After Jon Jones’ triumphant return to the UFC last weekend at UFC 285, the UFC is back for a bantamweight showdown this Saturday in the main event of UFC Fight Night 221.
UFC Fight Night 221 Results – Main Event
In Saturday night’s main event, the second and third ranked bantamweight contenders will face off as former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan looks to snap a two fight losing streak against Merab Dvalishvili. After starting his career at 14-1, Yan became the UFC’s bantamweight champion in his seventh UFC fight when he defeated former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 251. In his first title defense, Yan faced Aljamain Sterling at UFC 259. Unfortunately, Yan ended up losing the belt that night as he was disqualified for an illegal knee to a downed opponent that left Sterling unable to continue.
As Sterling was out nursing injuries for about a year, Yan picked up a win before his rematch with Sterling. That win came against Cory Sandhagen at UFC 267 as Yan won that fight by unanimous decision. Yan’s rematch with Sterling came after that and Yan would end up losing once again as Sterling beat him by split decision to remain the UFC bantamweight champion. Yan looked to bounce back from that loss in a fight with Sean O’Malley at UFC 280, however O’Malley emerged victorious in that fight, defeating Yan by split decision. Now, Yan looks to snap a two fight losing streak against a man that has won his last eight in a row.
Merab Dvalishvili made his UFC debut in 2017 and quickly lost his first two outings, putting his professional record at 7-4. However, since those two opening losses, Dvalishvili has not lost a fight since. From 2018 to 2021, he had won six straight unanimous decisions over the likes of Brad Katona, John Dodson, Cody Stamann, and more. He picked up his first finish in the UFC in a fight with former WSOF bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes. Dvalishvili finished Moraes by TKO in the second round of their matchup at UFC 266.
After that win, he picked up yet another unanimous decision win, this time over former UFC featherweight champion and bantamweight title challenger, Jose Aldo. Dvalishvili looks to pick up a win that will put him in line to challenge for the title. However, his training partner and friend, Aljamain Sterling, currently holds the title, and the two have made it clear they will not fight each other. Sterling has tossed around the possibility of moving up to give Dvalishvili his chance, but with an upcoming title defense against Henry Cejudo, it is unclear what the future holds.
UFC Fight Night 221 Results – Co-Main Event
In UFC Fight Night 221’s co-main event, heavyweights collide as Alexander Volkov takes on Alexandr Romanov. When Volkov arrived in the UFC, the former Bellator heavyweight champion quickly put together a record of 4-0 in the octagon. Since then, he has mostly alternated wins and losses leading up to this weekend with one two fight win streak during that time as well for a record of 5-4 since 2018. That two fight win streak happened at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 when he defeated Walt Harris and Alistair Overeem by TKO at UFC 254 and in the main event of UFC Fight Night 184.
Since then, Volkov has gone 2-2 as he went on to lose to Ciryl Gane by unanimous decision in his next outing, snapping his two fight win streak. After losing to Gane, he picked up a unanimous decision win over Marcin Tybura at UFC 267 before suffering a submission loss to Tom Aspinall at UFC Fight Night 204. Volkov’s most recent outing was last summer when he finished Jairzinho Rozenstruik by TKO in the first round of their main event at UFC Vegas 56.
Sitting at number fourteen in the UFC heavyweight rankings, Alexandr Romanov suffered his first professional loss in his last fight after starting his career 16-0. He made his UFC debut in 2020 and quickly put together five straight wins. In his first two fights with the UFC, he picked up back-to-back submission finishes over Roque Martinez and Marcos Rogerio de Lima. In his third outing, he defeated Juan Espino by technical decision at UFC Vegas 24.
Romanov then went on to pick two more finishes, defeating Jared Vanderaa by second round TKO at UFC Vegas 39 followed by a submission win over Chase Sherman at UFC Vegas 53. In Romanov’s most recent fight, his undefeated record of sixteen consecutive wins was snapped following a majority decision loss to Marcin Tybura at UFC 278.
UFC Fight Night 221 Results – Main Card
Kicking things off on Saturday for UFC Fight Night 221 will be a matchup in the light heavyweight division as Vitor Petrino takes on Anton Turkalj. Petrino enters this fight with an undefeated record of 7-0 as he makes his UFC debut following a successful outing on Dana White’s Contender Series. Also a product of the Contender Series, Turkalj has already made his UFC debut as he suffered a submission loss to Jailton Almeida at UFC 279.
Following the light heavyweight contest will be a bantamweight fight between Mario Bautista and Guido Cannetti. Bautista is entering this fight on a three fight win streak. Of those wins, he defeated Jay Perrin by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 48 followed by back-to-back submission wins over Brian Kelleher and Benito Lopez. As for Cannetti, he has been fighting professionally since 2007 as he enters year sixteen of his MMA career. Entering his fight with Bautista, Cannetti has won his last two in a row with a TKO win over Kris Moutinho at UFC Vegas 50 and a submission finish over Randy Costa at UFC Vegas 61.
Main card fight number three features another matchup in the bantamweight division as Said Nurmagomedov takes on Jonathan Martinez. Nurmagomedov will be entering this fight on a four fight win streak that includes a decision win over Douglas Silva de Andrade, plus two submissions over Cody Stamann and Saidyokub Kakramonov, and a knockout win against Mark Striegl. Martinez will also be entering this fight on a four fight win streak as his streak includes three straight unanimous decision wins against Zviad Lazishvili, Alejandro Perez and Vince Morales. The fourth and most recent win was a second round TKO win over Cub Swanson at UFC Vegas 62.
Finally, before the co-main event gets underway, there will be a catchweight fight happening at 215 pounds featuring a matchup that was supposed to headline UFC Vegas 70. Nikita Krylov and Ryan Spann were set to meet in a five round main event just two weeks ago, however, Krylov was forced out of the fight just hours beforehand due to an illness. Now the pair has been rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 221 and they will now fight at a catchweight of 215 pounds as opposed to fighting at light heavyweight like they were supposed to at UFC Vegas 70. Coming into this fight, Krylov has won his last two fights including a knockout win over Alexander Gustafsson followed by a unanimous decision win over Volkan Oezdemir. Spann has also won his last two in a row including a submission win over Ion Cutelaba followed by a knockout win over former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Dominick Reyes.
UFC Fight Night 221 Results
MAIN CARD (ESPN+ – 6 p.m. EST/3 p.m. PST)
Merab Dvalishvili def. Petr Yan via Unanimous Decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Alexander Volkov def. Alexandr Romanov via TKO (Punches) at 2:16 of Round One
Nikita Krylov def. Ryan Spann via Submission (Triangle Choke) at 3:38 of Round One
Jonathan Martinez def. Said Nurmagomedov via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Mario Bautista def. Guido Cannetti via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:18 of Round One
Vitor Petrino def. Anton Turkalj via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+ – 3 p.m. EST/12 p.m. PST)
Karl Williams def. Lukasz Brzeski via Unanimous Decision (30- 26, 30-26, 30-27)
Davey Grant def. Raphael Assuncao via Submission (Reverse Triangle) at 4:43 of Round Three
Josh Fremd def. Sedriques Dumas via Submission (Guillotine) at 3:00 of Round Two
Victor Henry def. Tony Gravely via Split Decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Ariane Lipski def. JJ Aldrich via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Bruno Silva def. Tyson Nam via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:23 of Round Two
Carlston Harris def. Jared Gooden* via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
*Jared Gooden missed weight at 177 pounds and will forfeit 30 percent of his purse.
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