UFC Vegas 80 went down last night (Sat., Oct. 7, 2023) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Lightweight fight between Grant Dawson and Bobby Green that saw “King” end the fight in just 33 seconds thanks to a vicious onslaught of strikes (see it again here). In the co-main event, Joe Pyfer defeated Abdul Razak Alhassan via second round submission (watch it here).
Biggest Winner: Bobby Green
Dawson may have been the one coming in on a hot streak, but it was Green who came out of the gates blazing. Indeed, “King” tagged “KGD” with a jab that dropped him to the canvas just 30 seconds into the fight. He didn’t waste any time in pouncing and raining down hell fire to force an early stoppage. That is now two straight wins for Green, and since he just breezed through the No. 10-ranked fighter in the division, he should expect a spot in the Top 15 come next week. Indeed, this could be the big win Green needed to help put him over in the stacked Lightweight division.
Runner (s) Up: Joe Pyfer and Drew Dober
Pyfer improved his UFC record to 3-0 and upped his overall win streak to five after putting on a dominant performance against Abdul Razak Alhassan before submitting him in the second round of their Middleweight showdown (see it). “Bodybagz” did lose out on his chance to impress on Contender Series as a result of an arm injury, but he nevertheless earned a shot at the big show and has made the most of it ever since. As for Dober, he displayed his ever-impressive knockout power once again, putting Ricky Glenn to sleep in the first round. With the win, Dober gets back in the win column and improves to 4-1 overall in his last five fights inside the Octagon. Both men earned $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonuses, too.
Biggest Loser: Grant Dawson
After six years of plugging away inside the Octagon — racking up an 11-0-1 record to earn a Top 15 spot on the rankings — Dawson saw it all come crumbling down in a split-second. Well it was actually 33 seconds, because that is all it took for Green to end his night after landing a stiff jab, then putting on the finishing touches for a first round finish. It was a disappointing offering from Dawson to say the least, who didn’t even have the chance to fire off some offense of his own. After going unbeaten in his first nine fights with the promotion, Dawson was seemingly on the verge of cracking the Top 5, which now goes out the window. The loss will force “KGD” to go back to the drawing board, and while he won’t start from scratch necessarily, the climb back up will be a tough one to say the least when trying to shake off a disappointing loss such as this one.
For complete UFC Vegas 80 results, coverage and highlights click HERE.