The first of the last three remaining UFC cards of 2022 goes down this weekend as an exciting matchup at welterweight headlines the card in Orlando, Florida as MMASucka provides UFC on ESPN 42 results throughout the evening.
UFC on ESPN 42 Results – Main Event
In Saturday night’s main event, former UFC welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson faces off against Kevin Holland in what should be an exciting matchup.
Thompson challenged for the title twice in his career in back-to-back fights with former champion Tyron Woodley in 2016-2017. In the first fight, they fought to a majority draw which forced the rematch that Woodley won by majority decision. Since then, ‘Wonderboy’ has gone 3-4 as he enters Saturday’s contest with Holland on a two fight losing streak. He bounced back from the Woodley fights with a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 217. Following that win, Thompson lost two in a row including a unanimous decision against Darren Till at UFC Fight Night 130 and a knockout loss to Anthony Pettis at UFC Fight Night 148.
Thompson snapped that two fight losing streak with his own two fight winning streak, picking up back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Vicente Luque at UFC 244 and Geoff Neal at UFC Fight Night 183. Coming into Saturday night’s main event against Holland, Thompson has once again lost two in a row with consecutive UD losses against Gilbert Burns at UFC 264 and Belal Muhammad at UFC Vegas 45. Thompson hopes to snap his two fight losing streak as he faces Holland who is entering this fight off a loss.
Holland is coming into this fight fresh off a loss and a short stint of retirement. Following his most recent fight, Holland had announced that he would be retiring, but of course that would not last long as he is now slated to face Stephen Thompson in Saturday night’s main event. In his most recent fight, he fought on UFC 279, which suffered major matchup shuffles on the day of the weigh ins. That night’s main event was supposed to be a matchup between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz, but after Chimaev failed to make weight by nearly eight pounds, Diaz declined to fight him. This forced last minute changes in three fights; after refusing to face Chimaev, Diaz was matched up with Tony Ferguson, Ferguson’s original opponent, Li Jingliang, was matched up with Holland’s original opponent, Daniel Rodriguez, while Chimaev and Holland faced each other.
Chimaev made quick work of Holland in that fight as Holland was facing a completely different stylistic matchup. Chimaev won the fight in just over two minutes as he submitted Holland with a d’arce choke. Holland announced his retirement after that loss, but now he is scheduled to face ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson in his second UFC main event. Prior to the Chimaev loss, Holland was on a two fight win streak that included a TKO win over Alex Oliveira at UFC 272 and a submission win over Tim Means at UFC on ESPN 37. With no ranking next to his name heading into Saturday’s matchup with Thompson, Holland could find himself just outside or in the top ten with a win.
UFC on ESPN 42 Results – Co-Main Event
In UFC on ESPN 42’s co-main event, more welterweights face off as Bryan Barberena takes on former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos.
Barberena will be entering this fight with a 4-1 record since 2020. Following back-to-back TKO losses to Vicente Luque and Randy Brown in 2019, Barberena snapped that losing streak in 2020 with a unanimous decision win over Anthony Ivy at UFC Fight Night 177. Following that win, Barberena suffered a majority decision loss against Jason Witt at UFC Vegas 33. Since then, he has won his last three straight with the first of those wins being a unanimous decision win over Darian Weeks at UFC Vegas 44. He followed that win up with a split decision win over Matt Brown at UFC on ESPN 33. Finally, in his most recent outing, he picked up the biggest win of his career when he finished former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler by TKO in the second round of their matchup at UFC 276.
As for dos Anjos, he made the move up to welterweight in 2017 and quickly won three in a row over Tarec Saffiedine, Neil Magny and Robbie Lawler. Those wins earned him a shot at the interim welterweight title in a matchup with Colby Covington at UFC 225. Unfortunately, dos Anjos came up short in that fight, losing to Covington by unanimous decision. He would then go on to lose a second straight fight in a main event against Kamaru Usman in which he lost by unanimous decision. He snapped that two fight losing streak in his next outing when he submitted Kevin Lee in the fourth round of their main event at UFC Fight Night 152. After that, he lost two straight once again as he suffered back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Leon Edwards at UFC on ESPN 4 and Michael Chiesa at UFC Fight Night 166.
