UFC 319 Live Winners and Losers, Results

It's been six years, so it had to be a big return.

The UFC was back in Chicago with one of the year's most anticipated fights atop the marquee, featuring middleweight champ Dricus Du Plessis defending for the third time against unbeaten grappling machine Khamzat Chimaev.

Du Plessis hadn't lost in his nine-fight UFC stint, racking up wins over former kingpins Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland (twice) along the way. Chimaev, meanwhile, arrived during the company's COVID-prompted stay on Fight Island in 2020 and had won eight straight, most recently appearing for a first-round stoppage of Whittaker last October in Abu Dhabi.

The B/R combat team was in place for the main event and the show's other 11 bouts with an aim to deliver a real-time list of its 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: Comprehensive Coronation

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The fact that Chimaev won the fight and the middleweight title—given his arrival to the United Center as a better than 2-to-1 favorite—was hardly shocking.

But the ease with which he did so was a stunner to all who saw it.

And now that the challenger is now the champion, his future seems limitless.

“It was absolutely incredible to watch a challenger handle a champion in this manner,” blow-by-blow man Jon Anik said. “The difference in grappling was just astonishing. This was about as dominant a performance for a challenger as we’ve seen in a long time.

“Khamzat Chimaev is everything we knew and thought he was.”

The fight was taken to the mat within the first 30 seconds of each round, and Du Plessis landed only three significant strikes through the first 20 minutes.

Chimaev, meanwhile, landed nine of 11 takedowns through four rounds, got Du Plessis to the ground again to start the fifth and sidestepped a rally in the final minute that saw the South African reverse position and briefly chase a miracle finish by guillotine.

The winner finished with 12 takedowns, 529 total strikes and 21:40 in control time.

“The man has incredible control on the top,” Du Plessis said. “He’s just like a blanket. It was as if he always knew what your next move was going to be. I had to decide whether to be on my back or have him on my back. For now, it’s his belt and he deserves it.”

Winner: Concussive Climb

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From the moment Lerone Murphy’s spinning right elbow landed on Aaron Pico’s right temple, the UFC newbie was rendered unconscious.

So, when his head bounced off the mat as he hit the floor and Murphy leapt in with one last chopping blow to the face, the thrill of the unbeaten Brit’s career-defining win took a back seat to the medical personnel hustling into the cage to tend to the stricken fighter’s health.

Pico was eventually coaxed back to consciousness after the night’s second straight spinning-elbow KO, ceding the stage to Murphy’s instant ascension to title contention.

“This sport’s all about moments and I just created one,” he said. “I’m next in line. Let’s go, Volkanovski.”

It was a 17th win (alongside a draw) in 18 fights for Murphy, who’s won nine in a row in the UFC but arrived as a slight underdog against Pico, who’d run up an impressive record in the Bellator promotion and was effective early against Murphy thanks to persistent pressure.

But it was also his undoing.

“That’s the hardest first few minutes I’ve ever had, but I knew that he was going to walk on to something,” Murphy said. “And I said I would use his aggression against him.”

Loser: Receiving-End Resonance

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“That,” analyst Joe Rogan said, “sounded like a baseball bat.”

Which wasn’t good news for Geoff Neal, considering Rogan was talking about the impact Carlos Prates’ left elbow made as it smashed into the welterweight veteran’s head.

It was both devastating and decisive for the energetic Brazilian, whose spinning left KO was the ninth in the promotion’s history and prompted an entertaining post-fight performance in which he successfully campaigned for both a $50,000 bonus and a spot on the card that’s scheduled for Rio de Janeiro in October.

Not the worst way for a guy to spend the day before his 32nd birthday.

“We’ve seen Geoff Neal lose fights,” analyst Daniel Cormier said, “but not like that.”

The 34-year-old fared well when applying pressure and moving his hands early in Round 1, but Prates began asserting himself with a variety of strikes, including quick punches, hard leg kicks and the elbow that left Neal flat on his back for referee Jason Herzog’s wave off.

“You heard the crack,” Cormier said, “and you knew he wasn’t getting up.”

Winner: British Invasion

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Had it been a boxing ring, it could have been Naseem Hamed or Joe Calzaghe.

But in an MMA cage, it was Michael Page.

The British invader known as “Venom” was at his frenetic, sharp-shooting best against veteran middleweight contender Jared Cannonier, dropping him in each of the first two rounds and enduring the third on the way to a unanimous decision win.

