The Real Winners and Losers from UFC Fight Night 219
Another week. Another fight show.
Seven days and nearly 10,000 miles after its latest pay-per-view extravaganza in Australia, the UFC schlepped back to its Apex home base in Las Vegas for a Fight Night card.
It wasn't nearly the star-studded event that the dual-title show in Perth had been—headlined instead by a battle between aspiring women's flyweight contenders—but the Saturday afternoon and evening show from the Nevada desert wasn't without its moments.
Third-ranked contender Jessica Andrade, a former strawweight champion, took on streaking No. 10 Erin Blanchfield in the main event of the 11-bout card broadcast by ESPN.
The B/R combat writing team was in place to take it all in and assembled a definitive list of the show's biggest winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with, and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments section.
Winner: Making a Statement
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There was no bigger winner on Saturday than Blanchfield.
The 23-year-old from New Jersey had won four straight UFC fights and climbed into the rankings, but the prospect of engaging with a top-ranked opponent and former champ like Andrade was a big ask.
Turns out that Blanchfield is a big talent.
And then some.
The fighter deemed Cold Blooded showed her stand-up chops in a competitive first five minutes before taking over in the second, getting Andrade to the ground and quickly getting into position for the rear-naked choke that ended things at 1:37 of the second.
"Erin Blanchfield has reached a new level, ladies and gentlemen," ESPN's Paul Felder said. "That's about as impressive a performance you can put on display here."
The submission was her fourth in 11 career wins and third straight in the Octagon after 2022 defeats of JJ Aldrich and Molly McCann. Andrade had won three straight herself and hadn't lost outside of a championship-fight setting since 2020.
She'd won her most recent fight just last month at UFC 283 in Brazil and took the Blanchfield fight on short notice when Taila Santos withdrew with team issues.
She arrived with 17 finishes in 24 career victories.
The street cred didn't shake Blanchfield a bit.
"I know she was a good striker. I knew I was going to have the deal with that," she said. "Because she wasn't going to want to go to the ground with me."
Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will defend her title next month at UFC 285 against fifth-ranked Alexa Grasso, and Saturday's winner wasted no time with her callout.
"Give me the winner," Blanchfield said. "I'm going to get a title and be a UFC champion."
Winner: Forgetting the Fans
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He wasn't looking to be a heel.
Still, Zac Pauga wasn't exactly trying to win over the fans, either.
The former NFL practice squad player was in with a proven crowd-pleaser in "Beverly Hills Ninja" Jordan Wright, but he wasn't shy about suggesting before Saturday's fight that he was dedicated to seeking wins, not excitement.
Wright had finished each of his 12 professional victories and had never gone beyond two rounds in his career, so Pauga decided that his best path to a triumph was closing distance, getting his longer, lankier foe against the fence and grinding him to a pulp.
The pulp thing may be up for debate. But the decisiveness is not.
Pauga left his opponent spurting blood from an elbow-sliced gash on the forehead and never allowed a prolonged striking exchange on the way to a wide unanimous decision that earned him his first official UFC victory.
"It feels amazing," he said. "Just get on the board, and I'll start racking them up."
The 34-year-old was 5-0 in other promotions and earned a win on The Ultimate Fighter last summer, but he was dumped in two rounds by Mohammed Usman last August.
Pauga landed 59 significant strikes to Wright's 29 and had better than eight minutes of positional control time in earning two 30-27 scorecards and another 29-28 nod.
"I started throwing elbows, and now I'm learning how to punch," he said. "We're a professional team. We can make changes on the fly. I need wins, but I want finishes. I can control people. I can cut them up. Now I want to put them away."
Winner: Riding It Out
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Alexander Hernandez had done everything right.
The Texas-based 30-year-old successfully handled the first 14-plus minutes of his main-card bout with veteran Jim Miller, using punches and kicks from distance to control the pace and leave his slower, less dynamic 39-year-old foe bleeding and swinging at air.
Then came the leg sweep and the takedown.
And all of a sudden, peril.
