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Last night (Sat., Aug. 24, 2024), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned home to the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC Vegas 96. This was a fully standard Apex card. The main event was an interesting and relevant match up, a potential changing of the guard battle between veteran contender Jared Cannonier and rising threat Caio Borralho. The rest of the card was the usual mix of Contenders Series prospects and unranked veterans accompanied by a pair of Ultimate Fighter (TUF) finale matches.

Let’s take a look back over at UFC Vegas 96’s best performances and techniques:

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

A New Title Threat Emerges

Borralho seriously impressed in his five-round victory over Cannonier.

Did anyone expect the grappling ace to willingly stand with the knockout artist for 25 minutes? Borralho didn’t shoot a single takedown until a minute into the fifth, and that was a half-hearted effort. He didn’t need to, because his jab and kicking game were pinning Cannonier at range and forcing big movements from “Killa Gorilla.”

Against his most dangerous opponent yet, Borralho’s stand up has never looked better. His jab was downright snappy, his kicks did a ton of damage, and his counters were still on point. In previous fights, Borralho has shown solid fundamentals but often been hesitant to engage fully — that was no problem here.

After this win, Borralho looks like the complete package as a Middleweight contender. Not only does he have plus skills everywhere, but the Brazilian is huge for the division and has a great gas tank. Since his physical gifts match up with Dricus Du Plessis’ own athletic tools better than most, perhaps Borralho could be the man to actually take advantage of Du Plessis’ wonky fundamentals?

Suddenly, it’s a very interesting match up.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Two TUF Champions Crowned

The Middleweight finale between Ryan Loder and Robert Valentin took place almost entirely on the canvas, but it was still plenty fun.

Loder scored a big takedown right off the bat, but the All-American wrestler lost top position while cranking away on a scarf hold armlock. Valentin found his way to the back in the ensuing scramble and put Loder in a threatening choke, but the wrestler eventually fought his way back into top position. He finished the round there throwing elbows, but both men had their moments.

The second round started off with another wild scramble, and Loder landed in top position once more. This time, he advanced passed the guard more patiently and pinned Valentin’s arm again. Rather that attack the submission, he secured the crucifix and kept chipping away with elbows. That weren’t huge strikes, but he was landing hard and making it clear that Valentin wasn’t able to escape the position.

The referee was forced to intervene.

Marion Santos vs. Kaan Olfi decided the Featherweight division finale, and it proved to be a very one-sided clash. Almost immediately, Santos answered Olfi’s forward pressure with a crisp overhand right that was just thrown perfectly, snappy and off-the-center line. With a single shot, Santos set the tone and demonstrated himself the sharper striker.

Santos controlled range really well throughout the first, keeping his feet beneath him while moving laterally and planting with power shots. Olfi was getting touched up, and credit to the Aussie, he know he had to make something happen. He tried to press Santos into the fence and get his wrestling going, but a simultaneous trade of right hands saw Olfi creamed by the follow-up left hook of Santos.

Olfi looks to be a decent, UFC-level Featherweight. The 24-year-old Brazilian, however, very much appears to be a genuine blue chip prospect and worthy TUF winner.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Michael Morales Makes A Statement

About a minute into Morales vs. Neil Magny, I said out loud to nobody in particular, “Magny is going to do it again, huh?” On his first takedown attempt of the night — with an already damaged lead leg, somehow — Magny had managed to work behind Morales in the clinch and lock his hands. That’s Magny’s best position, the type of wrestling achievement that normally takes him way longer and way more punishment to score.

It was a bad omen for Morales, yet it didn’t turn out to matter at all. Magny couldn’t drag the incredibly strong Ecuadorian to the floor no matter what he tried. Eventually, Magny’s grip began to break, and Morales capitalized with a wild spinning elbow that sent the veteran flying into the canvas. Cool as could be, Morales took top position, advanced into mount and back mount, then pounded his opponent into dust. He didn’t give Magny a chance to recover and forced the referee’s hand with a barrage of strikes. Just like that, the hyper athletic young talent breaks into the Top 15.

He looks like a hard man to beat.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

GM3 Does It Again

Edmen Shahbazyan was fighting really well.

