UFC 313 is here, with Alex Pereira defending his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev while in the co-main event, Justin Gaethje faces Rafael Fiziev for the second time.
Follow along in the live blog below for round-by-round updates from the main card, while you can find longer recaps of all the fights under the blog!
UFC 313: Pereira v Ankalaev | SUN 9 MARCH | Alex Pereira will put his light heavyweight title on the line for a fourth time against Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.| Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.
FULL CARD
Main card (on Main Event from 2pm AEDT)
Alex Pereira (c) vs. Magomed Ankalaev for the UFC light heavyweight title
Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev – Lightweight
Jalin Turner vs. Ignacio Bahamondes – Lightweight
Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo – Strawweight
King Green vs. Mauricio Ruffy – Lightweight
Prelims (on Fox Sports and Kayo from midday AEDT)
Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya – Flyweight
Brunno Ferreira def. Armen Petrosyan via submission (armbar) – Middleweight
Carlos Leal def. Alex Morono via first-round TKO – Welterweight
Mairon Santos def. Francis Marshall by SD (29-28 x2, 27-30) – Featherweight
Early prelim
Osman Diaz def. Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos via UD (29-28 x3) – Middleweight
Cancelled due to ilness:
Chris Gutierrez vs. John Castaneda – Featherweight
Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev – Heavyweight
LIVE UPDATES
Follow along for the latest highlights from UFC 313 and live, round-by-round updates from the main card at 2pm! Can’t see the blog? Click here!
CONTROVERSY AS FIGHTERS SLAM ‘CLEAR ROBBERY’
The preliminary card kicked off with controversy as Mairon Santos claimed a split decision victory over American Francis Marshall
Santos had a 15-1 MMA career before Sunday’s fight, with his only loss coming to Dan Argueta at LFA 123, and was the more efficient striker of the two but Marshall as a whole had the bigger moments.
“It was a bad decision,” Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said in commentary.
“Even in the third round, he lost the third round. I don’t have anything against the kid. He lost that fight.”
Santos conceded after the fight that Marshall landed some big shots in the first round, but after that?
“Hhe did take me down but he didn’t do anything with it,” Santos added as boos rained down.
“His face was bleeding, I was doing a lot more damage with the jabs, and after the first round, he didn’t do anything. Those takedowns that he landed were just to stop the fight, not to do real damage. So I think I won fair and square.”
Marshall immediately dropped Santos with a heavy leg kick to open the fight, although the Brazilian was quick to his feet, later responding with a big leg kick of his own.
Marshall then landed a left hook as the fight passed the halfway mark in the first round, only for Santos to respond with a big left hand before mixing in a few nice leg kicks.
Santos seemed to be warming into the fight until Marshall had the biggest moment of the round as he landed a big left hook that rocked Santos late in the piece, with the Brazilian just hanging on until the bell.
Santos looked to have recovered by the time the second round got underway, landing a nice right hand to open things before Marshall connected with a left in response.
Marshall later scored the first takedown of the fight and was able to quickly transition to get Santos’ back, although not much came of it in the end, seeing the bout go to a third and final round.
Santos had his moments in the third round, landing a big right hand with just over three minutes left and continuing to hunt for the finish in the closing stages.
But Marshall mixed in some nice combinations to back Santos up and scored another late takedown to seemingly seal his second-straight victory, only to be denied by the judges.
Cody Durden described it as a “clear robbery” on X, while Renato Moicano agreed and Derek Brunson wrote it was an “awful decision”.
STATEMENT TKO WIN BRINGS CARD TO LIFE
Up next, Carlos Leal put the welterweight division on notice as he displosed of Alex Morono to score a first-round stoppage.
Leal was absolutely unloading and somehow Morono stayed on his feet, even as the Brazilian mixed in some brutal knees to the body and then went upstairs with a series of right hands.
Eventually it was too much as the referee was forced to step in, seeing Leal bounce back after a controversial unanimous decision loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC 308.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m 2-0,” Leal told Joe Rogan through a translator post-fight.
“I know this, you know this, my former opponent knows this. Right now, I’m 2-0 in the UFC.”
FERREIRA SHOWS OFF COMPLETE SKILLSET IN WIN
Generally, when Brunno Ferreira wins, he wins fast. The Brazilian has 13 finishes to his name from 13 victories in the MMA, with nine coming via knockout and four by submission.
On Sunday, it was another submission for Ferreria as he caught Armen Petrosyan with an armbar to claim a second-round win.
Ferreira landed a big left hook to rock Petrosyan early in the first round before the Armenian found himself in hot water for a pair of low blows, deducted a point by Marc Smith.
It was still a relatively even first round, and when the action got back underway in the second it didn’t take long for Ferreira to again connect with the left hand.
Petrosyan was having success in the striking exchanges, but Ferreira’s power remained a threat, even as the Brazilian started to run into problems with his right eye.
Ferreira quickly proved a busted eye wasn’t going to stop him from getting the 13th finish of his career as he took Petrosyan down and eventually was able to transition into a position to lock in the armbar.
READ MORE ABOUT UFC 313!
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