On Thursday, promotion officials announced a pair of bouts set for the Fight Night card, which takes place at the Paycom Center on July 18, 2026. In a middleweight match-up, Jared Cannonier faces off against England’s Christian Leroy Duncan, while at welterweight, Kevin Holland takes on Jacobe Smith.

Holland (29-15, 1NC) will be fighting for the second time in 2026 when he takes on up-and-comer Smith. “The Trailblazer” enters the match-up off an April victory over Randy Brown that went the distance and saw Holland snap a two-fight skid.

Since returning to welterweight last year, Holland is 3-2 through five fights. Smith (12-0), meanwhile, is undefeated in his professional MMA career and 3-0 in the UFC to date. All three of those wins have come inside the distance.

A former title challenger who came up short against Israel Adesanya, Jared Cannonier (18-9) is 1-3 in his last four and looking to bounce back from a loss to Michael “Venom” Page. Now 42, another setback could spell the end for Cannonier; like Holland, he gets an up-and-comer in Christian Leroy Duncan (14-2). A former Cage Warriors star, “CLD” has won four straight including fights against Eryk Anders and Roman Dolidze.

While not officially announced, middleweights Dricus Du Plessis and Kamaru Usman have been rumored to headline the event. Reported thus far for UFC Oklahoma City are the following match-ups:

• Brad Tavares vs. Marc-André Barriault
• Chase Hooper vs. Mitch Ramirez
• Veronica Hardy vs. Dione Barbosa
• Amanda Ribas vs. Fatima Kline
• Alvin Hines vs. Allen Frye Jr.
• Felipe Franco vs. Levi Rodrigues Jr.
• Kevin Holland vs. Jacobe Smith
• Jared Cannonier vs. Christian Leroy Duncan
• Stewart Nicoll vs. Alden Coria

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Movsar Evloev

This should be short and simple: title shot. It doesn’t matter that it was yet another decision. It doesn’t even matter that the scoring was controversial. You don’t get to 20-0, with half of those wins in the UFC, by accident. Despite what the UFC may have been hoping for, Movsar Evloev has earned his day in court. He should face Alexander Volkanovski in the summer.

Evloev’s next fight: Alexander Volkanovski

Luke Riley

The promotion clearly thinks very highly of Like Riley, giving him a co-main event slot in just his second UFC fight. If it wasn’t for Michael Aswell’s toughness, Riley may have added another KO to his résumé. At just 26 years of age, Riley shows promise but also some greenness. I think a fight with a veteran like Gaston Bolaños would not only make for a valuable test, but also a fun striking contest between Bolaños’ kickboxing and Riley’s Muay Thai backgrounds.

Riley’s next fight: Gaston Bolaños

Michael Page

It wouldn’t be a hyperbole to call this fight one of the worst UFC fights in recent memory. These two were landing single-digit strikes almost every round. Between MVP’s recent comments showing how displeased he’s been with the promotion, his walkout to Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Really Care About Us” and this anemic performance, I wonder if he was actively trying to get cut. If so, if feels a bit pointless to matchmake for him, at this moment. I would’ve liked to have seen him face Robert Whittaker at middleweight, but since Page is back to welterweight, I think the winner of upcoming Winnipeg main event is an appropriate fight.

Page’s next fight: Burns/Malott winner

Iwo Baraniewski

This fight was made for one reason and it was to provide some guaranteed action for the fans. Austen Lane was never durable at heavyweight, so it was hard to see how he’d become more durable by cutting weight to get down to 205 lbs. This fight was a squash match and it didn’t teach us more about Iwo Baraniewski than what we already knew. If we want to test this undefeated gunslinger, I think Ion Cutelaba would be a worthy opponent.

Baraniewski’s next fight: Ion Cutelaba

Christian Leroy Duncan

CLD has shown clear signs of improvements since his early UFC loss to Armen Petrosyan. He’s able to deliver highlight-reel finishes while also soundly defeating a ranked veteran like Roman Dolidze in ways he wasn’t able to just a year and a half ago against Gregory Rodrigues. With this victory, he extends his win streak to 4 and will have a number next to his name in the next rankings update. Jared Cannonier has shown to still have enough gas left in the tank to turn back a riser like Robocop last winter. Let’s see if CLD can pass that test.

Leroy Duncan’s next fight: Jared Cannonier

Danny Silva

Danny Silva has proven to be an interesting player at featherweight. I think his ceiling is something akin to a Dan Ige-type of fighter. He’ll be a great test for any up-and-comer in this division. Kevin Vallejos passed that test last August, but Kurtis Campbell couldn’t pass it on Saturday. The UFC could throw any name at Silva and it would make for a fine fight. Personally, I landed on Steven Nguyen who had a nice win last July, but hasn’t fought since.