It was the 38-year-old’s most complete performance against high-end competition since transitioning from Bellator 18 months ago. He’d earned decisions against Kevin Holland and Shara Magomedov in his first and third octagonal fights, sandwiched around a scorecard loss to Ian Machado Garry at UFC 303 in Las Vegas.

“He’s such a puzzle and Jared just did not have the solutions,” Rogan said.

Page dropped Cannonier with a hard right to the head halfway through the first round, then sent him tumbling to the floor with a left-right-left combination in the second. Cannonier got him to the mat early in the third and kept him there for the balance of the round, but neither chased a submission nor landed enough damage to erase the deficit.

Page’s matches with Holland and Garry were at welterweight and he’s now 2-0 at middleweight with the defeats of Magomedov and Cannonier.

“I still have a lot of thoughts of 170. And until I clear it out of my mind, it’s difficult to fixate on this division,” he said. “If there’s fights like this one to be made, I’ll be here.”

Winner: Veteran Vindication

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Tim Elliott had his redemptive moment at last.

The rugged 38-year-old was 14 fights into his second UFC stint and not expected to have his hand raised against recent title challenger Kai Asakura, but there he was after the opening fight of the five-fight main card, reveling in the surprise success.

The +240 underdog was clearly encouraged by a late takedown in the opening round against Asakura, so he got things back to the mat again in the second and never relented after locking in the mounted guillotine that yielded a tap-out win at 4:39.

“His best submission is his guillotine,” Rogan said, “and that was amazing.”

It was Elliott’s 10th win in 21 career UFC outings and eighth in 15 tries during a second run with the company that began in 2016. He eluded a left hook from Asakura and quickly seized the body lock that led to the takedown, then took top position, locked his right arm around his foe’s neck and clamped down by crossing his legs under Asakura’s torso.

“If your only thing is to knock me out by hitting me in the head, you’re going to have a rough night,” Elliott said. “Every fight for me is the best.”

Winner: Something from Nothing

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It wouldn’t be a UFC show without some late-stage adjustments.

A middleweight fight between Bryan Battle and Nursulton Ruziboev was scrubbed after Battle missed Friday’s weigh-in mark by four pounds, and two other fights—Rodrigo Sezinando vs. Daniil Donchenko at welterweight and King Green vs. Diego Ferreira at lightweight—will take place at later dates thanks to injuries.

But it wasn't a total loss, thanks to middleweight Baisangur Susurkaev.

The Chimaev protege took a fight with Eric Nolan just four days after a Contender Series win on Tuesday and dispatched his fellow UFC newbie by rear-naked choke in Round 2 to improve his pro record to 10-0.

Nolan had won four straight and eight of 11 in the Cage Fury Fighting Championships promotion.

"(Susurkaev is) so young, so calm," Rogan said, "and there's so much potential in this man."

Loser: Hanging On

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At some point soon, Gerald Meerschaert will have a decision to make.

The 37-year-old middleweight was outmatched on the feet and nowhere near effective enough to get things to the ground, ultimately succumbing to a predictable TKO by power-punching opponent Michal Oleksiejczuk at 3:03 of the opening round.

It’s three straight losses since last fall, 12 in 24 official UFC outings and 20 as a professional for “GM3,” whose three lunging (and unsuccessful) attempts at takedowns were deemed “absolutely terrible” by broadcast analyst Din Thomas.

He was on the wrong end of a 21-3 deficit in significant strikes, including the left-right-left combination that dropped him and left him nearly defenseless to the volley of chopping strikes that prompted the intervention of referee Herb Dean.

“This is a very good moment for me. Now I am a different fighter,” said Oleksiejczuk, who has 17 finishes (16 by KO) in 21 wins and has won two straight since linking with the popular “Fighting Nerds” training team in Brazil. “This is the best moment in my life.”

Winner: Fighting to the Bell

Just when it seemed time to deem Chase Hooper the winner of a first round in which he’d controlled both the pace and the distance, Alexander Hernandez finished stronger.

The 32-year-old “Great Ape” countered a Hooper left jab with a crunching overhand right, dumping his taller, longer and heavily favored foe to the floor and enabling the flurry of follow-up ground strikes that forced Herzog's hand at 4:58 of the round.

