Lerone Murphy

Manchester’s Lerone Murphy earned by far the biggest win of his MMA career when he battered legendary striker Edson Barboza for the better part of five rounds in the UFC Vegas 92 main event. He will now very likely enter the top fifteen at featherweight as an undefeated, 14-0-1 fighter. Like Ilia Topuria before him, being undefeated will open a host of doors for Murphy.

Ahead of him lie many talented fighters. Notably, Bryce Mitchell and Calvin Kattar are coming off of losses, making them good candidates for fighting down in the ranks. It depends if the UFC wants to book a fun fight, or test Murphy’s skill level, as his anti-wrestling ability is still largely unknown at this time. We all want to see wars, but for someone to be a true contender they have to be able to win against all styles, so Mitchell’s grapple-heavy attack is what Lerone should face next.

Murphy’s Next Fight: Bryce Mitchell

Khaos Williams

One of the hardest hitting 170-lbers in the UFC got his fourth knockout in the promotion on Saturday, putting away Carlston Harris in the first round. It is not quite yet time for Khaos to enter the rankings, but with a two-fight winning streak he is maybe one win away now.

He should be fighting someone else on the verge of being ranked, and what better opponent than Michael Morales? Morales is the hottest unranked talent at welterweight with his shiny 16-0 record. The Ecuadorian is young, hungry, and well-rounded, but Khaos would be his toughest opponent yet.

Williams’ Next Fight: Michael Morales

Themba Gorimbo

Although the fight was not the most exciting, Themba Gorimbo showed his continued growth by outwrestling submission specialist Ramiz Brahimaj the other day. Brahimaj could not take down the Ugandan, and got taken down himself even. Now that he has the wrestling chops, Themba just has to put it all together, combining his striking and grappling together to greater effect.

Now on a three-fight win streak against lower end talent, it is time for a step up. Jeremiah Wells is another impressive athlete like Gorimbo, and although he has talent and some good wins, he is now on a two-fight winning streak. To prove he can hang with the sharks at welterweight, he must first reassert himself against someone like Themba, who wants to swim in the deep end himself.

Gorimbo’s Next Fight: Jeremiah Wells

Adrian Yanez

Popular bantamweight striker Adrian Yanez rebounded from his first two UFC losses with a quick night at the office, knocking out Vinicius Salvador in the opening frame. Now the Houston native can focus on fighting fellow potential contenders, with an eye on getting back into the rankings and maybe even getting revenge there on the two men who TKO’d him.

To get there, he will have to go through one of the many talented fringe-ranked bantamweights in the UFC. Guys like Raoni Barcelos, Javid Basharat, and Victor Henry would be top-15 in most other divisions, but at bantamweight they struggle to get to that tier. Raoni makes the most sense right now. The Brazilian has long been used as a gatekeeper, fighting guys like Kyler Phillips and Umar Nurmagomedov, due to his age, and he also has devastating leg kicks, the took which engineered Adrian’s last loss. If he is to be a true contender, Yanez will have to look good against Barcelos, including showing that he has learned to check leg kicks properly.

Yanez’s Next Fight: Raoni Barcelos

Angela Hill

As one of the longest-tenured women in UFC history – Hill has the second most fights (25) of any female and the most fights at strawweight (24) – it is highly impressive for Angela Hill to still be repelling rising prospects at age 39. Even more impressive is that she earned her first career submission win in this last fight at UFC Vegas 92, against a grappler in Luana Pinheiro no less. Now on a two-fight winning streak, it is time for Angela to fight a higher ranked foe.

Luana Pinheiro was ranked ninth at strawweight before the fight, and Hill will surely take over that spot now. Sitting one spot above her will be Amanda Ribas, someone who, like Hill, is known for taking on all comers. Ribas fights back and forth between flyweight and strawweight, but is 0-2 in her last two fights at FLW and won her last one in Hill’s division she may prefer to stay at 105 next. That win? It came against Luana Pinheiro. This fight makes too much sense.