For the first five minutes, “Golden Boy” took advantage of his speed and youth to remain in the driver’s seat. He shucked off a couple takedown attempts with absolute ease and was sticking Gerald Meerschaert with hard long distance strikes. The pace was very manageable, and Meerschaert was taking a lot of damage.

Alas, Shahbazyan made a critical mistake: he tried to finish “GM3.” A slick body shot counter floored Meerschaert, and Shahbazyan threw probably 100 ground strikes trying to convince the referee to finish. The problem is that Meerschaert is a veteran, kept his hands high, and was sure to move anytime the referee warned him.

After a couple minutes, Shahbazyan’s fatal flaw of fatigue rose its head. Back on his feet, Meerschaert swarmed his younger foe with power punches then ducked into a takedown. Almost immediately, he was on top and attacking an arm triangle choke. In the process, he secured his 11th UFC tapout win and 12th stoppage overall, which sets the Middleweight record.

Not too shabby!

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Additional Thoughts

• Wang Cong defeats Victoria Leonardo via first-round knockout (HIGHLIGHTS): Talk about an impressive debut! Cong’s first trip to the UFC Octagon lasted just about 60 seconds before a cracking 1-2 floored her opponent for good. That’s too short to learn much, but the primary lesson is clear: Cong has POWER! The decorated Sanda fighter and amateur boxer is absolutely one to watch at 125-pounds. At 32 years of age, there’s no time to waste, and Cong appropriately demanded a main card slot for her next appearance.

For complete UFC Vegas 96: “Cannonier vs. Borralho” results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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Caio Borralho chose to stand with Jared Cannonier for the entirety of their five-round main event of UFC Vegas 96, and it was enough to get the job done in a wild middleweight battle. After the biggest win of his career, how close is Borralho now to a title shot?

Following Saturday’s Fight Night event, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Eric Jackman react to the latest APEX fight card, Borralho’s victory, the great battle between “The Natural” and Cannonier, and discuss where Borralho could go next. Additionally, topics include Tabatha Ricci’s co-main event win over Angela Hill, Mairon Santos and Ryan Loder earning contracts after winning The Ultimate Fighter, Michael Morales and Gerald Meerschaert’s impressive finishes, and more.

Catch the UFC Vegas 96 post-fight show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your pods.

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The octagon was back at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday.  A middleweight bout between fifth-ranked contender Jared Cannonier and twelfth-ranked Caio Borralho headlined the UFC Vegas 96 fight card.  

The two went the distance with Borralho defeating Cannonier via unanimous decision.  Borralho had Cannonier badly hurt in the final two rounds but wasn’t able to put “Tha Killa Gorilla” away.  

UFC Vegas 96 Post-Fight Press Conference

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Floyd Mayweather is adding to his bank account these days, but not doing much for his legacy.

The 47-year-old boxer displayed some of the skill that made him one of the best fighters of his generation in a lopsided performance against an overmatched John Gotti III in their rematch in Mexico on Saturday night. Mayweather mostly toyed with Gotti in almost every exchange, teeing off on his bigger opponent but not really putting together a string of punches that could’ve ended the fight.

Because the matchup was an exhibition, there was no winner, but if the scorecards were involved, Mayweather would have won in a shutout.

“Gotti is tough as nails,” Mayweather said after the fight. “We had to put on a show for the people. I want to thank Gotti for being a man of his word. We ran it back twice.”

In their first encounter, Mayweather came out guns blazing and looked to put away the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, but the fight ended in mayhem after Gotti was disqualified then went after Mayweather, with the ring quickly filling up with entourages from both fighters as security attempted to intervene.

It looked as if there might be a repeat performance of that scene on Saturday as the referee paused the action in the second round to issue a warning to Mayweather for punches to the back of the head. In Mayweather’s defense, Gotti was basically just lowering his head in every exchange whenever Mayweather threw a combination so the punches just naturally connected in a bad spot.

Gotti’s coaches actually got in the ring to cool him down and it appeared chaos might erupt again, but this time cooler heads prevailed. Suddenly, a new referee appeared in the ring to take over in one of the more bizarre moments in recent combat sports history.

