The sixth UFC event in just as many weeks goes down this Saturday as light heavyweights clash in the main event of UFC Vegas 50. It will be a clash between the fifth and sixth ranked light heavyweights as former title challenger Thiago Santos takes on Magomed Ankalaev.
UFC Vegas 50 Results – Main Event
After Thiago Santos failed to win UFC gold in his title fight with Jon Jones in 2019, he has since put together a record of 1-2. He was forced to take more than a year off following the Jones fight due to injuries, so his return was not until late 2020 at UFC Vegas 13. Santos fought in the main event that night against Glover Texeira. Santos would lose that fight by third round submission while the win granted Texeira a title shot, in which he won, last Fall.
Santos’ next fight was at UFC 259 when he faced Aleksandar Rakic and lost his third straight fight as Rakic defeated him by unanimous decision. Thiago Santos’ most recent fight took place during October 2021 when he faced Johnny Walker in the main event of UFC Vegas 38. Santos snapped two year, three fight losing streak as he defeated Walker by unanimous decision that night. He looks to keep his momentum going with a win over Ankalaev, who enters with his own momentum of seven straight wins.
Ankalaev started off his professional career going undefeated at 8-0 on his road to the UFC. He made his UFC debut in 2018 against Paul Craig at UFC Fight Night 127. He lost that fight by submission, and since then, that is still the only loss on his record as he went on to win his next seven straight fights.
From 2018-2019, he quickly put together three straight wins with two knockout wins over Marcin Prachnio at UFC Fight Night 136 and Dalcha Lungiambula at UFC Fight Night 163. The third win was a unanimous decision win taking place between the KO wins at UFC Fight Night 145, the same night Thiago Santos finished future champion Jan Blachowicz by TKO in the main event.
In the last two years, Ankalaev has won four more fights, including two straight KO/TKO wins over the same opponent, Ion Cutelaba at UFC Fight Night 169 and UFC 254. Following those wins, he faced off against Nikita Krylov at UFC Fight Night 186. He defeated Krylov that night by unanimous decision, extending his win streak to six in a row. His most recent fight was another UD win, this time against former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 267.
UFC Vegas 50 Results – Co-Main Event
In Saturday night’s co-main event, bantamweights face off as former title challenger Marlon Moraes takes on Song Yadong in a top fifteen matchup.
Since his unsuccessful attempt for the title against Henry Cejudo at UFC 238, Moraes has since gone 1-3. He picked up a win in his first fight since the title fight in a very close fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 245 that saw Moraes win by split decision. Even with that win, Aldo ended up getting the next shot at the title in a vacant title fight against Petr Yan.
Since that win over Aldo, Moraes has lost three straight with all three coming by TKO. His next fight was a main event matchup with Cory Sandhagen at UFC Fight Night 179. Moraes was finished in the second round of that fight after a spinning kick and a series of punches. In his next fight, he was finished in the first round against Rob Font at UFC Fight Night 183.
Moraes’ most recent fight took place at UFC 266 when he faced off against Merab Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili handed Moraes his third straight loss as he finished him in the second round. Moraes hopes to bounce back in a huge way and snap his losing streak on Saturday against Song Yadong.
Yadong enters this fight having won three of his last four fights, taking place over the last two years. He started his UFC career 4-0 with three finishes, until he met Cody Stamann at UFC on ESPN 7, where the two fought to a majority draw. Since then, Yadong has gone 3-1 as his first fight after the draw resulted in a unanimous decision win over Marlon Vera at UFC on ESPN 8.
Following that win, his near four year unbeaten streak was broken after losing by unanimous decision to Kyler Phillips at UFC 259. Since then, he has won his last two in a row with the first of those coming by split decision against Casey Kenney at UFC 265. In his most recent fight, he finished Julio Arce by second round TKO at UFC Vegas 42. Yadong hopes to pick up a third straight win over a notable opponent as he enters the octagon on Saturday.
UFC Vegas 50 Results – Main Card
Kicking off the UFC Vegas 50 main card will be a middleweight fight between Alex Pereira and Bruno Silva. Pereira enters the fight following his TKO win in his UFC debut against Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268. Silva will be entering the fight with an undefeated UFC record of 3-0 as all three of his wins in the octagon have come by KO/TKO. The most recent was against Jordan Wright at UFC 269 which ended by TKO in round one.
Following that fight will be a lightweight matchup between Drew Dober and short notice replacement for the injured Ricky Glenn, Terrance McKinney. Dober comes into the fight with two straight losses in his last two outings. The first was a submission loss to Islam Makhachev at UFC 259, followed by a unanimous decision loss to Brad Riddell at UFC 263. As for McKinney, he last fought two weeks ago when he submitted Fares Ziam in the first round of their UFC Vegas 49 meeting.
The third main card fight will feature a light heavyweight meeting between Khalil Rountree Jr. and Karl Roberson. Rountree enters the fight coming off a recent TKO win over Modestas Bukauskas that snapped a two fight losing streak. On the other side, Roberson will be entering the fight on a two fight losing streak. Both of those losses were by submission against Marvin Vettori at UFC on ESPN 10 and against Brendan Allen at UFC 261.
Finally, before UFC Vegas 50’s co-main event will be a top fifteen featherweight matchup between Sodiq Yusuff and Alex Caceres. Yusuff enters the fight following his first loss in the UFC after starting his octagon career 4-0 as he lost by unanimous decision against Arnold Allen at UFC Vegas 23. As for Caceres, he has won his last five in a row with a UD win over Kevin Croom at UFC Fight Night 186 and a submission win over Seung Woo Choi at UFC Vegas 41 taking place during 2021.
UFC Vegas 50 Results
Follow along with MMASucka as we provide you with UFC Vegas 50 Results throughout the card.
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MAIN CARD (ESPN+ – 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST)
Magomed Ankalaev def. Thiago Santos via Unanimous Decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)
Song Yadong def. Marlon Moraes via Knockout (Punches) at 2:06 of Round One
Sodiq Yusuff def. Alex Caceres via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Khalil Rountree Jr. def. Karl Roberson via TKO (Strikes) at 0:25 of Round Two
Drew Dober def. Terrance McKinney via TKO (Strikes) at 3:17 of Round One
Alex Pereira def. Bruno Silva via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+ – 4 p.m. EST/1 p.m. PST)
Matthew Semelsberger def. AJ Fletcher via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
JJ Aldrich def. Gillian Robertson via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Javid Basharat def. Trevin Jones via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Damon Jackson def. Kamuela Kirk via Submission (Arm Triangle) at 4:42 of Round Two
Miranda Maverick def. Sabina Mazo via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:15 of Round Two
Cody Brundage def. Dalcha Lungiambula via Submission (Guillotine) at 3:41 of Round One
Guido Cannetti def. Kris Moutinho via TKO (Punches) at 2:07 of Round One
Azamat Murzakanov def. Tafon Nchukwi via Knockout (Knee) at 0:44 of Round Three
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