Miller quickly got to Hernandez's back and wrapped an arm around his chin in a desperate chase for his 20th career submission finish.
But he didn't get it. Not this time anyway.
"Don't f--k this up. Just do not f--k this up," Hernandez told ESPN's Felder, who'd asked what he was thinking as Miller clamped down. "I'm used to that. Four years ago, I would've panicked. Now, I'm good."
Indeed, The Great Ape remained calm as his opponent pressed, ultimately giving his corner a thumbs-up before sliding out of the precarious position and finishing the fight with ground strikes to cement a unanimous near-shutout decision.
Hernandez won all three rounds on two scorecards and two of three on the other to improve to 6-5 in the UFC and 14-6 overall.
"Jim Miller is a savage. That we already knew," ESPN's Brendan Fitzgerald said. "Alexander Hernandez was looking to prove that to himself, and I think he did that."
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Loser: Respecting Your Elders
4 of 6In the UFC set, Ovince Saint Preux is a certifiable OG.
He'd had 25 fights with the company before Saturday's preliminary card appearance and his 14 victories in those fights put him among the all-time octagonal leaders.
So it's no stretch to suggest the 39-year-old was confident entering a bout with a comparative newcomer—with three overall fights and just one as a light heavyweight.
But Philipe Lins wasn't having it.
The 37-year-old Brazilian was 0-for-2 in a pair of appearances at heavyweight before dropping to 205 pounds for a unanimous decision over Marcin Prachnio last April.
He was in no need for such a long stint against Saint Preux, though, instead landing a straight left hand that sent the Haitian-American veteran reeling against the fence before another looping left shot dropped him to the floor and prompted the hand of referee Mark Smith.
It took precisely 49 seconds.
"This victory is a big step toward my goals in the organization, the big show," Lins said. "Now I want to fight one of the Top 15. It's another big step. I'm ready for the big challengers. I'm ready for everything. Get me the guys. I'm gonna get knockouts. I'm gonna get finishes. I'm gonna win by decision. It doesn't matter. I'm gonna win."
Winner: A Proper Birthday
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There are birthdays. And then there are birthdays.
It's a good bet that newly minted 26-year-old AJ Fletcher will remember this one.
The Louisiana-based welterweight finally paid off on the significant promise he'd shown on Dana White's Contender Series, shaking off two straight UFC losses to secure his first win with a second-round submission of lanky newcomer Themba Gorimbo.
Successfully compensating for a 10-inch disadvantage in reach, Fletcher took control of the bout after a Gorimbo takedown got the fight to the floor in the first round and landed several thudding ground-and-pound shots.
He was equally successful on his feet in the second, landing a hard right elbow from a standing position that prompted a stricken Gorimbo to drop down for another takedown attempt. Instead, the attempt put the Zimbabwe-born 32-year-old into range for a guillotine choke, which Fletcher seized with his left arm and locked in on the way to a tap-out finish at 1:37 of the round.
"You don't really feel like you're a UFC fighter until you get that first win under your belt," Fletcher said. "When you lose a couple fights, and then you finally win one, everybody wants to hear something that you drastically changed. To be honest, though, it's just staying with it and not being deterred by failure and making little minor adjustments and keeping going.
"That's the only thing. Just keep going."
Full Card Results
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Main Card
Erin Blanchfield def. Jessica Andrade by submission (rear-naked choke), 1:37, Round 2
Zac Pauga def. Jordan Wright by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Jamal Pogues def. Josh Parisian by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Marcin Prachnio def. William Knight by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Alexander Hernandez def. Jim Miller by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Nazim Sadykhov def. Evan Elder by TKO (doctor stoppage), 0:38, Round 3
Mayra Bueno Silva def. Lina Lansberg by submission (kneebar), 4:45, Round 2
Jamall Emmers def. Khusein Askhabov by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Philipe Lins def. Ovince Saint Preux by KO (punch), 0:49, Round 1
AJ Fletcher def. Themba Gorimbo by submission (guillotine choke), 1:37, Round 2
Clayton Carpenter def. Juancamilo Ronderos by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:13, Round 1
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