Josh Emmett

Kevin Vallejos(#14) peppered and finished Josh Emmett(#11) in the first round of their main event on Saturday to tally the largest win of his career. An absolutely devastating loss for 41-year-old Emmett who has now lost five of his last six fights.

Emmett is in a tough situation here, he hasn’t won consistently in a while. He looked a bit rough on Saturday (yet game), but he made no indication that he was prepared to hang it up. Emmett could slide to the edge of the rankings or out of them altogether.

Good next fight for Josh would be giving him the loser of (#12) Patricio Pitbull vs Aaron Pico. That fight goes down on April 11th, so timing would matchup just fine. Both fighters carry names and are former Bellator standouts. Pitbull is 1-1 with the UFC having lost his debut to Yair Rodriguez, but winning against Dan Ige in July of last year. Pico is 0-1 but lost via a wild spinning back elbow at the hands of top ranked, Lerone Murphy. This bout is going to be fireworks with two, very violent stand up strikers. Giving Emmett the loser keeps him relevant, gives the fans an exciting fight and offers another litmus test for the former Bellator fighters against a former UFC title challenger.

Emmett’s next fight: Patricio Pitbulll vs. Aaron Pico Loser

Amanda Lemos

Gillian Robertson (#8) strategically landed take downs in order to neutralize the striking of Amanda Lemos (#5) on Saturday and capture the unanimous decision victory. Lemos has to be a tad frustrated with herself after the performance in a very winnable fight. The 38-year-old is now riding a two fight losing streak and has lost four of her last six dating back to her 2023 unsuccessful title sho,t against then champ, Zhang Weili.

Amanda’s next fight should be against (#13) Denise Gomes. The UFC isn’t going to do Lemos any favors here, almost a 40-year-old 115lbs. fighter, they are going to continue to feed her to the young guns of the division. Denise is 6-2 with the promotion and is currently riding a four-fight win streak (Eduarda Moura, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Elise Reed and Teicia Pennington). A lot of these fighters aren’t even with the UFC anymore. But that’s not the 26-year-old’s fault. Most of the fighters directly above her a matched up already in the rankings, so what better fight to make than this? Both are strikers, and a fighter like Gomes could very well be the future of the division. A good fight to book and one that could easily sneak onto the main card of a fight night card. Winner propelled into the top 7 easily.

Lemos’s next fight: Denise Gomes

Andre Fili

Jose Delgado just edged out UFC veteran, Andre Fili, in a back and forth standup war on Saturday. Fili, a 13-year UFC veteran with 26 fights with the promotion, has gone 2-3 in the last two years. All losses in the time period have still been opposite some talented competition (Dan Ige, Melquizael Costa and now Jose Delgado). Andre is one of those guys has fought everyone. Not everyone, seemingly everyone…a whole lot of fighters. Often times Fili serves as a litmus test for fighters that want to enter the rankings of the featherweight division.

A solid next matchup for Fili would be pitting him against Chepe Mariscal. Chepe started off red-hot in the UFC back in 2023, ripping off five victories in a row (Trevor Peek, Jack Jenkins, Morgan Charriere, Damon Jackson and Ricardo Ramos). Unfortunately, in his most recent fight, last November, Chepe suffered his first promotional defeat at the hands of Pat Sabatini. Despite the timing not exactly matching up, this would be an excellent fight to get Mariscal back on the board. To get his bearings back and to see if he’s worthy of making a run at the rankings. For Fili, it’d be an excellent opportunity for him to prove he still belongs against a hot prospect that has recently stumbled. Great fight for the main card of an APEX based, fight night card.

Fili’s next fight: Jose ‘Chepe” Mariscal 

Harry Hardwick

Undefeated fighter, Marwan Rahiki, came out on top of an edge-of-your-seat, two-round barn burner, opposite of Harry Hardwick. Harry was unable to answer the call for the third round, as his jaw was badly broken in the second. Rahiki and Hardwick landed the fight of the night bonus for this scrap, an honor rarely given to bouts that don’t go the distance. Harry has had a rough go at it in his short stint with the UFC, especially factoring injuries in now. Hardwick is 0-2 with the promotion. He made his debut last year on short notice and up a weight class and was rewarded by being finished in the first round with a calf kick.

Give this man a break and have him take on a fighter in his weight class, that he can prepare for, and has a similar promotional record. He’s more than proven that he can scrap.