The rest of the fight largely played out the same, with Mayweather popping Gotti with three- and four-punch combinations and then ducking out of the way before taking any damage in return. Gotti was also largely inactive, rarely throwing much of anything, and instead just trying to avoid the most punishing shots from Mayweather so he could survive all eight rounds.

There were a few fleeting moments where it looked as if Mayweather put some power behind his punches, but then he’d lay off again and let Gotti off the hook. Even when Gotti managed to back Mayweather into a corner or against the ropes, he just couldn’t produce much offense before the former multi-division champion slipped free again.

Every now and again, Mayweather let loose with the speed and accuracy that helped him build to a perfect 50-0 record before retiring, but that’s when Mayweather inevitably took his foot off the gas and let Gotti back in the fight just long enough to set him up for another combination of punches.

There was also a problem with the clock early in the fight, with a few rounds stretching well beyond the two-minute limit, but that really didn’t matter in the end. The final bell sounded and Mayweather embraced Gotti as the fighters seemingly put whatever bad blood existed between them to bed.

In the aftermath of the exhibition, Mayweather came face-to-face with another icon of the sport as Julio Cesar Chavez joined him in the ring after calling the card as part of the broadcast team. There were rumors swirling that perhaps Chavez might challenge Mayweather to a fight after he recently returned for an exhibition matchup of own.

While Mayweather has faced a long list of social influencers and MMA fighters during his run of exhibition bouts, he apparently draws the line at battling a boxer nearing senior citizen status at 62 years old.

“An unbelievable fighter,” Mayweather said about Chavez. “One of the best fighters. He beat my uncle Roger twice. I had to take my hat off to this legend.

“He’s older now and if I do an exhibition with him, it’s not going to look good for me. He’s one of the legends that I look up to. He paved the way for me and he does so much for the sport of boxing.”

A fight against Chavez may be off the table, but it’s tough to imagine Mayweather won’t keep cashing in with these exhibition bouts, especially if the packed arena in Mexico is any indication, because there’s still interest in seeing him strap on the gloves even if the results never actually matter.

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Mairon Santos is the featherweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter 32.

Santos faced Kaan Ofli in the first of two season championship bouts during the main card of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 96 event at the UFC APEX. After a solid first round for Santos, he put an exclamation point on the performance with a nasty counter left hand that put Ofli out upon landing. The fight was stopped seconds later and Santos officially became a UFC fighter.

Check out video of the stunning finish below.

Santos earned his spot in the finals with a pair of decision wins over Edwin Cooper Jr. and Guillermo Torres. The 24-year-old improved his pro record to 14-1, with his lone loss coming two-and-a-half years ago to current UFC 145-pounder Dan Argueta in LFA.

Ofli saw his eight-fight win streak come to an end. The Australian fighter earned his place in the TUF 32 final with a decision win over Nathan Fletcher and a first-round submission of Roedie Roets.

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The Sphere in Las Vegas hosts UFC 306 on Sept 14, and the fight promotion has promised the one-off event will be a must-see production.  The UFC 306 fight card is headlined by a bantamweight title bout between champion Sean O’Malley and top contender Merab Dvalishvili.  

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Dvalishvili revealed on social media that he suffered a cut above his left eye during training that required stitches.  The cut reveal angered UFC CEO Dana White who called Dvalishvili’s decision to disclose his cut ‘next-level stupid.’  

O’Malley reacted to Dvalishvili’s cut on Friday evening and doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal.  

“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” O’Malley told The Schmo.  “I think people are making a more big deal about it.  I said, ‘You better not pull out,’ more so just to poke at him, but that thing’s going to heal.”

O’Malley is confident that Dvalishvili will make the walk to the octagon inside the Sphere on Sept. 14.  In fact, he has no doubt about it.  

“That dude would show up with a broken arm,” O’Malley said.  “I’m not worried about him pulling out.  It’s more of a commission kind of thing.”

O’Malley won the 135-pound championship by defeating Dvalishvili’s teammate, Aljamain Sterling, at UFC 292 last August.  He successfully defended the belt at UFC 299 in March, avenging a previous loss to Marlon Vera in one-sided fashion.  Dvalishvili is riding a 10-fight winning streak and hasn’t lost since 2018.  

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