UFC on ESPN 72 Live Winners and Losers, Results
It's a big month for the UFC's middleweight division.
A week before a 185-pound title fight headlines a pay-per-view in Chicago, two streaking contenders trying to work their way into the championship conversation topped the marquee in the final 12-bout run-up at the Apex in Las Vegas.
Ninth-ranked Roman Dolidze and No. 10 Anthony Hernandez arrived in style, having won three and seven straight fights, respectively.
Dolidze, a 37-year-old from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, was coming off a five-round unanimous decision over former title challenger Marvin Vettori in March, while Hernandez had racked up five finishes and two decisions since last losing to Kevin Holland on a Fight Night show in Florida in 2020.
The B/R combat team was in place to take it all in and delivered a real-time account 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: Perfectly Punishing
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You know it’s a good thing when your only mistake is celebrating too soon.
Hernandez turned toward the cage and pumped his fists when Herb Dean leapt in at the end of the second, mistakenly thinking the fight was over instead of the round.
But it wasn’t too much longer before he got the revelry right.
The surging Californian continued to brutalize his bigger and presumably stronger opponent through the third round and into the fourth, ultimately prompting Dolidze to surrender to a barely secured rear-naked choke at 2:45.
“This is how you make a statement. This is how you remind people ‘Hey, there’s a guy named Fluffy Hernandez in this conversation,” analyst Daniel Cormier said.
“He dragged him across the floor like a little brother. That choke wasn’t locked in. That was just Dolidze wanting out.”
Given the one-sidedness of the 17-plus minutes, it was hard to fault him.
Hernandez landed 91 significant strikes to Dolidze’s 36, scored nine takedowns on 11 attempts and had nearly eight minutes of positional control, leaving the Georgian swollen and reddened around both eyes and thoroughly exhausted.
“I was p---ed off that my last fight went to a decision,” Hernandez said. “This fight I wanted to show out. I want a title shot. What the f--k more do I gotta do?”
Loser: Distance Dominance
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Ode' Osbourne could be a one-round world champion.
The “Jamaican Senstation” was effectively frenetic and punishing through five minutes against recent flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg, consistently beating him to the punch with superior speed and working his way out of takedown danger with nimble footwork.
The biggest problem for him? It was a three-round fight, not a one-rounder.
Osbourne never replicated his stellar start through the final 10 minutes, instead falling into a predictable pattern of movement and striking and becoming an easier target for Erceg’s consistent pressure on the way to a narrow but unanimous loss.
Erceg landed 35 strikes to Osbourne’s 21 across rounds two and three while adding two takedowns and racking up more than three minutes of positional control time.
All three judges scored it 29-28 for the Australian, who agreed to the bout on short notice after a date with Alex Perez was scrubbed by injury earlier this month.
“All I was thinking is ‘You’re a tough guy, people get dropped all the time,’” said Erceg, who was rattled badly by a right hand in the first. “I knew that he’s very explosive and I wanted him to get a little bit tired.”
Winner: Satisfying Recipe
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Busier + Harder = Successful
Eighth-ranked Iasmin Lucindo threw more shots and made more of an impact when she landed them, using that work rate to pound out a decision over No. 12 Angela Hill in a main-card matchup of contending fighters at 115 pounds.
It was a fifth win in seven UFC appearances and 18th in 24 overall fights for the 23-year-old, who’s the youngest woman on the promotional roster. She turned pro at age 15 in 2017 and was 13-4 before her octagonal arrival.
She’d won four straight across 2023 and 2024 before a narrow loss to fourth-ranked former title challenger Amanda Lemos at UFC 313 in March.
Hill, the oldest woman on the roster at 40, turned pro in 2014 when Lucindo was 12 and is 13-15 across two stints in the UFC since winning on season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter.
“(Lucindo) just punches a touch harder,” analyst Dominick Cruz said. “When you see her land it makes a difference.”
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Winner: Following Form
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Andre Fili was a near 2-to-1 underdog against Christian Rodriguez.
But given past history, he probably shouldn’t have been.
The 35-year-old featherweight veteran continued a results pattern that goes back six-plus years, following a quick submission loss in February with a competitive split decision over his aggressive 27-year-old opponent.
“Christian Rodriguez is a really tough kid,” Fili said. “I just turned 35, and getting in here with these young guys is fun.”
The unique pattern stretches back to 2019, which was the last time Fili strung together similar results. He followed that two-fight win streak with a loss to Sodiq Yusuff in early 2020 and he was 4-5 with a no-contest in 10 subsequent fights, going W-L-NC-L-W-L-W-L-W-L heading into the scrap with Rodriguez, which he earned with scores of 29-28 and 30-27.