Good next fight for Harry would be to give him the loser of the Tommy McMillen vs Manolo Zecchini fight. This fight goes down on April 4th, but due to Harry’s broken jaw- who knows when he’ll be looking at making an octagon return. Zecchini is 0-1 with the promotion and made his debut back in September of 2023, where Morgan Charriere stopped him in the first round. Manolo will be taking on a undefeated fighter making his UFC debut after winning on the Contender Series last year. Three young hungry guys with solid record, two of them having being fed to the wolves immediately upon entering the promotion. Excellent fight to book here, and defending how the fight goes on April 4, potentially tremendous upside.

Hardwick’s next fight:  Loser of Tommy McMillen vs Manolo Zecchini

Oumar Sy

Ion Cutelaba secured a clever mounted guillotine late in the first to secure a submission victory over Oumar Sy on Saturday. Sy now falls to 3-2 in the UFC after signing as an undefeated fighter in 2024. Oumar started off hot with back to back victories in the UFC, but suffered his first defeat to Alonzo Menifield and has now suffered the first stoppage defeat of his career.

Oumar’s next fight should be against Rodolfo Bellato. Its rare the UFC pairs up a fighter coming off a stoppage loss against a fighter coming of a stoppage victory (especially without rankings invovled), but it makes sense in this scenario. Bellato was scheduled to fight Sy for his second UFC fight, he has gone 1-1-1 with 1 no contest since that bout fell through in 2024. Sy has had his entire UFC stint in that time, going 3-2. So even though Bellato is coming off a win, this fight still makes sense (That win was also against a 6-0 fighter making his promotional debut). This fight is one that should be revisited and still makes sense. The two also share a common opponent in Navajo Stirling.

Sy’s next fight: Rodolfo Bellato

Bruno Silva

Charles Johnson (#14) snuck away with the win over Bruno Silva (#15) to kick off the main card of UFC Vegas 114 on Saturday. Bruno is now 5-5 with the UFC and has dropped three of his last four. Worth noting that those other two losses were stoppages, but against the likes of Manel Kape and eventual champ, Joshua Van.

Bruno should fight the loser of (#10) Alex Perez vs. Sumudaerji for his next bout. That fight takes place on May 30th so the timing isn’t the best but it could still make a lot of sense. Perez is coming off a first round victory against Charles Johnson but he missed weight ahead of the bout. So that’s probably why he’s taking on an unranked fighter in Sumudaerji for his next fight. Before that, Perez had lost five of his last six fights stemming from his unsuccessful title shot opposite of Deiveson Figueiredo in 2020.

Sumudaerji has completely turned his UFC career around after a three-fight skid (Matt Schnell, Tim Elliott, Charles Johnson). Sumudaerji has ripped off three huge wins in a row in just under a year (Mitch Raposo, Kevin Borjas, Jesus Aguilar). Perfect fight to give the loser to Silva due to the common opponents in Charles Johnson and where all three men sit in the rankings (or out of them).

Silva’s next fight: Loser of Alex Perez vs. Sumudaerji 

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“Touchy” Fili had been treating wins and losses since 2022, and was looking to buck that trend with a second consecutive victory. Delgado had seen a two-fight win streak of his own snapped by Nathaniel Wood in his last outing.

The two featherweights got the action underway by meeting in the center of the octagon, using feints to get a read on each other. Delgado landed a nice body kick to open, but Fili quickly rang the bell of the advancing Delgado, forcing him to back off the center.

Delgado stayed on the pressure shortly after, throwing a looping overhand past the head of Fili, but the veteran answered with a clean straight right that dropped Delgado early in the round.

Quickly back to his feet, Delgado attempted a desperate takedown, though it was effortlessly shrugged off by Andre Fili.

With confidence now oozing from the 35-year-old veteran, Fili continued to put it on Jose Delgado in the striking, landing with purpose. Delgado was able to pile up some volume as the final seconds of the first round ticked away, but it was largely a round dominated by Andre Fili.

In round two, Fili opened confidently again, walking down Delgado and landing a few straight shots clean to the midsection. Though, tides began to shift as it was Delgado who really started flowing around the three-minute mark of the second, landing a mix of four consecutive kicks to the body and head of Fili.

