himself in the rankings of that division sooner than later.
Hit: Jafel Filho's Future At Flyweight Bright?
Known as "The Pastor," Jafel Filho has put his own kind of blessings on the Octagon. And he did so in emphatic fashion in front of a native crowd at UFC Rio, needing just under one full round to finish Clayton Carpenter.
Filho wobbled Carpenter early before scoring a takedown, controlling all of the fight with his top-pressure grappling. Filho worked his way to the back and tried to sink in a rear-naked choke. When he couldn't do that, Filho transitioned successfully into a nasty kimura lock for the win.
Filho moves to 17-4 as a pro. Though he's just 3-2 in the UFC, one of his wins has come against Ode' Osbourne, his DWCS win came against Roybert Echeverria, and his only two Octagon losses have come to Muhammad Mokaev and Allan Nascimento. I'd call that a strong resume, and I wouldn't mind Filho's next fight or two coming against lower-ranked flyweights to give him an opportunity to earn a number next to his name.
Hit: Michael Aswell Jr. Silences Brazil Crowd
Talk about leaving people speechless. The Brazilian crowd and their support was no match for the talent of Michael Aswell Jr., who quickly put away Lucas Almeida.
Aswell cracked Almeida in the opening seconds and didn't let up with striking pressure, going for the win almost immediately. Almeida tried to fight back but ended up seated and slumped against the fence, where Aswell finished him off.
This was Aswell's first win after dropping his UFC debut to Bolaji Oki, and he looked quite impressive. Hopefully he gets the chance to compete on UFC 323 -- even if he did seem to spoil the confirmation of Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van.
Miss: Horrid Officiating Yet Again
Every week there seems to be at least one bad case of bad officiating by a referee involved in the action. And this week, we were "blessed" to have two such instances.
The first came in Kaan Ofli's win over Ricardo Ramos that opened up the UFC Rio main card. Ramos pressured Ofli to the fence quickly and appeared to be searching for a tight leg lock. But during those attempts, Ofli used the fence to gain leverage and help himself escape. None of the fence grabs appeared to be warned, let alone noticed, by a veteran referee like Marc Goddard. Ofli would go on to find Ramos' back and score a rear-naked choke.
Then came Joel Alvarez's victory over Vicente Luque. During the opening round, Alvarez connected with a left hand that did damage to Luque's eye. Luque went down in pain and claimed that he was eye poked. The referee confirmed the shot was a legal blow and appeared to wave the fight off.
Then, the doctor entered the Octagon. And somehow Luque was given the timeout as though he was actually eye poked. This is all despite the referee's initial ruling being the correct one -- with a fight-pausing/ending sequence actually coming as the result of a legal blow being ruled a TKO. This was made worse by the way when Luque was saying he was done right before the third round, with his corner having to convince him to go out there -- which, again, on the ref noticing should have been a TKO ruling.
Fortunately for Alvarez, he managed to win the fight. But when referees are making mistakes like this, it just continues to flabbergast me how we don't have real-time corrections and accountability for match officials in this sport.
Miss: A Bleak Future For Vicente Luque?
Speaking of Luque vs. Alvarez, man, have things been rough for Vicente Luque.
This loss now marks his fifth loss in his last seven fights. And while the losses haven't come to necessarily bad competition, it really is disappointing when you consider that Luque was once in the mix for a potential welterweight title shot just a couple of years ago.
And this fight may have been Luque's worst performance yet. If he's lucky to get another fight, he may have fallen so far that he could fighting for his UFC future. It's a sad sight to see.
Hit: Deiveson Figueiredo Finds Victory Again
It feels weird to say, but Deiveson Figueiredo hadn't tasted victory in a little over a year when he entered UFC Rio. Fortunately, Figueiredo managed to dig deep and pull off the performance he needed in front of a native crowd to score a decision win.
Figueiredo scored an early takedown of Jackson and threatened to make it a quick night with multiple submission attempts. The former flyweight champ then controlled the action on the feet and threatened a tight arm-triangle, going on to score a decision win (arguably one that should have been unanimous).
Figueiredo had come into this bout off losses to Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen. And now that he's back in the win column here, perhaps we wait to see how Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista and (if true) Sean O'Malley vs. Song Yadong play out before selecting one of those names as a next opponent for him.
Hit: Charles Oliveira Sends Brazil Into A Frenzy
Talk about a needed win. It wasn't one where Charles Oliveira needed to win to show he was still relevant, but after some struggles following losing the lightweight title on the scales a few years ago, Oliveira must have felt like a God after coming out on top in front of a native crowd.
Oliveira controlled Mateusz Gamrot with grappling throughout the first round, threatening both an Omoplata and a choke. Oliveira then pressured Gamrot with both striking and grappling during the second round, where he proceeded to end things with a choke.
This was Oliveira's first fight since getting knocked out by Ilia Topuria at UFC 317, and Oliveira still has his sights on gold -- but not the one you think of. Oliveira sent out the challenge to Max Holloway for a BMF title fight, and it appears Holloway accepted. And if I can speak for plenty of the UFC fans, I think this is a fight we'd love to see happen.