UFC 316 Live Winners and Losers, Results
Repeat or revenge?
That was the theme of the weekend when it came to the UFC, whose monthly pay-per-view extravaganza pulled into northern New Jersey for a second go-round between bantamweight rivals Merab Dvalishvili and Sean O'Malley.
The two got together for the first time last summer in Las Vegas, where Dvalishvili became the champion via unanimous decision. He'd since defended once and shared headlining duties with O'Malley at the Prudential Center in Newark atop a 13-bout card whose five-bout main show was being packaged as UFC 316.
Also putting a title on the line was women's bantamweight champ Julianna Pena, who met two-time Olympic judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison in a scheduled five-round main event. Pena was 8-3 with the promotion since arriving in 2013, while Harrison had won two in a row since coming over from the rival PFL promotion last year.
The B/R combat team was in position to take in all the action and deliver a real-time list of the show's definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.
Winner: Same Old, Same Old
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O’Malley promised something different. But Dvalishvili delivered more of the same.
The reigning bantamweight king was even more punishing in a second go-round with his trash-talking rival, pursuing him for two rounds before catching and submitting him by a guillotine choke with 18 seconds remaining in Round 3.
The Georgian struck evenly with O’Malley through 10 minutes but gradually compromised the challenger’s gas tank with consistent pressure.
He began landing takedowns consistently in the third round, though, and ultimately chased a finish by seizing O’Malley’s neck and prompting a tap-out surrender at 4:42.
It was a second title defense for the champion, who’s won 13 straight bouts since losing his first two in the UFC.
O’Malley, meanwhile, lost for the second straight time after a training camp dedicated far more on grappling after he took time off to deal with a torn labrum in his hip.
He’s 10-3 in the UFC and 18-3 as a pro.
“I didn’t feel like it was gonna go like that,” O’Malley said. “What can I say? Merab’s a mother f—ker.”
Winner: Setting the Table
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Is there anything Harrison can’t do?
As it relates to combat sports, it seems the answer is no.
The two-time Olympic judo champion added a UFC gold belt to her trophy case and created a super fight in the aftermath, dethroning Pena via second-round kimura submission and inviting former champ Amanda Nunes into the cage to set up an all-time showdown at 135 pounds.
The quick dispatch of Pena followed a contentious run-up between the fighters, who followed their meeting with a long embrace in which they prayed for each other.
“We’re here to fight,” Harrison said. “This is a business. I love what I do. I appreciate a great fighter like Julianna being able to bring this out of me.”
Nunes said earlier in the week that she intended to come out of a brief retirement to face the winner, and she and Harrison spoke cordially and embraced before facing off for a photo opp. Nunes last fought at UFC 289 two years ago and is 11-1 in title fights.
“I have a belt, she has a legacy,” Harrison said. “Let’s put it on the table.”
Loser: Stoking the Fire
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Joe Pyfer and Kelvin Gastelum are usually good for fan-friendly fights.
But not so much on Saturday.
Pyfer scored a pair of knockdowns with right hands in the opening round but was unable to capitalize for much beyond that on the way to a unanimous decision in a desultory three-rounder that drew loud boos from a crowd that had expected in-cage tumult.
It was a fifth win in six UFC fights for Pyfer but his first appearance since last June, which was followed soon after by back surgery. The 28-year-old Philadelphia-based middleweight said “ring rust” may have been a contributing issue to the fight’s less-than-breakneck pace.
Gastelum, meanwhile, fell to 13-10 with the promotion and 3-6 since a title-fight loss against then-champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 236 in 2019.
“I didn’t get the finish. I’m sorry. But I was fighting a veteran,” Pyfer said. “I was too respectful of his chin, and I didn’t want to get caught. I’m sorry about a boring fight.”
Loser: Suspicious Debut
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Well, that was embarrassing.
Patchy Mix arrived to the UFC after a long, successful run in the Bellator promotion and immediately claimed he’d fast-track his way into the bantamweight title discussion.
But someone clearly forgot to give Mario Bautista the script.
Instead of playing competitive patsy for Mix’s hyped arrival, Bautista moved in and out and used his hands with precision, strafing his stationary foe with hard right hand after hard right hand across what became a shockingly uneventful 15-minute kickboxing clinic.
Two judges scored it 30-27 and one saw it 29-28.
The victory was the 10th in 12 UFC fights for Bautista, ranked 10th at 135 pounds, who simultaneously improved to 16-2 as a pro. Meanwhile, it was just the second loss in 22 pro fights for Mix, who’d won nine of 10 with Bellator from 2019 to 2024.
