UFC Vegas 15 went down last night (Sat., Nov. 28, 2020) inside UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring a Light Heavyweight bout that saw Anthony Smith get back into the win column by submitting Devin Clark in the very first round (highlights). In the co-main event, Miguel Baeza defeated Takashi Sato via submission (arm triangle) in the second round (see it again here).
Biggest Winner: Anthony Smith
Coming into the event Smith was in dire need of a win after losing two in a row to Aleksandar Rakic and Glover Teixeira. Another loss would have been catastrophic for “Lionheart,” who hadn’t tasted victory in 17 months. But it didn’t take long for the former UFC Light Heavyweight title challenger to remind everyone just how dangerous he can be, choking out Devin Clark via submission (triangle choke) midway through the opening round. With the win, Smith gets a new lease on his combat life and avoids digging himself into a deeper hole. While he’s not ready to get back into the title picture, he does set himself up for bigger fight next because as he mentioned after the fight, he isn’t going anywhere yet.
Runner Up: Miguel Baeza
The Welterweight division has itself another up-and-coming contender, as Baeza has proven to be the real deal in his first three fights inside the Octagon. After making the successful jump up from the “Contender Series” last year with a win over Hector Aldana via knockout, Baeza followed it up with another knockout performance, this time against longtime veteran, Matt Brown. With his win over Sato, he improves to 3-0 under the UFC banner, 10-0 overall. He’s on a quick ascension up the 170-pound ladder, so that means his matchups will only get tougher. But Baeza has shown he’s more than up for the task.
Biggest Loser: Rachael Ostovich
In four fights inside the Octagon, Ostovich has only come up on the winning end once, defeating Karine Gevorgyan in her UFC debut. But that was way back in 2017. Since then, Rachael has lost three in a row, getting stopped in all of those outings including her latest loss, a knockout defeat at the hands of Gina Mazany. If I’m being honest, she just hasn’t shown much to prove that she belongs fighting under the UFC banner. She is just 1-4 in her last five bouts and has a career record of 4-6. She got her shot on the biggest stage of them all, but she simply hasn’t done much with it, so I wouldn’t be too surprised of the promotion decides to part ways with her after her third straight loss.
For complete UFC Vegas 15 results and highlights click here.