Silva’s next fight: Steven Nguyen

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Prior to his UFC run, Duncan had spent his entire pro fighting career in Cage Warriors, the leaking UK promotion. He’d fought in England three times since joining the big show, and was riding a three-fight win streak into the bout.

Dolidze had seen his own three-fight win streak snapped by Anthony Hernandez last time out.

The two former training partners kicked things off on the feet, with Dolidze landing a big overhand to start the fight. Duncan returned with a number of low kicks, racking up his striking numbers, but the Georgian vet quickly brought the fight to the ground by diving on a leg-lock submission that swept Duncan off his feet.

Attempting to get return to his feet, Duncan was continuously brought back down by the crafty Dolidze. Dolidze attempted another leg-lock submission that failed, but quickly got back to his feet and threw a spinning back elbow that landed clean on Duncan.

Undeterred Duncan continued to come forward toward Dolidze, who landed a second spinning back elbow flush on CLD, but it was Dolidze, despite the big strike, who was brought to the ground from his own momentum. Now in dominant position, Duncan allowed Dolidze back to his feet to get the striking going again, this time landing a spinning high kick that partially landed to the head of the Georgian veteran. As the round came to a close, Dolidze again went for another leg lock which CLD easily shrugged off, ending the round with all the momentum.

Round two continued with more powerful action from the middleweights, with Christian Leroy Duncan now opening up on the feet, landing a flush flying knee to the body of Dolidze that drew a significant reaction from the veteran.

Now in his own world, Duncan began touching up Dolidze with side kicks and jabs, where the lengthy home fighter held a significant advantage. Dolidze was eager to neutralize the striking after eating a few shots from CLD, clinching up and holding his opponent along the cage.

After around a minute of struggle against Christian Leroy Duncan, the English striker was able to break away from the hold of Dolidze, letting off an explosion of powerful hooks in the pocket. Feeling danger again, Dolidze grabbed onto Duncan once more as the final thirty seconds of the round expired.

Duncan continued his onslaught into round three, attempting to apply his own grappling with a failed wrestling slam to start. Roman Dolidze, now encouraged by his defense, landed a third spinning back elbow, this time not as clean as the others, but still a sign of life from the Georgian fighter.

Christian Leroy Duncan pushed forward despite the power coming back at him, which resulted in Dolidze eating another strike but eventually finding his most dominant position of the fight following a clunky takedown.

Dolidze worked his way to the back fairly easily, cinching up a body triangle that kept Duncan trapped tightly for the remainder of the fight while landing short punches to the head. It was a surprising decision considering how close rounds one and two were, as many expected Dolidze to attempt a choke.

The two middleweights clashed as the fight went to the scorecards, Christian Leroy Duncan earning a unanimous 29-28 victory over No. 11-ranked Roman Dolidze.

Victorious, CLD moves to 14-2 as a professional and will likely face an even higher-ranked opponent in his next matchup. He expressed a desire to fight up the rankings following the win.

Official Result: Christian Leroy Duncan def. Roman Dolidze by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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Duncan (13-2) is set to face Georgian powerhouse Roman Dolidze (15-4) as part of next year’s UFC London card, set for the O2 Arena in London, England on March 21, 2026.

News of the booking was first reported by MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin.

Now 30, Duncan is coming off three straight victories inside the octagon, including one over former LFA champion Eryk “Ya Boi” Anders. He’s 6-2 in the promotion overall, and looking to crack the top 15 of the 185lb division.

Dolidze had been on a three-fight win streak of his own, but saw that snapped in his last outing case off a loss to surging contender Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez. The Georgian sits in the #12 spot at middleweight, meaning a win for CLD will almost certainly land him a number next to his name.

This year’s UFC London card will mark Christian Leroy Duncan’s fourth time fighting in his native England since joining the UFC in March of 2023. He’s fought twice in London, and once in Manchester, since jumping from Cage Warriors to the big stage.

UFC London is expected to be headlined by a key featherweight bout featuring Movsar Evloev taking on Lerone Murphy, a fight that carries clear title implications.