Hill’s Next Fight: Amanda Ribas.

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What comes next for the losing side of the Fight Night card? Read on.

Edson Barboza

Edson Barboza lost a mostly one-sided beating after nearly stopping his opponent, Lerone Murphy, in the opening round of the main event of UFC Vegas 92. Barboza, now 38 years old was a long-time veteran of the UFC’s lightweight division, who transitioned to featherweight in 2020 and is 18-12 with the promotion.

Barboza has now won just two of his last five fights since 2021.  Barboza stopped Billy Quarantillo in April of 2023 and defeated Sodiq Yusuff six months later via unanimous decision.

Barboza’s next opponent should be Sean Woodson. It’d be a great striking matchup, the boxing of Woodson vs the knees and kicks of Barboza. Woodson, a 2019 Contender Series product, has gone 6-1-1 in the UFC. Woodson won a split decision over Charles Jourdain in January. Woodson’s most recent bout was a unanimous decision victory against Alex Caceres at UFC St. Louis, last Saturday.

Barboza’s next fight: Sean Woodson 

Carlston Harris

Carlston Harris was brutally finished in the first round of his bout against Khaos Williams on Saturday.  It was Carlston’s first co main event appearance in the UFC since being picked up by the promotion in May of 2021.

Harris is 4-2 with the UFC and his only other loss was a February of 2022 first round loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov. Harris has finished Christan Aguilera, Impa Kasanganay, and Jeremiah Wells. He is a solid fighter in the welterweight division who has already faced some very tough guys.

A good matchup would be Ramiz Brahimaj who fought in the previous fight on the main card. The two were scheduled to fight back in February, but that bout was cancelled thanks to an injury from Ramiz.

Harris’ next fight: Ramiz Brahimaj

Ramiz Brahimaj

Ramiz lost a grueling unanimous decision to Themba Gorimbo in the featured bout on Saturday.

Ramiz Brahimaj is now 2-3 with the UFC since being picked up from the LFA in 2020. To be fair, Ramiz has only lost this weekend to Gorimbo and to UFC vets Max Griffin and Court McGee. Brahimaj has finished his two victories in the UFC, Sasha Palatnikov in 2021 and Michael Gillmore in 2022, both in the opening round. Sasha is no longer with the promotion and TUF 29 contestant, Gillmore has not fought since his bout with Ramiz.

Ramiz needs a win, but his record definitely doesn’t tell the whole story of his time in the UFC. Brahimaj should fight Carlston Harris, and it makes even more since because Carlston was stopped in his bout on UFC Vegas 92.

Brahimaj’s next fight: Carlston Harris

Vinicius Salvador

Vinicius Salvador was viciously stopped in a tough matchup against Adrian Yanez on Saturday.

Salvador is now 0-3 with UFC since winning his Contender Series bout in 2022. Vinicius also had the misfortune of missing weight in his second bout with the promotion against CJ Vergara in July of 2023.

Obviously, Vinicius is in danger of losing his spot on the UFC roster. A possible matchup for the 27-year-old would be Kleydson Rodrigues. He fought on the undercard of UFC Vegas 92, losing a unanimous decision to Alatengheili. Kleydson is now 1-3 in the UFC. Rodrigues has missed weight twice, including in June of 2023 when a miss resulted in his fight with Tatsuro Taira being cancelled.

The two fighters were also supposed to fight back in October of 2022, but the fight was cancelled when Salvador withdrew. What better time to run that fight back to decide who stays on the roster.

Salvador’s next fight: Kleydson Rodrigues

Luana Pinheiro

Luana was submitted by Angela Hill in the second round of their bout to open the main card of UFC Vegas 92. Pinheiro is now on a two-fight skid after starting her UFC career at 3-0. Pinheiro is a Contender Series product from the 2020 season and her most recent win was a split decision victory over Michelle Waterson-Gomez in April of 2023.

