UFC Vegas 33 went down last night (Sat., July 31. 2021) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring a Middleweight bout that saw Sean Strickland defeat Uriah Hall via unanimous decision (see it again here). In other action, Cheyanne Buys absolutely demolished Gloria de Paula on her way to a first round knockout win (see it).
Biggest Winner: Sean Strickland
Strickland put on a dominant performance in his first-ever headlining fight for UFC, taking it to Uriah Hall for five rounds to earn a unanimous decision win. It was pretty much one-sided with Strickland controlling the distance, using his jab to perfection and landing his shots when they counted. In fact, he stunned “Prime Time” on more than one occasion, though Hall hung tough to avoid the stoppage loss. Hall wouldn’t let up and fought to the very end, but it was too little, too late because Strickland had already done enough to earn the nod. He improves his win streak to seven and will likely make a big leap in the rankings come next week.
Runner (s) Up: Cheyanne Buys and Melsik Baghdasaryan
Buys came out like a bat out of hell and absolutely creamed her opponent, Gloria de Paula, connecting on a vicious kick to send her crashing to the canvas. From there, “Warrior Princess” pounced on her wounded foe and delivered some mean ground-and-pound to earn a quick first round finish. As for Baghdasaryan, he made an grand entrance in what was his UFC debut, knocking out Collin Anglin in the second round to earn his sixth straight win (highlights). As a result of their explosive wins, both combatants earned $50,000 post-fight bonus awards to make their nights even sweeter.
Biggest Loser: Ryan Benoit
No, Hall isn’t the biggest loser despite coming up short and having his four fight win streak snapped. He fought like hell but simply ran into a better fighter, and even showed his toughness by surviving a few scares throughout the 25-minute war. Benoit, meanwhile, could be on his way out of the promotion after suffering his third straight defeat after coming up short against Zarrukh Adashev. He is now 1-4 in his last five fights and moves to 3-6 overall inside the Octagon. That’s not a good enough record in eight years with the company to hold on to a spot on a bloated roster. But if he’s lucky UFC matchmakers might give him another shot to make things right.
For complete UFC Vegas 33 results and coverage click here.