UFC Vegas took place Saturday, May 7, 2022 at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The card was headlined by a lightweight title bout between Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje.
Closing odds are courtesy of one of the most popular Las Vegas based sportsbooks Circa Sports. Here’s a quick recap of each of those fights.
Favorites that Won
In the main event of the evening, Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje both hurt each other badly in the opening round, but Oliveira recovered to knock Gaethje down, then put him to sleep with a rear naked choke in the first round. Oliveira was -140 while Gaethje was +120
Tony Ferguson looked to be turning back the clock, hurting Michael Chandler in the first round, but Chandler bounced back with one of the most brutal knockouts in UFC history, landing a front kick to the chin to put Ferguson out cold early in the second round. Chandler came through as a -335 betting favorite while Ferguson was +280
It wasn’t the prettiest fight, but Ovince St. Preux utilized his speed and heavy front kicks to pull away and win the third round en route to defeating legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via split decision. St. Preux was -240 while Rua was +205
In a wild ground exchange, Brandon Royval shrugged off submission attempts from Matt Schnell then latched onto a guillotine of his own, forcing a tap in the first round. Royval was -290 while Schnell was +245
Marcos Rogerio de Lima started strong against Blagoi Ivanov, but Ivanov took over in rounds two and three with heavy forward pressure and volume to win a unanimous decision. Ivanov was -145 while de Lima was +125
Andre Fialho stood his ground against Cameron VanCamp, landing a nasty left hook in the pocket to knock VanCamp out cold in the first round. Fialho was -565 while VanCamp was +440
Tracy Cortez utilized her superior wrestling, pace and volume while avoiding Melissa Gatto’s submission attempts from guard to comfortably win a unanimous decision. Cortez was -125 while Gatto was +105
Lupita Godinez outworked Ariane Carnelossi on the feet in the first round, then completely dominated her on the ground in rounds two and three, controlling all the the action with strikes and submission attempts en route to a one-sided decision victory. Godinez was -178 while Carnelossi was +153
Underdogs that Won
In the co-main event of the evening, Carla Esparza took advantage of the fact that Rose Namajunas turned a five-round title bout into a staring contest in one of the worst title fights in UFC history. Esparza went for some takedowns and moved forward enough to win a split decision. Esparza was +225 while Namajunas was -265
In the main event of the preliminary card, Francisco Trinaldo proved age is just a number at 43 years old by hurting Danny Roberts repeatedly over the course of three rounds to win a one-sided unanimous decision. Trinaldo was +120 while Roberts was -140
Macy Chiasson started strong with heavy pressure on the feet and picking up takedowns against Norma Dumont, which allowed her to hold onto her lead and win a split decision. Chiasson was +185 while Dumont was -215
In a controversial decision, Kleydson Rodrigues seemingly landed the superior strikes in round one and three while CJ Vergara advanced, but despite no one in the media scoring the fight for Vergara, the judges awarded him a split decision. Vergara was +485 was while Rodrigues was -385
In the opening bout of the evening, Fernie Garcia took the first round against Journey Newsom, but his output slowed in rounds two and three while Newsom pressed with a high volume of kicking attacks to win the final two rounds and the decision. Newsom was +108 while Garcia was -128
Pick’em Fights
Khaos Williams had the power, while Randy Brown had the range, which made for an evenly-matched fight and it played out that way. Williams dropped Brown in the first and third rounds, but Brown settled into the fight and outstruck Williams in round two and badly outstruck him in round three to walk away with a split decision. Both fighters were -110 pick’em odds.