Delgado was now in the driver’s seat against a laboring Fili, exploding into a flying knee that hurt Andre Fili and led to a flurry of strikes from Delgado. Continuing to pour it on, Delgado opened up his striking, landing a variety of teep kicks before finding a takedown of his own.

That success was short-lived, as Fili quickly returned to his feet and landed a takedown of his own as round two came to an end.

Likely 19-19 after two, it came down to the third and final round between Andre Fili and Jose Delgado. The younger Delgado kept up his movement, circling Fili on the outside of the octagon and touching the legs and midsection of Fili with kicks.

Fili was ready to trade in the center as well, eating a high kick from Jose Delgado while continuing to pressure forward in search of the knockout punch. As the two exchanged, Delgado seemed a step ahead as the round moved into deeper waters, with the veteran Andre Fili slowly breaking down from the accumulation of strikes.

In a last-ditch effort during the waning seconds of the fight, Andre Fili landed a well-timed takedown and followed with significant ground strikes, ending the round on top of Jose Delgado, making a considerable case for victory.

A difficult fight to score, the judges could not come to a unanimous decision, but it was Jose Delgado who was awarded the split-decision victory, moving him back into the win column.

Official Result: Jose Delgado def. Andre Fili by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

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Anthony Hernandez

Winner of now eight straight, Anthony Hernandez looked as polished as ever on Saturday when he dominated Roman Dolidze on his way to a fourth-round submission. With that rear-naked choke, “Fluffy” became the first fighter to finish Dolidze. While the performance was impressive and so was the result, unfortunately for him, middleweight isn’t lacking in contenders right now. Reinier de Ridder has all the wind in his sails as he just broke into the top5, there’s a title eliminator going down in Paris a month from now, and big names like Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya are always lurking. Could Hernandez call out and get one of those two former champions? It’s possible, but not probable.

I believe the winner of the Paris main event between Nassourdine Imavov and Caio Borralho will be awarded the next title shot. With so many consequential bouts in the near future, we sometimes forget that the losers of those bouts will also need opponents. That’s why I had RDR matched up with the loser of next week’s title fight when he won in Abu Dhabi. With Adesanya and Strickland seemingly in no hurry to book their next one, that leaves Fluffy with the loser of the Paris main event. I thought about Robert Whittaker, but I think Bobby Knuckles will take a break, while Fluffy appears to want to get to the belt as soon as possible.

Hernandez’s next fight: Imavov/Borralho loser

Steve Erceg

Seventeen months removed from his last victory, Steve Erceg finally got back in the win column at UFC Vegas 109, earning a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Ode’ Osbourne. Yes, Osbourne had lost three of his last four coming in and took the fight on short notice, but getting a win of any kind was an encouraging sight for the Australian. This win shouldn’t propel him back with the top dogs of the division, but it should be enough to just re-book the original Alex Perez matchup. Perez and Erceg are two fighters who fans know are very skilled and much better than their records would indicate of late. Let’s see which one of the two can get back in the mix.

Erceg’s next fight: Alex Perez

Iasmin Lucindo

The youngster Lucindo had been impressive in her UFC run thus far, until she ran into Amanda Lemos in March. Lucindo wasn’t able to use her athletic gifts against the equally athletic, but much more experienced Lemos. She looked completely outmatched in her last outing, but this was a nice bounce back performance over the litmus test of the division in Angela Hill. Another fighter who looked promising until she ran into a top five opponent was Tabatha Ricci. Ricci had posted a very good 6-1 record at strawweight before she hit a roadblock against Yan Xiaonan. Ricci then rebounded nicely against Amanda Ribas, another one of those gatekeeping types. Why not match Ricci with Lucindo to see which of the two can string two wins together and earn a second crack at the top five?

Lucindo’s next fight: Tabatha Ricci

Andre Fili

The savvy veteran “Touchy” Fili has been juggling wins and losses for years, now. While he has failed to win consecutive fights since 2019, he always shows impressive levels of ability against a very respectable strength of schedule. With this split decision win against a Christian Rodriguez seven years his junior, could Fili stop another young prospect in his track? Let’s say, someone like wrestling powerhouse Isaac Dulgarian. It’s often ill-advised to take MMA math at face value, but to the extent that it offers any sort of relevant information, his latest win would tell us that Fili has a good chance to beat Dulgarian.

