The Real Winners and Losers From UFC Fight Night 238

It was a fight card only a hardcore (and sleep-deprived) could love.

OK, it wasn't that extreme. But it took a pretty serious UFC fan to be familiar with all 22 fighters on Saturday's 11-bout Fight Night card at the Apex in Las Vegas.

In fact, it was more accurately labeled a Fight Morning or Fight Afternoon show in the desert, where hostilities began with preliminaries at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT) before moving on to the main card at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT).

Twelfth-ranked heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik defended his divisional turf against insurgent Shamil Gaziev in the main event, to which Gaziev arrived with a pristine 12-0 record highlighted by wins on Dana White's Contender Series and in his UFC debut in 2023.

Rozenstruik is a veteran of the octagonal second-tier, having debuted in 2019 and won four straight before going 3-5 in his next eight, with losses to Francis Ngannou (KO 1), Ciryl Gane (UD 5), Curtis Blaydes (UD 3), Alexander Volkov (KO 1) and Jailton Almeida (SUB 1).

Ngannou is a former UFC champion while Gane, Blaydes, Volkov and Almeida are currently ranked second, fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

The B/R combat team was in place to take in all the action and deliver a definitive list of the show's real-time winners and losers. Take a look to see what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.

It wasn't a dramatic KO or a painful submission maneuver.

Instead, Jairzinho Rozenstruik's finishing move was a simple spin out.

Because when the 35-year-old heavyweight gatekeeper stuffed Shamil Gaziev's last-ditch takedown attempt 60 seconds into the fourth round and moved away with a smile and a shoulder shake, the main event between the two men was all but over.

Things didn't end officially until the close of the round, when referee Marc Goddard waved it off after he didn't like the responses Gaziev gave during a visit from the cage-side doctor. The previously unbeaten prospect from Bahrain was bloody and exhausted and claimed he couldn't see shots coming.

It was first loss after 12 pro wins, including one in his UFC debut.

As for Rozenstruik, it was a satisfying return after he'd been finished in one round by Jailton Almeida in a Fight Night main event 10 months ago.

"It was amazing. I used the time I had to work on a lot of things," he said. "I didn't rush to knock him out. I was patient. All that pays off. I've been working on things. This was a piece of it."

It was Rozenstruik's sixth appearance in a UFC main event and the second time he'd been past three rounds. Gaziev, meanwhile, got out of the first round for just the fifth time and had only been past the second round once before. And the longer this one went, the more exhausted he looked, breathing heavily through his mouth while his foe peppered him with accurate, punishing jabs.

He argued with his corner team as the intermission after the fourth round began and didn't appear interested in continuing as Goddard summoned the doctor.

"My corner gave me the right instruction, stick to the jab," Rozenstruik said. "I started hurting him. Eventually he gave up."

Whaddya know? The boss isn't always right.

UFC czar Dana White included the co-main fight between unbeaten light heavyweight Vitor Petrino and 10-fight octagonal veteran Tyson Pedro in his weekly rundown of potentially explosive matches.

To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement.

Oh sure, Petrino won a comprehensive victory over a guy with six wins and six finishes in the octagon, but it never approached firefight status and instead was more memorable for the number of times referee Mark Smith had to encourage the principals to, you know, fight,

In the end, Petrino's overall record bumped to 11-0 and his UFC mark to 4-0 with a decision by two 30-27 scores and one 29-28, meaning he won eight of a possible nine rounds on three scorecards.

The most compelling of those rounds was the third, during which he landed 13 significant strikes, scored three takedowns and chased a submission via arm triangle choke.

"The plan was to do everything we could to show what a dominant MMA fighter I was," Petrino said. "I did show the organization I was the better fighter and more complete."

Petrino called out veteran Anthony Smith in the aftermath while Pedro announced his retirement.

"My dreams have just changed at this point," he said. "That's it for my dreams in the UFC."

Eighth-ranked contenders don't often get title shots.

But eighth-ranked contenders aren't typically as good as Muhammad Mokaev.

Still just 23 and one of the youngest fighters on the UFC roster, Mokaev stated his case with a clear unanimous decision defeat of No. 7 flyweight and ex-title challenger Alex Perez.

The scores were 29-28 across the board.

Mokaev's name had already come up in chatter about champion Alexandre Pantoja's would-be title defense in his native Brazil in early May. And considering how Perez had faced then-champ Deiveson Figueiredo and future champ Pantoja in his last two fights, Mokaev proved he belongs.