Winner: Talking It, Walking It
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If nothing else, Kevin Holland makes it memorable.
The chatty welterweight kept a steady torrent of trash talk directed at Vicente Luque through the first round of their main-card opener, but he was anxious to get back to violence when the second round got started.
And barely a minute in, it was over.
Holland was faster and more precise across the opening five minutes, then caught a Luque kick early in the second, quickly took the Brazilian to the floor and locked him into the d’arce choke that drew a tap-out surrender at 1:03.
It was a 15th UFC win overall and second in a row for Holland, who’d gone just 6-8 with a no-contest since a memorable 5-0 stretch in a COVID-addled 2020.
He followed the triumph with a claim he’d settle in at 170 pounds for the time being and announced his stay with a callout of three-time failed title challenger Colby Covington.
“I like beating up on sorry people,” he said. “Luque was a tough fight. Colby would be an easy one.”
Winner: Betting Experts Setting Lines
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Bruno Silva got to Newark with more professional victories than flyweight rival Joshua Van and was slotted two spots higher in the latest 125-pound rankings.
Yet Van was a darling of the oddsmakers, who made him the show’s biggest favorite at -750.
The moral of the story? Believe in the betting experts.
Van was the faster, sharper and more effective fighter through nearly every competitive sequence across the first 10 minutes, then strafed his man with counter shots and punished him with hard lead blows in securing a finish by third-round TKO.
The official time was 4:01.
It was his seventh victory in eight UFC fights and fourth in a row, while dropping Silva to 4-4 with a no-contest in the promotion. And it’s all but certain Van will at least exchange rankings spots with Silva, who arrived at No. 12 to Van’s No. 14.
“At 23 years old, the sky’s the limit,” analyst Joe Rogan said. “What a future this young man has.”
Winner: Underrated Light Heavyweights
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Azamat Murzakanov hasn’t been shy about calling for higher-level foes.
And given the ferocity with which he dispatched Brendson Ribeiro in their light heavyweight matchup on Saturday’s prelim card, don’t expect him to go silent anytime soon.
The rugged 36-year-old splits training time between Russia and his adopted home in New Jersey and had campaigned for a main-card slot after a KO win last August.
He started banging that drum again after a fusillade of left hands that dropped Ribeiro and left him helpless along the fence until referee Mike Beltran intervened at 3:25 of the first.
“I think I am underrated. I need more fights,” he said. “At least give me a five-rounder. I deserve a main event. Any fighter that can get me close to the title. The main fight of the night.”
It was Murzakanov’s fifth fight and fifth finish in the UFC and boosted him to 15-0 overall.
“That was a professional performance,” Rogan said. “He’s the most unheralded high-level guy in the sport.”
Loser: Judges' Decision. Again.
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If slugfests between heavyweight behemoths are your thing, the mid-card scrap between ranked contenders Serghei Spivac and Waldo Cortes-Acosta was probably your thing.
But if you like properly scored fights, maybe not so much.
The seventh-ranked Moldovan and 11th-ranked Dominican pitched and caught for nearly all of 15 minutes, though Spivac landed the more damaging punches and seemed to seal the deal with a final-round takedown.
Instead, all three judges gave it to Cortes-Acosta, including a three-round shutout from judge Anthony Tamburrino.
Statistically, Cortes-Acosta did hold a 69-40 edge in overall strikes, but Spivac had the fight’s lone two takedowns and 2:25 of positional control time.
“We’ve come to see the time and time again now,” analyst Daniel Cormier said. “Sometimes these judges don’t see it how we do.”
Loser: A Betting Favorite Going Down
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Believe it or not, Khaos Williams was a near 2-to-1 favorite.
It’s particularly hard to fathom given everything that happened after the opening glove tap, which essentially was Andreas Gustafsson punching, smothering and comprehensively mauling the burly welterweight across a brutally one-sided 15 minutes.
“He’s been melted by this mauling attack,” Rogan said. “This is absolutely exhausting. This is just brutal.”
Indeed, Williams was outworked in the first round, taken down three times in the second round and simply survived his way to the final bell in the third round on the way to a second straight loss and fourth overall in 10 UFC fights.
It was Gustafsson’s official debut with the company after a Contender Series win last summer. He’d declared coming in that he had no interest in scouting Williams and instead simply fought on competitive instinct.