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Gabriel Bonfim

We can argue whether Gabriel Bonfim had rightfully earned this main event spot or not, but what we cannot argue is whether or not he made the most of it. He came into the promotion with quite a bit of hype, pushing his then undefeated record to 15-0 by winning his first two UFC fights in a combined 2:02. A tough loss against the veteran Nicolas Dalby, who was streaking at the time, clearly affected Bonfim’s confidence. Despite the nice showing against Khaos Williams, the Brazilian prospect looked shaky even in winning efforts against Ange Loosa and an aging Stephen Thompson. This latest win against Randy Brown should be very restorative for Bonfim’s confidence who earned a sick KO win off a knee exiting the clinch. Ending the year in a main event and producing a highlight like this should propel him into 2026 with a swagger he hasn’t had since his UFC debut.

In UFC Vancouver’s edition of What’s Next, I had Mike Malott face the winner of this fight, but I’ve changed my mind considering how different Malott’s and Bonfim’s wins are. Malott barely got passed a clearly compromised Kevin Holland after fouling him. Meanwhile, Bonfim just blasted a very respected opponent in Randy Brown. I think Bonfim has earned the right to face a name like Colby Covington, should “Chaos” still be looking to fight at all…

Bonfim’s next fight: Colby Covington

Joseph Morales

Usually, fighters who get cut from the UFC don’t get to fight their way back into it. Even rarer are the occasions where a fighter gets a second stint and manages to make some noise with it. Time will tell if Joseph Morales can have his own Brandon Moreno-type story, but there are valid reasons to be optimistic about what he can do. He came into the UFC as a 23-year-old with just seven professional fights to his name and won his debut. He then lost his next two, one of those losses coming to Deiveson Figueiredo, and that was all she wrote. After going undefeated on the regional scene and winning The Ultimate Fighter, Morales now found himself in a co-main event slot against veteran Matt Schnell, who he submitted in less than three minutes. While I wouldn’t be against trying to ride Morales’ hot streak into the rankings, I would give him one more unranked opponent before doing so. I think a name like Andre Lima would be a fine test before looking at ranked names.

Morales’ next fight: Andre Lima

Uros Medic

If you just looked at Uros Medic and Muslim Salikhov’s ages before the fight, you would’ve though this was a squash match of the highest order. The tale of the tape was misleading as the 41-year-old Sailkhov was riding a three-fight win streak, including back-to-back highlight reel KOs, which explained the close betting odds. To his credit, Medic did, in fact, make it look like the squash match it may have looked like on the surface. That is now two straight bouts that Medic ends via KO in just 63 seconds. Salikhov had been trying to get a fight with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, and a win may have just got him there. But this is a cruel sport and I’m very inclined to give Medic the Wonderboy fight that Salikhov has been craving for.

Medic’s next fight: Stephen Thompson

Chris Padilla

The UFC story of Chris Padilla has been equally as enjoyable as it has been unexpected. Padilla came into the UFC with the profile of someone who simply wouldn’t last. He had a 13-6 record, was on a 6-6 stretch and was coming in as a short-notice replacement. Everything about him smelled of someone who would sign with the promotion, go 0-2 or 0-3 and then get cut. But all the credit goes to “Taco”, who has done nothing if not continuously get better. He’s now 4-0 in the promotion with three finishes while never closing as the betting favourite. The only thing not working in his favour is how stacked the lightweight division currently is. His 4-fight win streak isn’t even the longest one amongst unranked lightweights, as that would be Fares Ziam with five, who is already booked for next month. He’s tied with Alexander Hernandez and Tom Nolan. Just trailing them, with three, are Evan Elder, Kaue Fernandes, MarQuel Mederos, Michael Johnson and Quillan Salkilld. The lightweight division is a shark tank, and Padilla won’t be lacking in tough challenges. Of those names, Tom Nolan is the one that intrigues me the most, especially with rumours of an Australia card in February.

Padilla’s next fight: Tom Nolan

Christian Leroy Duncan

This win not only gave Duncan his longest win streak so far in the promotion, it was also probably his best win yet. While CLD has been able to produce exciting finishes, it’s his snoozefests that will probably give the UFC some pause before truly try to push him up the ladder. He’s coming off back-to-back finishes off of spinning attacks, yet his fight against Andrey Pulyaev is still too recent to forget. That is why before looking at the Jared Cannoniers and Paulo Costas of the world, he’ll probably have to get through someone like the winner of the upcoming Marvin Vettori and Brunno Ferreira fight.

Duncan’s next fight: Vettori/Ferreira winner

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Yet while Chris Padilla was desperate for an extra $50,000 to get his mother out of a trailer, he was snubbed when the promotion announced four names picking up Performance of the Night awards at UFC Vegas 111 on Saturday.

