Two UFC middleweights looked to gather momentum going into the last quarter of 2024 as Andre Petroski and Dylan Budka battled it out at UFC Vegas 97 on Saturday night.
Petroski (11-3) came into the APEX hoping to start a win streak. Coming off a decision victory over Josh Fremd in July that snapped a two-fight losing streak his mission was to build on the victory.
Budka (7-3) is a veteran of the Contender Series, but lost his first official UFC bout to Cesar Almeida via second round TKO. He missed weight, coming in at 188.5 pounds, and looked rather scary on the scale. Even with all that doctors cleared him to fight against Petroski.
Some heavy shots were fired from both men in the early going of Saturday’s preliminary card encounter, with Budka, apparently no worse for the wear after the weight miss, launching a jump knee. About two minutes in, Petroski, who had been targeting the body, found his opening and landed a takedown, putting Budka on the back.
Despite sitting in top position for the remainder of the round, however, Andre Petroski couldn’t make much happen. He’d eventually find space to drill the sides of Budka, and passed to mount in the final ten seconds, but simply ran out of time.
After a clear 10-9 for Petroski in round one, Dylan Budka looked to get his offense going, taking a more traditional approach with uppercuts and body kicks, rather than the jump knees and explosive, flashy striking her displayed early in round one. Another kick to the body landed for Budka, but moments later, he found himself taken down again.
It wasn’t a much better round for Budka, who had to contend with Petroski going to the body and head. But Petroski had been less active than expected, earning warnings for both activity and grapping the cage.
Regardless, Budka appeared to be in need of a finish heading into round three. Instead, it was Petroski, after a bit of standup, changing levels and charging into another takedown. Budka had his back against the fence, but through two rounds had shown no ability to regain his feet. With Petroski in half guard, that didn’t appear to be changing any time soon. Petroski would never come close to a finish, but his wrestling was enough to keep Budka on his back for the bulk of the fight, leading to a clear-cut decision win.
Official Result: Andre Petroski def. Dylan Budka by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