Pinheiro should fight the #15 ranked UFC strawweight Karolina Kowalkiewicz. She was on a four-fight win streak before losing to Iasmin Lucindo in a unanimous decision on UFC 301 earlier this month. Karolina is a name in the UFC and a 17-fight veteran, it’d be a good changing of the guard type fight for a fringe ranking at 115lbs.

Pinheiro’s next fight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz

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The main card saw the UFC’s latest APEX offing finally pick up steam, with some exciting finishes and an action-packed main event making up for the evening’s slow start. And so it’s no surprise that all four bonus-winners were selected from that main card offing, with the featherweight headliner featuring Lerone Murphy and Edson Barboza earning Fight of the Night.

Murphy pretty much called that after putting on a dominant five-round performance. Outside of the opening round, which one judge awarded Barboza and saw the Brazilian land a nasty upkick, it was Lerone Murphy leading the fight, seemingly landing on Barboza with ease. Watching the Brazilian striker be out-struck was a sight to behold, and only Barboza’s granite chin kept him in the fight.

Outside of the Fight of the Night, UFC Vegas 92 produced the usual two Performance of the Night bonuses. Angela Hill earned one for her first career submission, which saw her catch Luana Pinheiro in a mounted guillotine. The sub came in the third round, after Hill had demonstrated improved grappling and an overall well-rounded game. Khaos Williams, who scored a walk-off KO of Carlston Harris on the co-headliner, earned the other Performance bonus.

All four fighters will pocket an extra $50,000 USD for their efforts.

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Murphy spent the opening round head hunting, looking to land power shots and stay out of the way of the crafty Barboza’s attacks. Barboza worked over his opponent’s lead leg, but Murphy declined to change stances to avoid those blows, perhaps another sign of the respect he had for the Brazilian’s striking prowess. In the final minute, the pair picked things up, with Barboza going to his back off an exchange but landing an upkick that left Murphy reeling and showing some damage on the nose.

In the second, Barboza continued to chop away at Murphy’s lead leg. The wind-up on those kicks and the force with which he landed them was nothing short of impressive. Murphy answered with his right hand, and Barboza soon had a bit of blood trickling down the bridge of his own nose. Barboza, however, was plenty mobile, circled out of harm’s way, and went back to chopping the outside of Murphy’s leg.

Changing things up a bit, Murphy charged in for a double-leg attempt. He worked to turn the corner and had Barboza to his knees, but the Brazilian was back up in moments, though warned for a fence grab in the process. Not out of it, however, Murphy clipped Barboza with a right! Barboza seemed to be flagging a little, under fire with his back to the fence. Murphy’s boxing was serving him well, and he added in an elbow. Barboza then slipped off a kick attempt, allowing Murphy to clinch up and fire knees.

Barboza took center early in the third; he’d begun to slow but was still working on Murphy’s legs. Barboza added a kick to the body but Murphy, who had begun to mix in stance switches, got his hands going again, and later shot in for a takedown, forcing Barboza to clinch up. As the round wore on Barboza looked more and more exhausted, and Murphy began picking his shots, landing multiple blows in a combination with just over a minute left. Barboza clinched up to buy himself some time, but the momentum was firmly on the side of Lerone Murphy. At the end of the round, it was Murphy, not Barboza, firing a spinning kick, clearly flowing.

Early in round four, Murphy was warned for having his fingers out-stretched. It wouldn’t matter; the break was short and not enough for Barboza to recover much. Murphy, meanwhile, was well ahead in the striking department, both in terms of volume and significant strikes. It was Murphy landing a calf kick now as well; Barboza still had some snap behind his kicks, but the volume differential made Barboza look like a babbling brook compared to Murphy’s Niagara Falls. Both men were showing blood around the nose, the results of effective jabs.

