The Real Winners and Losers from UFC on ABC 4
The UFC came ready to show out on Saturday.
The mixed martial arts conglomerate took its weekly Fight Night show to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a mid-afternoon event simultaneously shown on both ESPN and ABC.
And the 11-bout show it came with was arguably as good or better than the pay-per-view extravaganza staged just a week earlier in Newark, New Jersey.
This week's show was headlined by an intriguing heavyweight matchup between rising contender Jailton Almeida and veteran weight-class gatekeeper Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Almeida, a 31-year-old Brazilian, reached the promotion with a victory on Dana White's Contender Series in 2021 and followed it with four straight finishes in which he never fought as many as eight minutes. Rozenstruik, meanwhile, had faced four other fighters still in the UFC's Top 15 rankings in addition to ex-champs Francis Ngannou and Andrei Arlovski.
The co-main was another duel involving ranked light heavyweight contenders, this time with former title challenger Anthony Smith, now ranked fifth, and streaking slugger Johnny Walker, slotted two places behind him at No. 7 amid a two-fight win/finish streak.
The B/R combat sports team was ready for action as well and compiled a definitive list of the show's real winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with, and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.
Winner: A Heavyweight Problem
1 of 8
Attention UFC fans: Jailton Almeida is a star.
The Brazilian scored his fifth finish in as many Octagonal appearances in Saturday night's main event, but it was even more impressive this time, considering it came at the expense of ninth-ranked heavyweight contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
And it lasted less than four minutes.
"Everyone told me he was the most dangerous guy in the division and he was going to knock me out," Almeida said. "But all he did was slap me a couple times. When I come down with the pressure, nobody can beat me."
Rozenstruik certainly could not.
The 265-pound slugger managed to elude a takedown attempt in the first 10 seconds, but the next one was more effective, getting the big man to the ground within a half-minute.
From there, Almeida worked his way into a full mount and began bombarding Rozenstruik with ground strikes until he gave his back and triggered the rear-naked choke that ended matters.
The official time was 3:43, providing his 14th first-round finish in 19 career wins, none of which has gone beyond 10 minutes.
And the performance left the ex-champs on the ESPN/ABC crew awfully impressed.
"When he takes you down, he's pretty much burying you," Dominick Cruz said. "He's covering you with a load of dirt."
Former light heavyweight/heavyweight king Daniel Cormier agreed,
"It seems as though his ceiling is limitless," he said.
Winner: Beautiful Boredom
2 of 8
Johnny Walker is a lot of things.
He's energetic. He's exciting. And he's occasionally so loose with his fundamentals that he leaves himself open for big shots, which makes him equally compelling.
What he's typically not is methodical.
But that's precisely the path he took in Saturday's co-main, gradually taking about Anthony Smith's lead leg with powerful kicks and ultimately punishing the 34-year-old to the head and body enough to secure a unanimous decision across three tactical rounds.
"I wanted to prove myself," Walker said. "I wanted to finish him quickly, but I wanted to defend, to land shots, to recover, to show all my skills."
He did nearly everything across 15 minutes with Smith, who was making his 17th UFC appearance overall and eighth since a title-fight loss to then-205-pound champ Jon Jones at UFC 235 in March 2019.
Walker landed 51 leg kicks, most to the area surrounding Smith's left knee, which was reddened and swollen by the third round and clearly limited his mobility.
"Anybody can get hurt there," Walker said. "If you don't block, you're gonna get hurt, and it'll stop your mobility. It can get nasty."
Already ranked seventh, Walker is likely to enter the Top 5 by virtue of his win over No. 5 Smith, and he exited the cage after Saturday's win to chat up current champ Jamahal Hill.
Hill stopped Walker in one round in a Fight Night main event in February 2022.
Asked what he said in their exchange, Walker said, "I'll see you at the top. I'm coming."
Winner: Seeing "The Future""
3 of 8The persona is real.
Ian Garry calls himself "The Future" and makes no bones about the fact that he intends to be a second coming of brash, combative and uber-successful countryman Conor McGregor.
And whaddya know? It turns out that he can fight, too.
The 25-year-old Irishman entered his Saturday date with UFC veteran Daniel Rodriguez with a pristine 11-0 pro mark that included a perfect 4-0 stretch since he arrived to the UFC 18 months ago.
Ranked 15th in the world at welterweight, Rodriguez promised the sort of mayhem that his younger, less-experienced foe had never encountered.
Didn't happen.
Instead, Garry unleashed his persona to a nationwide audience, dumping Rodriguez to the floor with a hard right kick to the head and ultimately finishing him with a series of shots that necessitated an intervention by referee Dan Miragliotta.
"It was just timing. I knew the body kick was going to get him to bring his elbow down," Garry said. "Then shin to chin. That's all you need in this game.
"No disrespect to D-Rod, but I knew I was better. I had more skills, and I had more in the tank. He didn't have more power than I did, and I wanted to make sure he knew that."
It was Garry's seventh KO alongside one submission in 12 total wins, prompting a post-fight callout of No. 11 Neil Magny and a declaration of his own official ascension.