He landed more significant strikes in two of three rounds and had a 47-30 edge overall. He also landed one takedown in each round, making Perez the fifth UFC opponent he'd taken down at least thrice.

Pantoja won the belt against Brandon Moreno last July and defended it with a second defeat of Brandon Royval in December. Royval beat Moreno last month to earn the No. 1 contender spot, but the two previous losses to Pantoja may have opened the door for a lower-ranked foe.

Mokaev surely believes he's earned it.

"I'm 6-0 in the UFC with four finishes. Ten weeks from today I'm ready to fight for the belt," he said. "Dana, give me the chance."

This just in: Umar Nurmagomedov is pretty good.

The Dagestani bantamweight experienced adversity for one of the few times in his career, taking a right hand from Bekzat Almakhan that dropped him to the seat of his trunks in the first round.

But rather than folding in front of an unexpectedly difficult foe, he ratcheted up the grinding, smothering style, converted on all five takedown attempts and emerged with a wide unanimous decision by scores of 30-25, 30-26 and 30-26.

Nurmagomedov arrived with a 16-0 overall mark and four straight wins in the UFC, with only one fighter lasting more than 10 minutes. Almakhan took his shot with a looping right hand in the opening moments and landed it high on Nurmagomedov's left temple to send him to the mat.

Almakhan moved in to deliver more damage and Nurmagomedov responded, seizing one of his foe's legs and getting him to the ground for the first time and keeping him there for the rest of the round. Four more followed across the final 10 minutes, during which the winner had more than seven minutes of control time and ran up a 145-5 edge in total strikes.

"I didn't see the punch," Nurmagomedov said. "I found myself under his leg and I got the takedown."

Now at five straight wins, Nurmagomedov's streak is fourth among active UFC bantamweights and he suggested a future opponent in Cory Sandhagen who'd represent a 10-spot jump in the rankings.

He also said a hand injury and other factors hindered his performance to a 50-percent level, leaving analyst Jon Anik to say "if that's 50 percent from him, it's pretty damn good."

It's not been a great run for the Australia/New Zealand set.

Established "Down Under" champions Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya lost both their titles and their pound-for-pound perches in the last six months.

But Steve Erceg may be the guy to bring back the glory.

The powerful Aussie delivered a fan-friendly one-punch KO of Matt Schnell in a battle of ranked flyweights in Saturday's main-card opener and wasn't shy about calling his shot afterward.

Erceg was ranked 12th to Schnell's ninth as the fight began, but the 28-year-old nicknamed "Astroboy" was up to the task with his superior stand-up skills.

That was never more apparent than the end of the fight, which came when Erceg flicked a jab, shot a right to the body and finished the combo with a left hook that struck Schnell square on the chin and instantly sent him semi-conscious to the floor.

The abrupt end came at 26 seconds of the second round.

Referee Chris Tognoni intervened but didn't need to, as Erceg simply turned and raised his hands, then later knelt and respectfully tapped a prone Schell on the shoulder.

"I can f--king strike," Erceg said. "I felt like there was a home (for the hook) as he was striking me."

It was Erceg's third straight win in the UFC, 11th in a row since his only loss in 2017 and improved his overall record to 12-1. And now, he's got bigger quarry in mind.

Namely, a former flyweight champ now ranked second in the division.

"Brandon Moreno," he said, "I'm coming to look for the top five."

That. Was. Nasty.

Whether he climbs to a championship-level profile in the UFC or not, it's a fair bet that Vinicius Oliveira's flying-knee knockout of Bernardo Sopaj will ensure he's remembered for a while.

And it'll be just as interesting to see how his 23-year-old foe recovers.

The two men had engaged in a compelling back and forth through 14 minutes, with Oliveira gaining the upper hand late thanks to superior power and Sopaj's dwindling gas tank. Those factors set up the finish, which came after Oliveira sent his foe reeling across the cage with a hard punch and a calf kick.

Sopaj backed up against the fence and glanced briefly toward his corner while Oliveira began a running start across the mat, then leapt and drove his knee into the left side of Sopaj's face.

The UFC newbie, who took the fight on late notice and had been scheduled to appear on Dana White's Contender Series next week, went face-first to the floor and was ultimately carried from the cage without putting any weight on his stricken left leg.