“He’s super dangerous and we knew he was going to want to press,” Hernandez said of Hooper, who’d arrived with five straight wins and had landed more frequently—if not concussively—through the round’s first four minutes.

“I needed him to step into range so I could catch him.”

It’s now three wins in a row for Hernandez, who’d fallen to 6-7 in his first 13 UFC fights but has climbed above .500 overall and won for the second time in six tries as an underdog.

Winner: Climbing the Ladder

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It’s become changing of the guard time at strawweight.

No. 11 contender Loopy Godínez’s bid for an elite position at 115 pounds was rewarded when she shone early and held on late for a competitive but unanimous decision over fifth-ranked contender and former champion Jessica Andrade.

The 31-year-old earned her second straight victory and ninth in 14 UFC outings by getting matching nods of 29-28 from the three cage-side judges, all agreeing with the B/R W/L card.

Godinez was faster and sharper in the first round and scored a takedown in the second while earning a 31-15 edge in significant strikes and compiling 91 seconds of control time.

Andrade, 33, began connecting on power shots and was able to bloody Godinez’s face in the third but couldn’t land a series of shots to offset her opponent’s early dominance.  

She lost for the third straight time and fell to 17-13 in the octagon.

“I knew it was going to be a super tough fight,” said Godinez, who eschewed a chance to make a specific top-five callout. “I’ll be ready for whoever they give me.”    

Winner: Second Go-Rounds

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There’s something to be said for experience.

Joseph Morales washed out of the UFC after three fights in 2018, then took nearly three years off before rebuilding his career with four straight wins and a berth in The Ultimate Fighter’s season 33 flyweight title fight.

So, when it came time for the 30-year-old father of two to produce against an unbeaten opponent and a near 5-to-1 betting favorite, he was ready.

Morales was sharper on the feet and on the ground in the opening round and maintained the momentum into the second, eventually getting Alibi Idiris to the ground and submitting him via triangle choke at 3:04.

“He fought in the UFC before. He fought on the (TUF) show, and he was good,” Cormier said. “But he was never this good. I’ve never seen him look better.”

The win set up a second run in the promotion for Morales, who won his initial octagonal fight in 2017 with a one-round rear-naked choke but was knocked out by future champ Deiveson Figueiredo in his second appearance and exited after a second loss nine months later.

“It’s been a hard road. A long eight years,” he said. “But I’ve got a great team and a great family. So many people I’ve got to thank.”

Loser: Scorecard Consensus

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Don’t hold your breath for a trilogy.

Brazilian flyweights and jiu-jitsu aces Karine Silva and Dione Barbosa got together for the second time after Barbosa won a unanimous decision six years ago, and it was Silva evening the score with her own scorecard sweep—all by 29-28 margins.

But it wasn’t exactly a fan-friendly masterpiece, and it wasn’t a fair verdict, at least according to the broadcasters, who suggested Barbosa had earned the first two rounds to offset nearly being finished by a guillotine choke in the third.

“This has to stop happening,” Cormier said. “These judges can’t keep doing this time and time again.”

Rogan agreed.

“That was shocking,” he said. “I think that’s a bad decision.”

Nevertheless, B/R’s W/L card had the backs of Eric Colon, Scot Jones and Josh Stewart, also giving Silva rounds two and three after Barbosa took the first. Statistically, Silva landed 49 strikes to Barbosa’s 23 in the second and matched her foe’s one takedown.

“I won the second round and in the third round I almost finished her three times,” Silva said. “What else do you want me to do?”

Full Card Results

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Main Card

Khamzat Chimaev def. Dricus Du Plessis by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44)

Lerone Murphy def. Aaron Pico by KO (spinning back elbow), 3:21, Round 1

Carlos Prates def. Geoff Neal by KO (spinning back elbow), 4:59, Round 1

Michael Page def. Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Tim Elliott def. Kai Asakura by submission (guillotine choke), 4:39, Round 2

Preliminary Card

Baisangur Susurkaev def. Eric Nolan by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:01, Round 2

Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Gerald Meerschaert by TKO (punches), 3:03, Round 1

Loopy Godínez def. Jessica Andrade by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Alexander Hernandez def. Chase Hooper by TKO (punch), 4:58, Round 1

Early Preliminary Card

Drakkar Klose def. Edson Barboza by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Karine Silva def. Dione Barbosa by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Joseph Morales def. Alibi Idiris by submission (triangle choke), 3:04, Round 2