"UFC," he said, "you have a new star in town."
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Loser: Coherent Refereeing
4 of 8
Not all finishes are picture-perfect.
Oh sure, the quick left hook that Carlos Ulberg landed to send opponent Ihor Potieria stumbling to the mat was impressive enough, and the dozen-plus ground strikes he unleashed (some landed, some didn't) as a follow-up were something to behold as well.
But the ending, well...it was a little weird.
Ulberg was doing his job as he punished the stricken Potieria along the fence, but he branched into double duty when he simply got up and walked away without an official stop from referee Keith Peterson.
The New Zealander took about three steps before turning back, leaving a seemingly befuddled Peterson to go ahead and pull the plug for real at 2:09 of the first.
Potieria didn't look pleased but didn't protest all that much, either.
As for Ulberg, it was a fourth straight win and third finish since a loss in his official debut at UFC 259 in March 2021. And though he didn't mention a specific fighter, he did call for a Top 15 opponent for his next Octagonal appearance.
"I saw [Potieria's] head go down," he said. "I saw his eyes roll back, and I knew he was done."
Winner: Flipping Scripts
5 of 8
Tim Means was doing everything right.
He was pressing the fight. He was landing big shots. And he had the corner team of his opponent, Alex Morono, barking out directions to ensure their man stayed vertical.
Turns out Morono was the one with the vision.
The 32-year-old jiu-jitsu ace spun the fight on its head in what felt like an instant, following a missed hook and a missed spinning elbow with a quick transition to a left-arm guillotine that put Means in a compromising position and drew a tap at 2:09 of the second.
It was the 12th win in 17 fights (alongside a no-contest) for Morono, who's won five of six in his latest streak and earned his first submission since a Fight Night show five years ago.
"I love the guillotine. It's one of my go-to's," Morono said.
"It's an adrenaline rush to get in here and compete, and I appreciate Dana White giving up the platform as competitions and martial artists."
The winner followed up with a respectful callout of Bryan Barberena and drew a compliment from ex-champ Dominick Cruz on the broadcast.
"Morono's showing you that you better keep an eye on him," Cruz said. "He's a little overlooked and a little underrated, but he's something to deal with."
Winner: OG Style
6 of 8
This is how a 42-year-old OG handles himself.
Unlike many fighters who land a would-be KO shot and immediately swoop in to pound their stricken foe with ground strikes to drive the point home, Matt Brown simply walked away.
He knew the job was done.
Past halfway through a grinding first round with fellow veteran Court McGee, Brown countered a jab with a precise right hand that sent McGee backward to the mat like a felled tree. Referee Dan Miragliotta leaped in to shield the beaten man, but it wasn't needed.
The official time was 4:09.
"It's all mental," Brown said. "I tried to time him from the first couple jabs he was throwing. I knew it was going to be there."
It was. And now it's a record.
The KO was Brown's 13th in a run that began with a win on season seven of The Ultimate Fighter in 2008, tying him with Derrick Lewis for the most in UFC history.
"Should I come back and get the KO record?" he asked the crowd to a significant pop before essentially answering it himself. "I come in here to express myself as a martial artist. I come here for the fans. And I'm going to go for a KO or get KO'd every time."
Winner: Hometown Heroics
7 of 8
Gabe Green was on a mission.
The Californian burst from his corner and across the mat toward Bryan Battle like he was late to catch a flight back to San Pedro.
He chased his welterweight foe with a torrent of punches and kicks and, as he backed Battle against the fence, looked as if he still had a chance to make his plane.
Then Battle made his own statement.
The Charlotte resident fired shots in return before the right one landed, in the form of a right hook that landed squarely on Green's chin and immediately sent him backward to the canvas. Two quick ground strikes brought an instant intervention from referee Wayne Spinola and set off an in-house lovefest for the local winner.
The time? A remarkable 14 seconds.
"Just walking out. The people were going crazy," Battle said. "To put him away like that in front of my people. Everyone's going nuts. Everyone's losing their minds. It feels fantastic. It feels amazing. No words can do justice to what happened just now."
Full Card Results
8 of 8
Main Card
Jailton Almeida def. Jairzinho Rozenstruik by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:43, Round 1
Johnny Walker def. Anthony Smith by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Ian Garry def. Daniel Rodriguez by KO (kick), 2:57, Round 1
Carlos Ulberg def. Ihor Potieria by KO (punches), 2:09, Round 1
Alex Morono def. Tim Means by submission (guillotine choke), 2:09, Round 2
Preliminary Card
Matt Brown def. Court McGee by KO (punch), 4:09, Round 1
Karl Williams def. Chase Sherman by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Cody Stamann by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Mandy Bohm def. Ji Yeon Kim by split decision (28-27, 27-28, 28-27)
Bryan Battle def. Gabe Green by KO (punch), 0:14, Round 1
Tainara Lisboa def. Jessica-Rose Clark by submission (rear-naked choke), 4:20, Round 3
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