Fili’s next fight: Isaac Dulgarian

Jean Matsumoto

Matsumoto came within a hair of defeating Rob Font in February and breaking into the rankings at just 25 years of age. He lost a split decision that some people thought could have gone his way. Same story, different result this time around, as he won a split decision in a fun scrap at UFC Vegas 109 that could have gone against him. Miles Johns was a proper opponent for the youngster coming off that Font fight and he passed the test. There are quite a few names within that tier that Matsumoto could face next such as Davey Grant, Brady Hiestand or Da’Mon Blackshear, but I went with Victor Henry, who I think is equally tricky on the feet as he in on the ground.

Matsumoto’s next fight: Victor Henry

Christian Leroy Duncan

Even though he was victorious in his last outing, it still felt like CLD needed a “bounce back win” this weekend against Eryk Anders. He’s had a couple of nice finishes in the UFC, but his last fight in March was such a stinker that this first-round KO was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Englishman. Anders has had a decent career in the promotion, but Duncan showed how much of a difference being eight years younger can make. The exciting parts of CLD’s game can be quite entertaining, so why not put him up against someone who will bring the best out of him? Someone like Brazilian striker Marco Tulio, who’s had two knockouts so far in his rookie year.

Leroy Duncan’s next fight: Marco Tulio

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“Touchy” Fili had been trading wins and losses back to 2022 and was coming off a loss to Melquizael Costa; “Cee-Rod” had, in something of an unlikely coincidence, also lost to Costa in his last outing.

The first round saw both fighters exchange low leg kicks, as Rodriguez pressed Fili to the fence looking to land a massive overhand. The fighters entered the clinch as Rodriguez controlled Fili against the cage momentarily. As each returned to the center of the cage, Fili seemed hesitant to throw. Rodriguez landed a good low leg kick and followed it up with a fast jab upstairs. Fili threw a powerful left hook that didn’t find a home, as Rodriguez landed a kick to the legs.

Shortly after, Fili caught Rodriguez clean with the same counter left hook he missed moments earlier, rocking Rodriguez and forcing him to retreat. Rodriguez weathered the storm, and seemed to be recovered with a minute left in the round. Fili was darting in and out of range landing jabs and leg kicks, climbing back into the fight in terms of significant strikes. In a hope to change the momentum in the fight, Rodriguez landed a takedown against the fence with twenty seconds left.

A back and forth first round could have gone either way as this entertaining contest entered the second. Rodriguez threw back to back left hands that narrowly missed, as Fili partially connected with a head kick upstairs. Moments later Rodriguez was able grab a leg, but Fili defended well against the takedown.

Both fighters started to throw caution to the wind and exchange on the massive blows on the inside. Rodriguez forced the fight into the clinch, but Fili was able to separate and land a clean left hand counter. Fili seemed to be pulling away in the second round finding a home for his jab. A quality knee landed from Rodriguez in the clinch with five seconds left. Another close round saw Fili narrowly ahead on total strikes.

In the third, Rodriguez threw a jab and entered into the clinch. Forcing the fight to the fence Rodriguez looked for a takedown, landing knees to the leg of Fili. After separating Rodriguez landed a head kick but was drug to the ground by Fili giving up a massive takedown. Moving to he back of Rodriguez, Fili was quickly transitioning to a dominant position. Rodriguez was able to escape moments later, as both exchanged big shots in the center of the cage. After eating a big elbow, Fili landed another takedown presumably securing a victory. With a minute left in the fight Rodriguez scrambled up, eating a body kick on his way up. Each fighter stood and traded big shots as the final horn sounded. Fili should have earned himself a massive victory as a betting underdog.

After three rounds, the judges were split again. This time favoring Andre Fili. No clue how this fight could have been scored for Rodriguez, but at least the right fighter won the contest. Fili and Daniel Cormier stated they were surprised with the split decision but Fili gave credit to his opponent Christian Rodriguez, and humbly gave credit to his teammates and coaches as well.

Official Result: Andre Fili def. Christian Rodriguez by split decision (30–27, 29–28, 28–29)

The post UFC Vegas 109: Andre Fili Shows No Signs of Slowing at 35, Beats Christian Rodriguez appeared first on Cageside Press.

If by ‘locked and loaded’ you mean a diaper bag, baby toys, and his infant son.

