UFC Fight Night 251: Live Winners and Losers, Results

It was UFC gatekeeper day in Las Vegas.

The combat sports conglomerate returned from a pay-per-view production in Australia to a Fight Night show at its Apex home base that featured two ranked main-card fighters arriving as underdogs against lower-profile, higher-ceiling competition.

Ex-middleweight title challenger Jared Cannonier, seventh at 185 pounds, faced towering Brazilian slugger Gregory Rodrigues in the main event. Cannonier had split four fights since dropping a decision to then-champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 276, including losses in both his fights in 2024.

It was a similar story in the co-main, where 10th-ranked featherweight Calvin Kattar, having lost three in a row, faced streaking Youssef Zalal, who'd won three straight.

Rodrigues entered Saturday as a -238 favorite according to DraftKings, while Zalal was an even bigger selection at -485.

B/R's combat team was in place to take in the entire 12-bout card and deliver a definitive, real-time list of its winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Cannonier’s corner knew it. And so did his opponent’s.

As Brazilian strongman Rodrigues exhaustedly laid his head on the top of the fence at the end of the second round, the lead trainer in the seventh-ranked Cannonier’s corner told his man, “He’s not the same guy as when this fight started.”

From that point forward, the end result was academic.

Cannonier dropped the supposedly impenetrable “RoboCop” with a hard right elbow and nearly got a stoppage at the end of the third, then poured it on at the start of the fourth and beat Rodrigues into a rescue from referee Herb Dean at the 21-second mark.

It was Cannonier’s 11th win in 19th UFC fights and ended the Brazilian’s three-fight win streak in his first main-event appearance. It was, in fact, the first time in Rodrigues’ now-22-fight pro career that he’d gone beyond the third round.

“He was swinging hard as hell,” Cannonier said. “But I was able to weather the storm and keep my composure even in those tough spots.”

Indeed, Rodrigues was his typically menacing self in the opening round and dropped Cannonier twice with short, hard punches. A stoppage never seemed imminent, though, and the former title challenger, now 40 years old, was able to even the score with his own precision striking in the second while simultaneously emptying his opponent’s gas tank.

“I felt great. I could do this for five more rounds if we needed to,” said Cannonier, fighting in his eighth UFC main event. “It’s hard to lean on that experience. Yes, it plays a role, but I give it to my team, too, because I showed my improvements in this fight.”

The blood-and-guts types probably hated it.

But those who appreciate athleticism and skill were all in.

Zalal wasn’t quite as demonic as his “Moroccan Devil” nickname suggests, but he used every tool in his toolbox to score the biggest win of his pro career, a unanimous decision over the 10th-ranked Kattar.

All three judges scored it 29-28 for Zalal, rewarding the clinic he performed across the first two rounds while bedeviling Kattar with sharp punches, effective movement and just enough threatened takedowns to temper his more experienced foe’s aggression.

“This is a young man’s sport. I feel like I just fought a legend,” Zalal said. “Calvin Kattar’s gonna be a Hall of Famer, 100 percent.”

Zalal landed 75 strikes to Kattar’s 38, including 16 leg kicks that impacted the older man’s ability to close distance. Kattar was able to turn up his intensity in the final five minutes but was unable to land an impactful shot or get Zalal into a compromising position.

“This was an OK performance. I’m better than this,” Zalal said. “I want to be a world champion. I will be a world champion.”

Baby-faced middleweight Edmen Shahbazyan has occasionally struggled with the baggage his “Golden Boy” moniker brings, but he was all that and more Saturday night with an abruptly violent one-punch erasure of Contender Series alum Dylan Budka.

In fact, he may have talked himself into a new nickname.

“In my last fight, I hit (my opponent), I hurt him and I rushed it,” Shahbazyan said. “I was trying to be more like a serial killer this time.”

Well, if precision violence is his new objective, consider the first test passed.

Employing a technique he’d worked on with trainer Eric Nicksick in the locker room, Shahbazyan answered a pair of flicking jabs with the punishing overhand right that sent Budka stumbling toward the fence and prompted a rescue from referee Chris Tognoni as Shahbazyan swooped in with ground strikes at 1:35 of the first.

As he regained his feet, Shahbazyan immediately turned and pointed to his corner.

“Slip, inside, overhand,” he said. “We worked on that in the back, literally.”

It was the 27-year-old’s seventh win in the UFC and first since becoming a father for the first time, so he angled afterward for a little extra cash to start the kid’s college fund.

“I dedicated the fight to my child,” he said, “and hopefully this is a 50K bonus for him.”

Sometimes things get lost in translation. Especially double negatives.

