UFC 161: Fighters Who Made Most of Opportunity Saturday Night

When opportunity knocks in the UFC, you'd better be prepared to answer. At UFC 161, we saw a few fighters make the most of their matchups to take the next step in their careers. 

On a card that lacked a ton of great performances, picking up the win was the most important thing on Saturday night. 

Here were the winners that took the biggest step forward by picking up especially huge wins. Note: All statistics via FightMetric unless otherwise noted. 

James Krause

If a fighter really wants to get on Dana White's good side, there's no better way to impress the boss than stepping in on late notice. If you can save the company the headache of last-minute matchmaking and pick up the victory? Well that's the way to really rise up the ranks quick. 

And that's why 27-year-old lightweight James Krause had one of the best nights at UFC 161. The promotional newcomer stepped in on two-and-a-half weeks' notice when Isaac Vallie-Flagg was forced off the card with an injury and submitted UFC veteran Sam Stout.

It wasn't as though Krause lucked into a late submission on a tired opponent either.

The former WEC and Bellator veteran landed 96 significant strikes compared to Stout's 73 and was clearly winning the third round. Beating a veteran like Stout was a nice way for Krause to break into the UFC.

Shawn Jordan

Lost in Stipe Miocic's performance was another heavyweight who made a big statement with his fists. Coming off of an impressive knockout win over the always-tough Mike Russow, Jordan took on the ultra-popular Pat Barry and won in even more convincing fashion. 

The former LSU fullback ran right through Barry, rendering his usually strong kicks useless by steamrolling him with a flush shot that put him to the ground and finished out with a barrage of uppercuts that showed off his ability to finish fights. 

It was enough to make Jay Glazer sit up and take notice:

Jordan may still need a few fights before really stepping up into the big-name heavyweights, but he certainly flashed serious potential against Jordan. 

Stipe Miocic

Miocic was the biggest winner of the night, upsetting Roy Nelson via unanimous decision in the co-main event. 

Considering Miocic was coming off of a knockout loss to Stefan Struve and Nelson was riding a three-fight win streak, this was a surprising result. Miocic didn't just win, he made Nelson look bad. 

He outstruck Big Country 106-23 over the course of three rounds and showed that his boxing is a serious threat for any opponent to deal with moving forward. Some may criticize Miocic for not finishing Nelson when he was clearly winning the fight, but as Ben Fowlkes of USA Today pointed out, Nelson is historically tough to finish. 

Miocic definitely earned a ton of buzz with a big win over a well-known veteran in the division.