“I moved to Vegas about a year-and-a-half ago so I get to be a dad during fight week. It’s good for the soul,” Fili told reporters on Wednesday.

“I get to wake up in my own bed, make breakfast with my wife and son, and yeah it’s been amazing.”

Fili (24-12) sees fatherhood as a super power. Having a family to provide for and a son to raise has put his fighting career into perspective. No longer is life all about fighting, if anything, life is about the balancing act between fighter and father.

“It’s like a superpower man, you know? I feel like I wish I did this 10 years ago it’s crazy. The drive, the motivation and just the gratitude of these little moments. One day we’ll be able to look back at this picture. There’s just a lot of cool moments this week,” he said.

“Huge motivating factor for me. It’s the first time in my life that something’s cooler than fighting. My whole life since I was 14, that’s 20 years, since I first saw the UFC. Fighting’s been the coolest thing in the world to me, and now it’s the second coolest thing and he’s the first.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Andre Fili above. He takes on Christian Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 109 on Saturday night.

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“I actually had a very emotional week thinking about stuff. About everything. Having a fight week,” Costa told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator at his post-fight scrum.

“It actually made me cry when I realized because when the coin just finally drops. When it dawned on me I was fighting a guy that I remember fighting Max Holloway back in the day watching him on tv. I’m like I’m going to fight this guy.”

Costa (22-7) had been talking during fight week about how he looked up to Fili hoping to one day make it into the UFC. The realization of a dream was a lot for the 28-year-old featherweight to grasp all at once.

Even though he beat a seasoned veteran at UFC Seattle, Costa doesn’t believe he’s earned the right to call anyone out.

“I’m not at the stage where I can actually be choosing, calling out opponents, I’m an employee. I want to fight man I want to fight,” he said.

“And even two fill in some holes, always be ready to fight, so if they need somebody to fill in. A month, two months, a couple weeks, I’ll be ready for it.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Melquizael Costa above.

The post Melquizael Costa Had Emotional Fight Week Realizing Fili Fight appeared first on Cageside Press.

The 28-year old Costa, however, was nearing 30 pro fights himself, and both fighters were coming off wins in their last outing that they no doubt hoped to convert to a modest win streak.

Both men came out aggressive, meeting in the center of the octagon. Near the three minute mark, Fili landed a glancing head kick that narrowly missed its target. Costa began to circle away on the outside throwing kicks to the legs and body of Fili. A well timed takedown by Fili saw him end up on top, but Costa slipped an arm around his neck and secured a guillotine choke.

Struggling to get to his feet from half guard, Fili felt immense pressure on his neck and was forced to tap from the submission. That made it back-to-back submission wins for the young prospect Melquizael Costa, who has shown his talent and potential for the future. Fili looked distraught following the loss and was fighting very competitively before getting finished.

Costa said that it was an honor to fight Andre Fili; he said as a child he watched Fili fight former featherweight champion Max Holloway and had tremendous respect for him. This was by far the biggest win of Costa’s career, UFC or otherwise.

Official Result: Melquizael Costa def. Andre Fili by submission (guillotine choke), Round 1, 4:30

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He was also showing the damage of the affair in the aftermath of the fight, which “Touchy” Fili (24-11, 1NC) won via split decision.

“The guy hit me dude, a couple times. I wanted him to stop, but he just kept on keeping on,” Fili exclaimed, speaking with media outlets including Cagesdie Press following the fight at the T-Mobile Arena.

Despite the obvious bruising and cuts, Fili never felt close to being finished. “I didn’t feel in danger, there was nothing that hit me to the point where I felt rocked,” he stated. “He’s got weird timing. He’s got a really weird style, some shots got in that I didn’t expect. I felt I was countering basically everything he threw in the first.”

“My coach calls him a snake charmer, he’s got this weird style, he’s either like stopped, or gone. He never cruises. He hit a couple okay shots, but I felt good.”

Fili planned to fight a technical fight, and feels he did that in the opening round. As the second and third rounds progressed, however, he found himself in more of a brawl. “He’s really good at pulling you into a dog fight. He’s known for that. I was surprised at how well he did it. He pulled me into a brawl, I still won the brawl, but that’s Cub Swanson. He’s good at what he does.”

When it came time for the scorecards to be read, Fili was confident, though the dissenting judge did throw him for a loop.