Instead, headliner Gabriel Bonfim and newcomer Josh Hokit were among the names selected. No Fight of the Night was announced for UFC Vegas 111.

Bonfim made a statement in the main event with a thunderous knockout of Randy “Rude Boy” Brown. The Brazilian might have been extra motivated after watching Padilla put away his brother, Ismael Bonfim, earlier on the main card.

Heavyweight Hokit, a Contender Series winner earlier this year, made his official octagon debut against fellow newcomer Max Gimenis, and earned the TKO finish inside of a round. He went on to cut a Chael Sonnen-style promo, calling out Brazilian heel hook specialist Valter Walker in the end.

The remaining two Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC Vegas 111 saw English middleweight Christian Leroy Duncan and card-opener Zach Reese cash in.

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Saturday’s tilt found Tulio at 2-0 in the UFC through two outings, but he was facing adversity early, cut open during a grinding sequence along the fence early in the opening round. CLD was pressing the action early, forcing Tulio to tie things up. Tulio would fire knees to the thigh of Duncan, but CLD had underhooks and was able to reverse.

Late in the round, Tulio would get Duncan down, but CLD scrambled up and landed a takedown of his own, getting into side control, then mount, then taking the back and finishing the round strong with both hooks in.

Duncan continued to bring the head in round two, catching Tulio with a right hand. CLD himself was showing some damage around one eye, but was still the fresher fighter. Tulio continued to tie things up, struggling with the offense of Christian Leroy Duncan. In control, Tulio fired a knee, then a shoulder strike, but wound up reversed anyway. Duncan re-engaged, and fired an elbow. A spinning back fist missed for CLD. A second one did not! It landed clean, and Tulio was rocked! A left and a right landed, and Tulio slumped forward. One more strike would landed on an already defeated Tulio as CLD claimed victory in Vegas.

That’s three straight wins now for Duncan, who puts his name in the running for a Performance of the Night bonus after winning one last time out.

Official Result: Christian Leroy Duncan def. Marco Tulio by KO (spinning back fist and punches), Round 2, 3:20

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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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Instead, four fighters picked up $50,000 U.S. Performance of the Night bonuses following a Fight Night event at the Apex that, if lacking in relevance outside of the main event, produced plenty of explosive moments.

The most explosive of those came when second-generation UFC star Elijah Smith, with proud pop Gilbert Smith in his corner, landed a Rampage Jackson-style slam knockout on Toshiomi Kazama in the opening round of their bantamweight fight. Rampage did that during his prime at 205lbs; seeing Smith hoist up his opponent and, at 135, still have the power to put him to sleep was impressive.

Technically, the follow-up strikes might have done that, but Kazama had been knocked senseless by the slam itself. Unfortunately the ref, probably caught as unaware as the rest of us given the rarity of slam KOs, was just a step slow in making the save.

Kazama was transported to hospital and released later in the evening, per the UFC Vegas 109 broadcast.

UFC Vegas 109 headliner Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez was another Performance bonus winner on Saturday. After controlling Roman Dolidze and wearing him down for three rounds, he secured a rear-naked choke in the fourth to end the fight inside the distance. “Secure” is a word we’re using loosely here, as Hernandez wasn’t in position, and in fact was still standing and stepping backwards when an exhausted Dolidze tapped.

Christian Leroy Duncan, who finished Eryk Anders, and Joselyn Edwards, for her stoppage of Priscila Cachoeira, were the remaining two bonus-winners on Saturday.

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A former LFA champ versus an ex-Cage Warriors champ, Anders vs. CLD was halted almost as soon as it got going after Duncan poked Anders in the eye. That led to a hard warning from the ref, but luckily the action was able to continue. When it did, Anders worked his way in, but Duncan came off the fence, on the attack. He mixed in some kicks, low and to the body – well, a bit south of the legal area of the body. And that led to the second stoppage of the round, which was barely 90 seconds in. Again, it was Anders needing time to recover, though he would take all of 45 seconds.

Back underway, Duncan appeared to at least graze Anders off a flying knee; that gave way to a takedown by Anders then a clinch along the fence. CLD fired several heavy knees from that clinch position, before the pair separated. Duncan then landed a leg kick, then a spinning elbow upstairs that rocked Anders! Anders stumbled backwards, slumping back against the fence. He’d eat a couple more punches, and by then ref had seen enough, moving in to wave it off.

Official Result: Christian Leroy Duncan def. Eryk Anders by TKO, Round 1, 3:53

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