The time was 4:41 of the third round.

"I'm sure I deserve the bonus of the night, the performance of the night, for that," Oliveira said. "I am so stunning. I am amazing."

Analyst Jon Anik agreed.

"It would be hard to top what he did on the Contender Series, but he just did it," Anik said. "Vinicius Oliveira might have just turned in one of the KOs of the year and it's only March."

Christian Leroy Duncan is no newcomer.

He's been a pro for more than three years and had 10 fights, including three in the UFC, before arriving for Saturday's middleweight encounter with frenetic Brazilian striker Claudio Ribeiro.

But he looked like a brand-new product in his most impressive victory.

The 28-year-old British export is tall and long and typically beats opponents with precision from distance, but he eschewed striking in favor of wrestling to kick-start the decisive sequence, scoring his first UFC takedown and following with a striking barrage for a TKO at 1:57 of Round 2.

"He looked as good as we've ever seen him look," blow-by-blow man Jon Anik said. "We mentioned off the top what kind of hype and acclaim followed this guy into the octagon. He made it look accurate."

Duncan landed the takedown after clasping his hands around Ribeiro's torso, then slammed him to the ground. He quickly gained a half-mount position, transitioned to full mount and bombarded Ribeiro with elbows until the stricken fighter gave up his back and Duncan wrapped around with punches until referee Mark Smith halted the fight.

"We're wrestling now. It's MMA and I'm adding all skills to my weaponry," Duncan said. "Every time I step in I feel more at home. If you watch (Ribiero's) fights he's an aggressive fighter. We switched it up and pushed the pace on him."

It's not something you tend to see in the cage.

Though some fighters are very adept at working the body, it's much more routine to see them work the head with punches and try to land kicks to the legs.

But somewhere between the calf kick and the head shot, Ludovit Klein found the target.

He was expected to win given his status as a big favorite against fill-in foe AJ Cunningham, who took the fight on four days' notice, but his method was no less impressive given that it came via just the third front body kick finish in the promotion's history.

Klein backed Cunningham to the fence with punches and kicks, softened him with a beautiful three-punch combination to the belly, then stepped back and delivered a kick that saw his toes strike Cunnigham's torso just an inch or two above the waistband of his trunks.

Cunnigham immediately dropped to his knees and the fight was instantly waved off by referee Keith Peterson with 24 seconds left in Round 1.

"I follow my dreams. I train every day hard. My goal is to one day be champion," Klein said. "I felt an opportunity punching AJ to the body. So the mission was to go more to the body with my hands and legs."

Sometimes all it takes is one.

Just when it seemed lightweights Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady and Loik Radzhabov were destined for a 15-minute scrap and a lively debate over who deserved the victory, Radzhabov made it academic.

An overhand right hit Al-Selwady high on the head above the left eye and sent him toppling backward and created a hard impact when his head hit the floor. Radzhabov immediately pounced on a defenseless foe and let loose with more than a dozen hammer fists before Chris Tognoni intervened.

The time was 49 seconds of Round 3.

It was his 18th win in 24 fights and second in three tries in the UFC, where he landed in 2023 shortly after a two-year, nine-fight run in the Professional Fighters League promotion. Thirteen of those wins have come inside the distance, including eight by knockouts.

It was also timely considering he'd had an extended stretch with no fights after a cancellation and told analyst Daniel Cormier it had become an economic issue.

"I hope I'm gonna get (a) 50 K (bonus)," he said, "because I spent way more than that."

Main Card

Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Shamil Gaziev by TKO (referee stoppage), 5:00, Round 4

Vitor Petrino def. Tyson Pedro by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Muhammad Mokaev def. Alex Perez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Umar Nurmagomedov def. Bekzat Almakhan by unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-26)

Steve Erceg def. Matt Schnell by KO (strike), 0:26, Round 2

Preliminary Card

Eryk Anders def. Jamie Pickett by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Vinicius Oliveira def. Bernardo Sopaj by KO (flying knee), 4:41, Round 3

Aiemann Zahabi def. Javid Basharat by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Christian Leroy Duncan def. Claudio Ribeiro by TKO (strikes), 1:57, Round 2

Ludovit Klein def. AJ Cunningham by TKO (body kick), 4:36, Round 1

Loik Radzhabov def. Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady by KO (strikes), 0:49, Round 3