Brazilian lightweight Ismael Bonfim was unquestionably rattled by a hard kick to the head by opponent Nazim Sadykhov, and he appeared to be having problems with his right eye from the moment the blow opened a cut beneath it late in the first round of their main-card bout.

Still, as he consulted with a cage-side physician and a translator before the second round got under way, he gave a visual impression of a man who wanted to fight.

Which made it particularly jarring when referee Mark Smith waved his arms to signal that Bonfim had apparently told the doctor he couldn’t see and thus couldn’t continue.

Bonfim had clearly been nodding his head in response to a question from the translator, but a review of the video apparently confirmed he’d not been signaling a willingness to continue but instead was confirming that he couldn’t go on because he couldn’t see.

It was a particularly unsatisfying end to what had begun as an entertaining clash.

“I for one wanted to see more in that fight,” blow-by-blow man John Gooden said, “100 percent.”

The win, which was officially recorded as a TKO by doctor stoppage, stretched Sadykhov’s unbeaten streak to 11 fights (10-0-1) and boosted him to 3-0-1 in the UFC.

“I was just getting started. My fight was just beginning,” he said. “The left head kicks were something I’ve been working on all camp. I noticed when he exchanges he drops his hands.”

It’s been a pretty good week for Philadelphia.

Six days after his beloved Eagles won the Super Bowl in New Orleans, middleweight Andre Petroski performed his own magic as an underdog against Rodolfo Vieira.

Matched against one of the promotion’s premier ground fighters, Petroski and his team decided to focus solely on striking and it paid off in the form of a narrow but fair unanimous decision that was scored 29-28 by all three judges, which matched the B/R tally.

“I think I won most of the exchanges on the feet, certainly in two of the three rounds, so I was confident,” Petroski said. “I have the best striking team in the country. We study film more than anybody. We do our homework.”

Petroski has won three straight and eight of 10 in the UFC and his success against a jiu-jitsu ace like Vieira instantly yielded a callout of a high-profile octagonal wrestler.

“I just beat the most decorated grappler in the UFC,” Petroski said. “Where is Bo Nickal? Where’s he at?”

Jose Delgado had no problem saying the big words.

The 26-year-old strutted around the mat suggesting he’ll be the “best in the world” and told Daniel Cormier that he’ll begin making big callouts once he makes the top 15.

But given how good he’d looked in the featured prelim, it may have all been understated.

The confident, powerful featherweight bloodied opponent Connor Matthews with a spinning back fist, dropped him with a hard overhand right, then pummeled him with elbows and punches on the ground until referee Dan Miragliotta had no choice but to intervene at 2:58 of the first round.

It was devastating. It was violent. And it was impressive.

“I’m young in this game but I’m 16 years in and I’ve been dreaming this dream a long time,” said Delgado, who’d earned his UFC shot with a Contender Series win last August. “I started a little slow, octagon jitters maybe. But I knew I’d get him. I want the belt. I’m here to be the best.”

The victory lifted him to 9-1 in 10 pro fights–with all wins coming by finish–and impressed another former champion beyond Cormier.

“This is an incredible prospect you’re looking at,” analyst Kamaru Usman said.

Angela Hill was worried about the optics.

Coming into her prelim match with Ketlen Souza, the 13th-ranked strawweight was convinced the visuals she’d been providing down the stretch in close fights–looking fatigued, losing fundamentals–had caused her to lose each of five split decisions in which she’d been involved.

So the 40-year-old, the UFC’s record-holder for fights in the division, concentrated on maintaining her focus, keeping her technique, and, perhaps most importantly, smiling.

She checked the first two boxes through the final grueling minute against the perpetually aggressive Souza, then gleefully handled the last upon finally hearing her name announced as the winner of a split verdict in which all three judges scored it 29-28.

Two went in her direction–joining the B/R card–and rewarded her for her role in a spirited scrap in which she landed more strikes (103-76) and scored the lone two takedowns.

The win lifted her to 13-14 across two octagonal stints and 12-12 in the latest run that began 2017 after she’d gone 1-2 in a brief run covering 2014 and 2015.

Souza is 2-2 in the UFC and 15-5 as a pro.

Just when you think a guy is safe from danger, he’s not.

As the seconds ticked away in Round 2 of their man’s welterweight bout with submission ace Gabriel Bonfim, members of Khaos Williams’ corner team could be heard shouting “You’re fine” as he tried to endure to the horn as Bonfim locked in a d’arce choke.

A few feet away, analyst Paul Felder suggested the same thing as he reacted to Bonfim’s subtle shift in his grip.

Fortunately for Williams, Dean knew better.