“I was really confident. I thought I did plenty to win the fight, and then I heard the split. I had one second where I was like ‘I hope they don’t do the thing they always seem to do.’ And thankfully they didn’t. I think they got it right. I won the fight, I felt real confident that I won the fight. It was just a weird one. But that’s kind of what you get when you fight Cub. That’s what I signed up for.”

In a firefight with an opponent like Swanson, Fili later told Cageside Press that he actually has to turn his mind off. “I’m someone who is very analytical, I like to think, I like to problem solve, I like to reverse engineer things. So during my camp, I’m thinking a lot, I’m talking a lot, my coach Danny Castillo will tell you I never shut up during training. But when it’s time to fight, you turn all that off.”

“You don’t attach yourself to thoughts or feels,” Fili added. “The closer I get to a fight, the less I feel, the less I think. I completely autopilot, just seek, destroy. And I feel I did a really good job of that.”

Fili also gave his reaction to actor and former wrestler Tyler Mane returning to the role of Sabretooth in the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, with Deadpool himself incorporating some MMA-related lingo into the latest trailer.

“It’s really cool to see MMA seep into pop culture in a way that makes sense. It’s not like hokey and gimmicky, they actually kind of get it. The people that make movies like that, obviously you can tell when they love comic books, because the movies are good, but you can also tell that they love fighting and they love all these other cool things. It’s a good time be a f*cking nerd. We’re going to have a good summer.”

Watch the full UFC 303 post-fight press conference with Andre Fili above.

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As he noted post-fight, however, Pereira felt deserving of a post-fight bonus at UFC 300 in April, a card he also headlined. Also on short notice. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, after stopping Prochazka a second time, “Poatan” called for a Performance of the Night bonus – and this time, he got it.

The light heavyweight champ’s head kick finish, followed up with punches, secured him one of four Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC 303, with UFC President and CEO Dana White also awarding a Fight of the Night, for six bonus winners in total.

Also collecting Performance bonuses were Macy Chiasson, Payton Talbott, and Joe Pyfer. Talbot flatlined Yanis Ghemmouri, while Pyfer did the same to Marc-Andre Barriault. Chiasson, meanwhile, opened up a nasty cut on Mayra Bueno Silva with a vicious elbow; the cut later forced a doctor’s stoppage.

Fight of the Night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas went to Andre Fili vs. Cub Swanson, a bout that saw Fili earn a split decision victory.

The gate for UFC 303 turned out to be $15,909,243 per the promotion, a considerable drop from the $20 million plus that had been shelled out for Conor McGregor, but still good enough to be the fourth highest gate in UFC history.

The post Alex Pereira Gets Wish, Collects Performance Bonus at UFC 303 appeared first on Cageside Press.

At age forty, “Killer” Cub Swanson is one of the last WEC veterans still active today and he is still going strong, having won four of his last six. With Fili coming off of a knockout loss, it bore watching how his chin held up against a legend like Swanson. But above all, fans expected a high-paced striking duel.

From the very beginning that’s what it was. Fili attacked with longer weapons like kicks while Cub looked to find his way in, to land with his unique boxing style. Both men had good moments and their striking flowed naturally, but neither separated themselves in the first round. The pace also slowed way down in the final minute.

Andre Fili changed things up when he came out in round two and shot a takedown. Though he landed it, Swanson was able to scramble up after only a few moments. On the feet, the pace was slow again as Fili mostly retreated in a circle. When Cub blitzed him, Andre grabbed him and pressed him against the fence. He was not able to get Swanson down again, and ‘Killer’ Cub landed several good right hands on the feet due to his foe’s poor defense. However, whenever he opened up, Fili paid him back in kind, seemingly with more effect. It was another close round, but the optics did not look good on Fili’s end.

Fili again got hit because of his poor defense early in round three. However when Cub opened up, he got taken down, got back up, and got trapped in the clinch for the second minute of the round. Upon breaking free he constantly walked Andre Fili down. Again he landed, but in the latter half of the round Andre fought back even harder, throwing more punches with badder intentions. Swanson pressured right up to the bell, even landing his best shot of the round and hurting Fili in the last five seconds.

With a tense crowd and fighters awaiting the decision, Bruce Buffer announced that Andre Fili got the nod on two of three scorecards over the legend Cub Swanson.

Official Result: Andre Fili def. Cub Swanson by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

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