UFC Vegas 105 is a few days away. Saturday night, while most of the sports world is focused on San Antonio’s Alamodome for the 2025 Division I Men’s Basketball Final Four, the MMA fandom has their eyes peeled on Enterprise, NV.
The UFC Apex is the site for the first of three UFC cards this month, UFC Vegas 105. Live coverage of Saturday night’s show can be seen wall-to-wall on ESPN (linearly) and streaming on ESPN+ if you’re inside the United States. Fights begin at 6 pm ET/ 3 pm PT with the prelims before moving onto the main card at 9 pm ET/ 6 pm PT.
If there are no 11th-hour postponements to the bout order, the final version of Saturday’s card features a full schedule of 13 fights. Our focus on this day is the undercard.
UFC Vegas 105 Featured Prelim: Ode Osbourne vs. Luis Gurule
At the top of the prelims is a flyweight fight matching two seasoned competitors against one another inside the famous UFC Octagon. 21-fight veteran Ode Osbourne (12-8, 1 NC MMA, 4-6 UFC) will be making his 11th walk to the cage in Dana White’s promotion against undefeated Luis Gurule (10-0 MMA, UFC promotional debut.)
Osbourne will enter UFC Vegas 105 with a record of 1-4 in his last five contests. He’s been on a downward trend of late, having come out on the losing end of the fight in each of his last three appearances.
Back in September of last year, during Noche UFC, also known as UFC 306 inside the Vegas Sphere, he dropped a unanimous decision after three rounds to Ronaldo Rodriguez (17-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC). Rodriguez just fought last Saturday night in Mexico City.
To find the last time that Ode Osbourne got his hand raised in victory, you’d need to travel back in time more than two years to February of 2023, when he bested Charles Johnson by split decision. This is a man who could potentially find himself on the chopping block should he exit the UFC Apex in defeat in UFC Vegas 105.
In the other corner, Luis Gurule enters UFC Vegas 105, his first fight in the promotion, having yet to lose as a professional. Last October, he secured a UFC contract with a unanimous decision victory over Nick Piccininni (7-1 MMA, 1-1 DWCS) in the latter’s second appearance on Contender Series.
Gurule came in on short-notice for the fight on Contender Series, having just fought in Fury FC 96‘s main event three weeks earlier and besting Jacob Silva with a fourth-round rear-naked choke. He’s conquered the local circuit, but how will he do in his first act on the global stage?
UFC Vegas 105 Co-Featured Prelim: Davey Grant vs. Daniel Santos
Right before that contest, the co-featured prelim of UFC Vegas 105 sees action in the bantamweight ranks pairing Davey Grant (14-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC) with Daniel Santos (11-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC). Grant enters this weekend having posted a record of 3-2 in his last five bouts.
He’ll be looking to build off of a unanimous decision victory from right before Christmas in December over Ramon Tavares (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) during UFC Tampa from Amalie Arena. Grant ended his 2024 on a high note. Only time will tell if he’ll start his 2025 the same way.
Meanwhile, Daniel Santos is sporting a 4-1 record and most recently defeated Johnny Munoz Jr. (13-4 MMA, 2-4 UFC), but he’s been away from the cage for a long while. His last fight happened in June of 2023.
Planned contests against Daniel Marcos and Said Nurmagomedov in late 2023 and 2024, respectively, were scrubbed without a punch being thrown due to Santos withdrawing from the card, It’s been 22 months since Santos has entered the cage, so how much ring rust does he have and what kind of a training camp has he been able to complete as he tries to extend a two-fight winning streak?
UFC Vegas 105: Dione Barbosa vs. Diana Belbita
Also on the UFC Vegas 105 undercard, you’ll be seeing a women’s flyweight tilt matching Dione Barbosa (7-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with Diana Belbita (15-9 MMA, 2-5 UFC). Barbosa will be making the walk for the third time in the UFC this Saturday night with a record of 4-1 in her last five fights.
After a delay, she’ll make her 2025 debut this Saturday night. She was supposed to have appeared during UFC Mexico last weekend vs. Yazmin Jauregui (11-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) but Barbosa withdrew from the event. Last time out, Barbosa saw her four-fight winning streak snapped at the hands of Miranda Maverick (15-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC).
She’s had a good run of form lately but ran into a buzzsaw when she faced Maverick in July of last year. How will Barbosa do this time?
Across the way, Diana Belbita has a record of 2-3 in her past five contests, but she hasn’t made the walk in 14 months’ time. In February of last year, she was on the receiving end of a first-round armbar with one second remaining on the clock from the now-retired Molly McCann.
Belbita has not had a sustained winning streak since before she joined the UFC’s active roster. From December of 2017 to May of 2019, she came away victorious in four straight bouts. Can she recapture the magic?
Final Thoughts
Which prelim or prelims are you looking forward to on UFC Vegas 105? Let us know in the comments.
