Occurring this past Saturday, March 12, 2022, UFC Fight Night withheld a handful of unexpected victories and brutal outcomes. Taking place at the UFC Apex facility in the heart of Clark County, Nevada, the main event was easily the stand-out match of the night: The light heavyweight main event was a harsh back and forth battle for victory between Thiago Santos and Magomed Ankalaev. Initially set to last a total of five rounds, both fighters left it all in the ring as they went the distance for the judges to officially declare Ankalaev as the winner by unanimous decision.
Even with this specific match being Ankalaev’s first ever UFC main event, that did not stop him from giving it all he has and coming out with a well-deserved win. The fight seemed to slow down after the conclusion of the third round when both fighters seemed transparently fatigued; Santos even shook his head and rolled his eyes just seconds into the fourth round. Ankalaev stated how he ‘deserves a title fight,’ after Saturday night’s victory as he boosts himself to now obtain a newly improved 17-1-0 professional career record.
Santos was the clear favorite going into this match based off of his pure strength, experience, power, and simple ability to drain his opponents in a short period of time; he now holds a 22-10-0 career fight record. UFC Fight Night contained a total of 14 fights with many comebacks such as Song Yadong, who swiftly defeated Marlon Moraes by TKO/KO in the second minute of the first round. This specific fight was in the bantamweight as the co-main event for the night, in which Yadong knocked his competitor to the floor with a strong left-to-right punch combination.