Light heavyweights headline this weekend’s UFC card at the UFC Apex while MMASucka provides UFC Vegas 54 Results throughout the evening. Making his first appearance since he lost the UFC light heavyweight championship, Jan Blachowicz will face off against third-ranked Aleksandar Rakic.
UFC Vegas 54 Results – Main Event
Jan Blachowicz won the UFC light heavyweight championship in 2020 at UFC 253 when he defeated Dominick Reyes by round two TKO to secure the vacant title. Blachowicz earned his shot at the title with a 7-1 record in his last eight outings before he met Reyes. He snapped a two-fight losing streak in 2017 when he put together four straight wins over Devin Clark, Jared Cannonier, Jimi Manuwa, and Nikita Krylov. Unfortunately, that win streak was snapped when Blachowicz suffered a third-round TKO loss to Thiago Santos in the main event of UFC Fight Night 145.
After that loss, Blachowicz went on the run that would grant him his title shot. He bounced back from the loss by picking up a second-round knockout win over former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 239. Following that win, Blachowicz won his second straight fight by defeating Ronaldo Souza by split decision after their main event matchup at UFC Fight Night 164. His final win before getting a shot at the title was a first-round knockout win over Corey Anderson in their main event meeting at UFC Fight Night 167.
After he won the UFC Light Heavyweight championship, Blachowicz was able to successfully defend the belt once before he lost it. That title defense happened at UFC 259 when he faced UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Blachowicz held Adesanya from winning a second UFC championship as Blachowicz won the fight by unanimous decision. In his next attempted defense of the title, Blachowicz would lose his belt as current champion Glover Teixeira submitted him in round two of their meeting at UFC 267. Blachowicz looks to climb back to another title shot while he tries to keep Rakic from reaching a shot of his own.
View this post on Instagram
Coming into this fight, Rakic has won his last two in a row. Since entering the UFC in 2017, Rakic has put together a record of 6-1. He started his UFC career off with four straight wins as he defeated Francimar Barroso and Justin Ledet by unanimous decision. Those wins were followed by a first-round TKO win over Devin Clark at UFC 231 followed by a forty-two second KO over Jimi Manuwa at UFC Fight Night 153.
Rakic suffered his first loss in the UFC and first loss since he began his career in his next outing when he lost to Volkan Oezdemir by split decision at UFC Fight Night 165. Since then, Rakic has put together back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC Fight Night 175 and Thiago Santos at UFC 259. Rakic looks to earn his first title shot in the UFC if he can make it through the former champion.
UFC Vegas 54 Results – Co-Main Event
In the co-main event, light heavyweight fighters face off as Ryan Spann takes on Ion Cutelaba. Spann will be entering into this fight with a 1-2 record in his last three fights after beginning his UFC career 4-0. Those four wins included a UD win over Luis Henrique at UFC Fight Night 137, a first-round KO win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 237, a second-round submission win over Devin Clark at UFC Fight Night 161, and finally a split decision win over Sam Alvey at UFC 249.
Spann suffered his first loss in the UFC when he took on Johnny Walker at UFC Fight Night 178. Spann lost that fight in the first round after Walker finished him by knockout. Spann rebounded from that loss in his next outing when he defeated Misha Cirkunov by first-round TKO at UFC Vegas 21. Unfortunately, Spann will be coming into this fight coming off a loss as he suffered a first-round submission loss to Anthony Smith in Spann’s first UFC main event at UFC Vegas 37.
View this post on Instagram
As for Cutelaba, he holds a similar record of 1-2 over his last few outings with a draw added in, so over his last four outings, Cutelaba stands at 1-2-1. In 2020, Cutelaba faced one opponent two separate times as he suffered back-to-back losses to Magomed Ankalaev that year, getting finished by TKO at UFC Fight Night 169 and by KO at UFC 254.
Following the series of fights with Ankalaev, Cutelaba fought Dustin Jacoby to a split draw during their meeting at UFC Vegas 25. In his most recent outing, Cutelaba has been able to bounce back from his recent troubles with a unanimous decision win over Devin Clark at UFC Vegas 37.
UFC Vegas 54 Results – Main Card
Kicking off Saturday’s main card will be a fight in the flyweight division as Jake Hadley takes on Allan Nascimento. Hadley will be making his UFC debut with an 8-0 record coming off a successful outing on Dana White‘s Contender Series in which he submitted Mitch Raposo in round two of their meeting last Fall. As for Nascimento, he looks to pick up his first win in the octagon after he suffered a loss in his UFC debut during his last fight against Tagir Ulanbekov at UFC 267.
Following that fight will be a matchup in the lightweight division as Frank Camacho takes on Manuel Torres. Camacho will be entering the fight on a two-fight losing streak with his last fight happening in 2020. Both those losses happened in the first round as Beneil Dariush submitted him at UFC Fight Night 162 followed by a TKO loss to Justin Jaynes at UFC on ESPN 11. Torres will be making his UFC debut after finishing Kolton Englund by first-round TKO last Fall during the Contender Series to earn a contract.
After the lightweight matchup, the number one contender in the women’s flyweight division, Katlyn Chookagian, takes on Amanda Ribas. Chookagian brings a three-fight win streak with her into this fight as she has picked up three straight UD wins over Cynthia Calvillo at UFC 255, Viviane Araujo at UFC 262, and Jennifer Maia at UFC Vegas 46. As for Ribas, she enters the fight with just one recent win behind her as she defeated Virna Jandiroba by UD at UFC 267.
Finally, before the co-main event kicks off, bantamweights Davey Grant and Louis Smolka face off. Coming into this fight, Grant will attempt to snap a two-fight losing streak as he has suffered consecutive decision losses to Marlon Vera at UFC Vegas 29 and Adrian Yanez at UFC Vegas 43. Smolka will also be looking to bounce back from a loss as he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Vince Morales at UFC Vegas 44 in his last outing.
UFC Vegas 54 Results
Follow along with MMASucka as we provide you with UFC Vegas 54 Results throughout the card.
[pickup_prop id=”16400″]
MAIN CARD (ESPN 2/ESPN+ – 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST)
Jan Blachowicz def. Aleksandar Rakic via TKO (Injury) at 1:11 of Round Three
Ryan Spann def. Ion Cutelaba via Submission (Guillotine) at 2:22 of Round One
Davey Grant def. Louis Smolka via Knockout (Punches) at 0:49 of Round Three
Katlyn Chookagian def. Amanda Ribas via Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Manuel Torres def. Frank Camacho via TKO (Punches) at 3:27 of Round One
Allan Nascimento def. Jake Hadley via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+ – 7:30 p.m. EST/4:30 p.m. PST)
Viviane Araujo def. Andrea Lee via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Michael Johnson def. Alan Patrick via Knockout (Punches) at 3:22 of Round Two
Virna Jandiroba def. Angela Hill via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Tatsuro Taira def. Carlos Candelario via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
Andre Petroski def. Nick Maximov via Submission (Anaconda Choke) at 1:16 of Round One
MAIN IMAGE:
Embed from Getty Images
