UFC Vegas 70 went down last night featuring a Middleweight main event between Brendan Allen and Andre Muniz, which was promoted to the headlining bout after Nikita Krylov fell ill and was forced out of his Light Heavyweight fight against Ryan Spain (full details here). In the co-main event, Augusto Sakai defeated Don’Tale Mayes via unanimous decision.
Biggest Winner: Tatiana Suarez
One devastating injury after another has slowed down the ascension of Suarez, who at one point was considered a title contender and was being compared to Khabib Nurmagomedov as a result of her dominant wrestling. But after nearly 3.5 years on the sidelines, Suarez returned with a vengeance and submitted Montana De La Rosa with an impressive guillotine choke in the round two. It was a great showing from the undefeated grappler, who improves to 9-0, 6-0 inside the Octagon. She should get back into the rankings following her dominant win and one or two more victories can put her in good position to battle for the strap sooner, rather than later.
Runner Up: Augusto Sakai and Brendan Allen
After starting his UFC career with four straight wins, Sakai followed it up with four straight losses, all via KO/TKO. One more defeat could have very well ended his UFC run, but he managed to earn a new lease on his combat life after he defeated Don’Tale Mayes via unanimous decision. While the promotion has been known to cut winning fighters if the occasion calls for it, I don’t believe this will be the case for Sakai. All of that said, he still needs to keep performing if he wants to remain on the roster.
Allen, meanwhile earned his fourth straight win after he choked out Andre Muniz in the third round of the revamped main event, snapping his nine-fight win streak. For Allen, the victory goes a long way in his case to claiming a spot in the Top 15. One more win should likely get him there, though it will have to come against a top-ranked foe.
Biggest Loser: Erick Gonzalez
“Ghost Pepper” came into his fight against newcomer Trevor Peek in desperate need of a win after going 0-2 in his first pair of fights inside the Octagon. But things went from bad to worse in a spot-second for Gonzalez, who suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of Peek with one second remaining the opening frame. With three straight losses to start his UFC career, he has to be feeling the pressure and anxiety of potentially getting cut from the promotion.
For complete UFC Vegas 70 results and coverage click here.