UFC Fight Night: Sterling vs. Zalal Live Winners and Losers, Results

The theme continues for another week.

A former champion in the back half of his 30s is aiming to prolong relevance against a younger foe in a career-altering main event bout.

This time it's ex-bantamweight king Aljamain Sterling, who'll either take a significant step toward the top of his new weight class—featherweight—or fall back into a prolonged rebuilding phase at age 36.

His foil for the task is 29-year-old Youssef Zalal, who arrives on a five-fight heater (with four submissions) that has carried him to the No. 7 slot in the 145-pound rankings, two places below where Sterling sits after going 2-1 in his last three.

The Sterling-Zalal clash will top a 13-bout card at the Apex facility in Las Vegas and B/R's combat team is in place to take in all the action and deliver a real-time account of the event's definitive winners and losers.

Take a look at what we come up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Loser: Easy Decision-Making

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Julia Polastri (right) punches Talita Alencar

Combat sports judges are a convenient target. And often a legitimate one.

But it's not always an easy gig, particularly in fights like Saturday's prelim opener—where strawweight combatants Talita Alencar and Julia Polastri gave precious little to discern.

The two women, both Brazilian, were separated by just an inch in height, and each came to the cage with their hair in long braids while wearing similar blue and purple fight kits.

It wasn't so easy when the fists started flying either, with just seven strikes separating them across 15 minutes, making Alencar's three takedowns the presumably decisive factor in her narrow unanimous decision victory.

All three scorecards were 29-28 and all three judges gave her the first and second rounds before awarding Polastri, who'd entered as a 2-to-1 betting favorite, the third.

B/R's W/L card had it 29-28 the other way, giving Polastri the second and third.

Full Card Results

Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC

Joselyne Edwards

Main Card

Aljamain Sterling v Youssef Zalal

Norma Dumont v Joselyne Edwards

Rafa Garcia v Alexander Hernandez

Davey Grant v Adrian Luna Martinetti

Montel Jackson v Raoni Barcelos

Marcus Buchecha v Ryan Spann

Preliminary Card

Rodolfo Vieira v Eric McConico

Jackson McVey v Sedriques Dumas

Mayra Bueno Silva v Michelle Montague

Jafel Filho v Cody Durden

Francis Marshall v Lucas Brennan

Max Griffin v Victor Valenzuela

Talita Alencar def. Julia Polastri by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)