“Vikings didn’t study film,” he said, “they just went into battle with an ax. I'm the least technical fighter in the UFC. I just love a good brawl."
Loser: Money, Then the Match for Ariane da Silva
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It was a comprehensively losing enterprise for Ariane da Silva.
The Brazilian arrived to fight week as the 13th-ranked contender in the flyweight division, but lost cash when she forfeited 25 percent of her purse thanks to a six-pound weight miss, then lost status with a competitive but clear decision loss to Chinese import Wang Cong.
Da Silva’s 132-pound weight on Friday put her well over the contracted 126-pound non-title limit and the punishment continued in the cage as Cong continually chopped away at Da Silva’s left leg, even prompting a knockdown late in the second round.
Strikes with the hands raised a noticeable swelling below Da Silva’s right eye, too, and she finished the 15 minutes with three 30-27 deficits on the scorecards as well as a 109-66 deficit in overall strikes.
She ended with her eighth loss in 14 UFC bouts and third in a row, too.
“I’m not 100 percent satisfied,” Cong said. “I can do everything better.”
Winner: JooSang Yoo
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It’s one thing to have Conor McGregor comparisons.
It’s another thing to deliver on them.
Korean featherweight JooSang Yoo was getting “Notorious” hype on the way to his UFC debut against Jeka Saragih and he certainly resembled the fiery Irishman in his younger days—replicating McGregor’s one-shot demolition of Jose Aldo with his own left hook that felled Saragih like a tree in less than half a minute.
“He went straight down to his face,” blow-by-blow man Jon Anik said. “About as picture-perfect a UFC debut as you could produce.”
Yoo leaned backward to elude a long right hand from Saragih and pivoted quickly with a hard left that traveled just a few inches before leaving his foe semi-conscious.
Saragih’s nose hit the ground first and Yoo landed one unfettered ground strike before referee Keith Peterson leapt in after just 28 seconds.
It was the fourth-fastest debut victory in UFC history.
Winner: Aussie Pride
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He’s not in rankings territory just yet, but it may not be long for Quillan Salkilld.
The 25-year-old Australian put on a virtuoso performance in his lightweight bout with New Jersey-based Israeli export Yanal Ashmouz, strafing him on the feet and dominating on the ground while wholly impressing the likes of Cormier, Rogan and Din Thomas
“The way he flows from the grappling to the striking to the submission stuff, it’s very high level,” Rogan gushed. “A dominant, impressive performance.”
The unanimous decision win was Salkilld’s second straight after debuting with a Contender Series win last summer. He was in complete control through 10 minutes, then hung in gamely as his rival emptied the tank with strikes across the final round.
“I wanted to show all facets of my game,” Salkilld said, “a bit of everything.”
Winner: Leg Strikes for the Victory
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Think you’re having a rough weekend?
It could be worse. You could be Mark Choinski’s left leg.
The 29-year-old lightweight’s calf was the primary target of MarQuel Mederos across 15 card-opening minutes, taking the majority of 32 leg strikes that prompted three knockdowns in the second round alone on the way to Mederos’ clear decision victory.
Choinski was undeniably tough but badly outgunned by his 28-year-old rival, who also scored well with his hands and defended nine of 11 takedown attempts and eluded Choinski’s desperate chase for a rear-naked choke down the third-round stretch.
“It’s exactly what he needed to do in this fight,” Cormier said. “MarQuel Mederos looked great tonight.”
Full Card Results
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Main Card
Merab Dvalishvili def. Sean O'Malley by submission (guillotine choke), 4:42, Round 3
Kayla Harrison def. Julianna Pena by submission (kimura), 4:55, Round 2
Joe Pyfer def. Kelvin Gastelum by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 30-27)
Mario Bautista def. Patchy Mix by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Kevin Holland def. Vicente Luque by submission (d'arce choke), 1:03, Round 2
Preliminary Card
Joshua Van def. Bruno Silva by KO (punches), 4:01, Round 3
Azamat Murzakanov def. Brendson Ribeiro by KO (punches), 3:25, Round 1
Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Serghei Spivac by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Andreas Gustafsson def. Khaos Williams by unanimous decision (30-37, 30-26, 30-26)
Early Preliminary Card
Wang Cong def. Ariane da Silva by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
JooSang Yoo def. Jeka Saragih by KO (punch), 0:28, Round 1
Quillan Salkilld def. Yanal Ashmouz by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
MarQuel Mederos def. Mark Choinski by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
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