The veteran official signaled for Bonfim to release the hold with just two seconds remaining, revealing that Willams had actually been put to sleep by Bonfim’s d’arce choke as his head flopped to the mat and his eyes rolled backward in his head.

“Wow, I guess I was wrong,” Felder said. “That was impressive.”

Indeed it was for Bonfim, who racked up his 16th finish and 13th submission out of 17 career wins and lifted his UFC streak to four wins in five fights. His lone career decision win, against Ange Loosa, had come in his most recent fight last July.

“That is how we train,” Bonfim said. “I was just here to show my work.”

Bantamweight journeyman Vince Morales suggested all week that his former training partner and imminent Saturday foe, 22-year-old UFC newbie Elijah Smith, wasn’t ready for the big time.

He was wrong.

Though hardly dominant against a rugged opponent, the youngster showed sublime skill alongside tangible mettle across 15 minutes while grinding out a narrow, unanimous decision.

All three judges scored it 29-28 in Smith’s favor, prompting some obvious disgust from Morales, whom the B/R card favored by the same margin after giving him the first and second rounds.

Nevertheless, Smith recovered from a hard kick to the groin in the first 90 seconds and stayed calm through several of his opponent’s submission tries in the second round. He was still able to go at full speed in the third and left Morales a swollen, bloody mess with precise striking.

And afterward, he was clearly feeling the enormity of the moment.

“This is everything I ever dreamed of,” he said. “I’m only 22 and I hope I made you guys proud tonight. I knew I was going to be able to touch him, but I wanted to show my durability and endurance. I feel like I can display even better work after this fight.”

It wasn’t the sort of quick finish that yields viral highlights or year-end awards, but that doesn’t figure to be an issue for Brazilian heavyweight Valter Walker.

A younger brother of popular light heavyweight contender Johnny Walker, the bigger sibling told coaches and acquaintances before the fight that he’d be chasing a heel hook submission against 15th-ranked heavyweight Don'Tale Mayes and he delivered in rapid fashion.

Walker, down 20-plus pounds from previous fighting weights, secured a body lock to take Mayes to the canvas in the fight’s first minute and instantly seized the veteran’s left leg and wrenched it into a precarious enough position to force his foe to tap after just 77 seconds.

It was the fifth heavyweight heel hook submission in UFC history and the second from Walker.

“I told my brother, I told all my friends that I could take his foot,” he said.

The win was his 13th in 14 pro fights, his second in three octagonal outings, and another payoff for his dedication to mat work in the gym.

“After five rounds on the floor, my coach is saying, ‘This is good for you, you’re learning,’” Walker said. “I want to fight more often. I want to fight every three months. Let’s go.”

Assessing the proper label for Jacqueline Cavalcanti’s show-opening fight on Saturday depends on what the Portuguese bantamweight’s octagonal objective truly was.

If she was simply looking to boost a No. 13 ranking with a win over 12th-ranked foe Julia Avila, it was mission accomplished. Still, if she hoped to impress the UFC brass enough to fast-track her to the upper echelons of the 135-pound ranks, there was much to be desired.

The lanky 27-year-old used her physical advantages to their full extent and pieced her shorter, less dynamic opponent up across 15 minutes, barely losing an exchange on the way to a unanimous decision that extended her record to 9-1, boosted her win streak to seven, and kept her UFC mark pristine at 4-0.

The official scores were 30-27 across the board, but considering she’d arrived as the biggest betting favorite on the card at -675, it still left an unsatisfying taste.

“At -675, you’ve got to really go and shine,” Cormier said. “In these positions you’ve got to shine. That’s a massive favorite. She’s -675 in a weight class that’s not very deep, so she needed to chase a finish.”

Main Card

Jared Cannonier def. Gregory Rodrigues by KO (punches), 0:21, Round 4

Youssef Zalal def. Calvin Kattar by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Edmen Shahbazyan def. Dylan Budka by KO (punch), 1:35, Round 1

Nazim Sadykhov def. Ismael Bonfim by TKO (doctor's stoppage), 5:00, Round 1

Andre Petroski def. Rodolfo Vieira by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Preliminary Card

Jose Delgado def. Connor Matthews by KO (punches), 2:58, Round 1

Angela Hill def. Ketlen Souza by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Rafael Estevam def. Jesus Aguilar by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Gabriel Bonfim def. Khaos Williams by submission (d'arce choke), 4:58, Round 2

Elijah Smith def. Vince Morales by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Valter Walker def. Don'Tale Mayes by submission (heel hook), 1:17, Round 1

Jacqueline Cavalcanti def. Julia Avila by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)