After that two fight losing streak, dos Anjos dropped back down to lightweight and put together two straight wins including a split decision over Paul Felder at UFC Fight Night 182 and a split decision over Renato Moicano in a 160-pound catchweight bout at UFC 272. In dos Anjos’ most recent outing, he suffered a fifth round knockout loss against Rafael Fiziev in the main event of UFC Vegas 58. Now, back up at welterweight, dos Anjos hopes to find success in the division once again as he faces Barberena.
UFC on ESPN 42 Results – Main Card
Kicking off UFC on ESPN 42’s main card will be a middleweight fight between Eryk Anders and Kyle Daukaus. Anders is entering this fight coming off back-to-back losses including a submission loss to Andre Muniz at UFC 269 followed by a split decision loss to Park Jun-Yong at UFC Vegas 55. As for Daukaus, he is coming into this fight with a 1-1 record in his last two outings as he picked up a submission win over Jamie Pickett earlier this year at UFC Vegas 48 followed by a knockout loss against Roman Dolidze in his last outing at UFC on ESPN 37.
Following that middleweight matchup will be another middleweight matchup between eighth ranked Jack Hermansson and Roman Dolidze. Hermansson is 1-1 in his last two fights as he suffered a split decision loss to Sean Strickland at UFC Vegas 47 before picking up a unanimous decision win in his most recent fight against Chris Curtis at UFC Fight Night 208. Dolidze enters this fight on a three fight win streak with a unanimous decision win over Laureano Staropoli at UFC Vegas 28 and two first round knockout wins over Kyle Daukaus and Phil Hawes at UFC Vegas 63.
The third fight on the main card for UFC on ESPN 42 will be a heavyweight fight between top five heavyweight contenders Tai Tuivasa and Sergei Pavlovich. Tuivasa is entering the fight coming off a knockout loss to Cirly Gane in the third round of their main event at UFC Fight Night 209. That loss snapped a five fight win streak that Tuivasa was on as he looks to get things back on track against Pavlovich. On the other hand, Pavlovich enters this fight on a four fight win streak as he has finished all four of those opponents by KO/TKO defeating Marcelo Golm, Maurice Greene, Shamil Abdurakhimov and, in his most recent fight, Derrick Lewis at UFC 277.
Finally, before the co-main event, a flyweight matchup goes down as Matheus Nicolau takes on Matt Schnell in a top ten matchup. Following a knockout loss to Dustin Ortiz in 2018, Nicolau was released from the UFC. He spent 2019 outside of the octagon where he picked up two wins including a submission win over Alan Gabriel and UD win over Felipe Efrain. He made his return to the UFC in 2021 and quickly won three straight with decision wins over Manel Kape, Tim Elliott and David Dvorak. As for Schnell, he comes into this fight with a 1-1 record in his last two fights. He suffered a submission loss to Brandon Royval at UFC 274 and has since bounced back with a win in his most recent fight with a submission win over Su Mudaerji.
UFC on ESPN 42 Results
MAIN CARD (ESPN/ESPN+ – 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST)
Stephen Thompson def. Kevin Holland via TKO (Corner Stoppage) at 5:00 of Round Four
Rafael dos Anjos def. Bryan Barberena via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:20 of Round Two
Matheus Nicolau def. Matt Schnell via Knockout (Punches) at 1:44 of Round Two
Sergei Pavlovich def. Tai Tuivasa via Knockout (Punches) at 0:54 of Round One
Roman Dolidze def. Jack Hermansson via TKO (Punches) at 4:06 of Round Two
Eryk Anders def. Kyle Daukaus via TKO (Punches) at 2:45 of Round Three
Phil Hawes* def. Niko Price via TKO (Punches) at 3:26 of Round Three
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN/ESPN+ – 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST)
Angela Hill def. Emily Ducote via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Clay Guida def. Scott Holtzman via Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Michael Johnson def. Marc Diakiese via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Jonathan Pearce def. Darren Elkins via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Natan Levy def. Genaro Valdez via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Francis Marshall def. Marcelo Rojo via Knockout (Punches) at 1:14 of Round Two
Yazmin Jauregui def. Istela Nunes via TKO (Punches) at 4:06 of Round Two
*Rowe missed weight at 173.5 pounds and will forfeit 30 percent of his purse.
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