A dissenting judge had it 29-28 for Rodriguez, which was picked apart as Fili expertly controlled distance and consistently drew his opponent into counter shots.
“That was the game plan but I think I could have followed it better,” Fili said. “He does a great job of coming forward and making you brawl.”
Winner: Acting His Age
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Jean Matsumoto has been particularly effective as the younger guy.
Fighting a 30-plus opponent for the fifth straight time in a UFC-sanctioned fight, the 25-year-old Brazilian used an effective variety of strikes to overcome another determined veteran in Miles Johns, which he did by a razor-thin split decision.
All three judges saw it a 29-28 margin, with two leaning in favor of Matsumoto after giving him a third round in which he maintained pressure and landed 50 total strikes.
It was his third official win in the octagon after a debut on the Contender Series, and came six months after he’d dropped a short-notice split verdict to ninth-ranked bantamweight Rob Font, who was 37 on fight night.
Against Johns, Matsumoto overcame a first round in which Johns pressed the action, eventually utilizing his own pressure and consistent kicks to Johns’ legs and his body.
He outlanded Johns in terms of significant strikes in rounds two and three, and finished with 49 lands to the head alongside 27 to the body and 19 to the legs.
“I was born to do this,” Matsumoto said. “I’ve always said I’m a complete fighter. Give me more time for Rob Font and it’s different.”
Winner: Scouting Success
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Christian Leroy Duncan had a speed edge and he knew it.
So, despite how much main-card foe Eryk Anders tried to bridge the gap by making the fight messy, the athletic Brit made full use of his assets on the way to a first-round finish.
Not long after Anders responded to a hard punch by initiating a fence-side tie-up, Duncan established distance and lashed his foe with two hard low kicks to set up a quick, spinning elbow and a subsequent flurry that prompted a stoppage at 3:53.
The left elbow clipped Anders on the chin and left him vulnerable to a volley that left him slumped along the cage and brought Mark Smith’s intervention.
It was Duncan’s fifth win in seven UFC fights and ended Anders’ two-fight win streak.
“We really broke down Eryk Anders. He’s been fighting for a long time, so there’s a lot of footage out there,” Duncan said. “We knew he liked to pressure but he didn’t like the pressure back. And he tends to drop hands after a low kick.”
Winner: Sensational Slam
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Ladies and gentlemen, the UFC has itself a prospect.
Bantamweight Elijah Smith was the biggest betting favorite on the show and certainly performed like it, countering Toshiomi Kazama’s attempt at a triangle choke with a devastating power bomb slam that ended the fight at 4:10 of the first round.
Kazama landed hard on the back of his head and was instantly helpless, laying motionless for several moments before being revived, helped to his stool and prepped for a precautionary trip to a nearby trauma center.
“I knew I had to slam him correctly. I had to slam him on his dome piece,” Smith said. “I knew I wanted to get that 50K bonus. I hope that slam gets in that conversation.”
It’s sure, too, to generate buzz about the 22-year-old, who’d arrived with decisions on the Contender Series and in his UFC debut across five months bridging 2024 into 2025.
The KO of Kazama was his fifth among six finishes in a career that began in 2022.
“The sky is not the limit,” Smith said. “I can go further out into the galaxy, as far as Elijah wants to.”
Winner: Post-Poke Punishment
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A warning to UFC bantamweights: Don’t poke Joselyne Edwards in the eye.
The Panamanian eschewed a prolonged timeout after she took damage from opponent Priscila Cachoeira in the first round, instead choosing to reengage immediately and hold “Zombie Girl” accountable with a devastating form of revenge.
Edwards delivered a clinically violent three-punch combination, firing a right uppercut followed by a left hook and a right cross that ended matters abruptly, sending the Brazilian to the floor in a semi-conscious heap and sealing the deal officially at 2:24.
“That was Boxing 101,” Cruz said. “Back step, uppercut, hook, cross, lights out.”
It was a third straight win and seventh in 11 UFC tries for Edwards, who arrived ranked No. 14 in the weight class and had the names of sixth-ranked Irene Aldana and No. 8 Mayra Bueno Silva in her mouth after the finish.
“We studied (Cachoeira) a lot. She's a very aggressive fighter. We knew that she always keeps her chin up,” Edwards up. “This is my time. I am a great fighter, a professional.”
Winner: Wake-Up Wallop
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Sometimes, you just need a wake-up call.
That was apparently the case for welterweight slugger Uros Medic, who was dropped with a right hand just seconds into his early prelim date with Gilbert Urbina.
