UFC Vegas 72 went down last night (Sat., April 29, 2023) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Bantamweight bout between rising contenders, Song Yadong and Ricky Simon. After four rounds of back and forth action, Yadong put an and to the fight with a spectacular fifth-round finish (video replay here). In further action, Caio Borralho continued his ascension up the Middleweight mountain with an impressive finish over Micha? Oleksiejczuk (see it again here).
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Winner: Song Yadong
Who He Should Face Next: Rob Font
Now than both Yadong and Font are back in the win column, this is the fight to make at 135 pounds. Yadong (No. 8), is 4-1 in his last five outings with his loss coming to Cory Sandhagen. As for Font (No. 6), he got back on track with a nasty knockout win over Adrian Yanez a few weeks ago (see it). The two hard-hitting contenders are on the climb toward the Top 5, and the winner of this fight should get there.
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Winner: Caio Borralho
Who He Should Face Next: Jun Yong Park
Borralho improved to 4-0 inside the Octagon with his win over Oleksiejczuk, extending his overall win streak to 14 in a row dating back to 2016. A fight against Park I like very much seeing as how “The Iron Turtle” has been doing work himself over the last few years. Park is 6-1 in his last seven fights and has won three straight, including his most recent victory over Denis Tiuliulin two months ago. Borralho did call for a fight against Derek Brunson (which isn’t a bad matchup), but he is currently ranked No. 8 while Borralho is nowhere to be found in the Top 15…yet, so matchmakers likely won’t book it.
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Winner: Rodolfo Vieira
Who He Should Face Next: Andre Muniz
Vieira also got back in the win column last night with an impressive submission win over Cody Brundage, putting him at 2-2 in his last four UFC fights. If the jiu-jitsu master wants to make a run at the Top 15 he has to be a bit more consistent with the wins. I’d like to see him face off against Muniz in his next outing. Muniz had his nine-fight win streak snapped by Brendan Allen in Feb. of this year, so he is hungry to get back into the win column. This would be a great tussle between two talented jiu-jitsu black belts.
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Winner: Fernando Padilla
Who He Should Face Next: Bill Algeo
Padilla made an explosive UFC debut by disposing of Julian Erosa via technical knockout (TO) in the very first round, improving his win streak to three in a row. Up next for the 26-year old Mexican-born fighter, let’s throw him in there against a grizzled veteran like Algeo, who recently got back on track with his own big win over TJ Brown earlier this month. Algeo is 3-1 in his last four fights and would be a nice test for the upcoming prospect.
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Winner: Marcos Rogerio de Lima
Who He Should Face Next: Justin Tafa
de Lima picked up his second straight win by edging out Waldo Cortes-Acosta to improve to 4-1 over his last five contests inside the world-famous Octagon. A few more wins could get him closer to the Top 15 for the first time in his career. A victory over someone like Tafa should do the trick. Tafa is currently on a two-fight win streak himself and has won his last three UFC fights via knockout.
For complete UFC Vegas 72: “Yadong vs. Simon” results and play-by-play, click HERE.