It was the only moment, however, that Urbina would have.
Medic quickly regained his feet and delivered his own hard shot seconds later, leaving Urbina flat on his back and out of the fight with a lead left hand that yielded a KO finish at 1:03 of the first.
“It got me scared for a second because all I saw was lights,” Medic said of the early knockdown. “But I got up and I had confidence. It only takes one. I know what I have in my hands.”
It was his 11th finish in 11 career victories and his fifth win in eight UFC dates, coming on the fifth anniversary of his signing with the promotion.
“He is so good, why does he eat that shot before he does that to people?” Cruz said. “That left hand is just so hard. It’s so heavy. That was a timing punch.”
Loser: Sticking to Script
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Because Julius Walker and Rafael Cerqueira had finished or been finished inside of five minutes in three quarters of their fights, there was little reason to believe it wouldn’t happen again—particularly following three straight first-rounders earlier on the card.
Until it didn’t.
Instead of ending the show’s prelim portion in viral fashion, the powerful 205-pounders spent better than half of their 15 minutes on the ground, grinding their way to a decision that Walker earned with two 30-27 scores and another by a 30-26 margin.
“I can’t believe no one got knocked out,” Cruz said. “It’s so shocking.”
Walker wound up with six takedowns and 11:46 in control time, in addition to a 44-19 edge in significant strikes. It was his first victory by anything other than a finish and the first time he’d gone past the midway point of the second round to secure a victory.
“Rafael was real tough. I was a little too hesitant on the feet, which led to me getting cracked more than I should have,” Walker said. “But I felt real strong on the ground, which was nice. I’m a very strong light heavyweight. I think I had a physicality advantage.”
Winner: Looking the Part
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Sometimes, the face tells the story.
Whether she was throwing punches, landing hard kicks or using her footwork to elude opponent Julija Stoliarenko’s ponderously ineffective rushes, Brazilian flyweight Gabriella Fernandes simply looked like a winner based on her expressions.
She smiled, smirked and never showed an inkling of weakness across 15 minutes on the way to an easy-to-score unanimous decision that evident, too, by the bloody cut she opened over Stoliarenko’s left eye with a first-round jab.
One judge gave her all three rounds and the other two gave her two apiece, rewarding her successful striking in the opening two rounds, during which she landed better than 50 percent (42 of 83) of her significant attempts and defended each of Stoliarenko’s four takedown attempts.
It’s her third straight win after beginning her stay with the company with consecutive decision losses in 2023.
“She fought a high-level fighter (Jasmine Jasudavicius) early on,” Cruz said. “She’ll be on that level again in her next fight, but she’ll be more ready this time.”
Loser: Subtraction by Addition
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Some will suggest Cody Brundage deserved the victory. Others will insist Eric McConico did enough to warrant getting the verdict. Regardless, neither is likely to save the footage for personal highlight reels.
The Saturday show got off to a desultory start with the three-rounder that was put together on short notice to fill out the card, with McConico ultimately getting a split verdict that wasn’t criminal but certainly curious based on the ways the specific rounds were scored.
The Arizona-based 35-year-old light heavyweight landed the single most significant blow of a first session in which little else happened, though he was given the round by only judge Ben Cartlidge.
Meanwhile, he was awarded the second round by both Cartlidge and Tony Weeks despite landing fewer significant strikes (7 to 11) and being taken down twice and controlled for nearly three full minutes. And only Weeks gave him the third round, though it was the only one of the fight in which he landed more significant strikes (16 to 12) and had nearly two minutes of positional control of his own.
McConico’s win was initially celebrated by Cormier, before the former champ-champ saw the round-by-round tallies.
“Maybe,” Cormier said, “these judges don’t know what they’re looking at after all.”
Full Card Results
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Main Card
Anthony Hernandez def. Roman Dolidze by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:45, Round 4
Steve Erceg def. Ode' Osbourne by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Iasmin Lucindo def. Angela Hill by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Andre Fili def. Christian Rodriguez by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Jean Matsumoto def. Miles Johns by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Christian Leroy Duncan def. Eryk Anders by TKO (punches), 3:53, Round 1
Preliminary Card
Julius Walker def. Rafael Cerqueira by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Elijah Smith def. Toshiomi Kazama by KO (slam), 4:10, Round 1
Joselyne Edwards def. Priscila Cachoeira by KO (punch), 2:24, Round 1
Uros Medic def. Gilbert Urbina by KO (punch), 1:03, Round 1
Gabriella Fernandes def. Julija Stoliarenko by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Eric McConico def. Cody Brundage by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
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