The fifth and final round had Edson Barboza clearly down and in need of a finish. Whether he could pull a particularly devastating rabbit out of his hat remained to be seen. Murphy clinched up with a body lock from the back, along the fence, about a minute in. Barboza broke free, however, moving back to center. With 90 seconds or so remaining and Barboza’s time quickly slipping away in a round he had been pieced up in, particularly to the head, Murphy did him something of a mercy, landing a takedown. Barboza would make it back up, but there was no miracle for him in Las Vegas on Saturday, no come from behind win. Instead, just a dominant performance from Lerone Murphy, a.k.a. “The Miracle,” who cemented himself as a featherweight to watch at UFC Vegas 92.

Official Result: Lerone Murphy def. Edson Barboza by unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-45)

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As two fighters with opposite styles, most expected Harris to try to take Williams down, while Khaos would try to land his heavy knockout blows. Khaos’ record of 5-2 in the UFC and Carlston’s 4-1 both represented impressive marks, making the winner of this bout a potential ranked contender in the welterweight division in the near future.

Khaos pressed forward to begin the bout, while Harris looked to counter with his long arms. However that did not last long as Khaos caught Carlston Harris with a right hand, set up by his body jab, which had Harris laid out on the canvas, seeing stars. It was a highlight reel walk-off KO, and a big one for the Michigan native.

With a big win, Khaos improved to 6-2 in the UFC. His knockout power will earn him a many good opportunities, and at age 30 the time is now to make a big run up the ranks. As for Guyana’s Harris, he saw a two-fight win streak snapped on Saturday; his other loss in the promotion came at the hands of Shavkat Rakhmonov.

Official Result: Khaos Williams def. Carlston Harris by Knockout (overhand right) Round 1, 1:30

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Themba earned more popularity than is normal for a fighter with a 2-1 UFC record when Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson gave him a house and supplies due to being inspired by Themba’s story. Gorimbo came from Uganda to Miami to chase his dream in MMA, and despite living paycheck to paycheck he still sends money back home to help his village build wells for clean water.

Ramiz Brahimaj was not about to roll over and give up just because of an inspirational story though. The Fortis MMA product is a grappling specialist who won all of his fights by submission, and he looked to exploit Gorimbo’s inexperience in the grappling realm in this one.

Ramiz shot a takedown in the first minute but had it stuffed easily. Themba clinched up, but Ramiz tried a throw, only succeeding in pulling his opponent down on top of himself. From full guard, Ramiz got his back to the fence and wall-walked up to his feet. Ramiz got on the outside of the clinch with his grappling experience aiding him, but the strength of Gorimbo was mostly dominant. He got on top again as Brahimaj did another sacrificial throws. Bizarrely, Themba did not separate from the clinch when Ramiz wall-walked again, despite having a seeming striking advantage. Brahimaj’s desperation to get takedowns showed his fear of Themba’s striking, but Gorimbo did not take advantage when he stopped the takedowns, so very little damage was done in the round, only a few clinch knees in total.

Themba opened the second round with brutal leg kicks but then clinched up when Brahimaj came forward to grapple. Ramiz kept trying takedowns over and over while Gorimbo did not work hard enough to make his foe strike with him. With two minutes left in the round Ramiz finally got a takedown and got to Themba’s back, but Gorimbo made him fall over the top. In the final thirty seconds the Ugandan got his own takedown.

After two slow rounds Themba seemed to be ahead two rounds to none. Ramiz began to look tired at the end of the second, but again to start the round Gorimbo clinched him. The entire rest of the fight transpired in the clinch, continuing the theme from the other rounds.

Themba won an easy decision in the end, but showed a stark contrast from the aggressive striker of his past fights. He clearly leveled up his wrestling for this fight, maybe that made him want to test it out and prove he could outwrestle a grappler.

Official Result: Themba Gorimbo def. Ramiz Brahimaj by Unanimous (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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Salvador is normally a flyweight, but after missing weight in his last fight he had to move up to the 135 pound weight class. There, he was chosen as the bounce-back opponent for Yanez, a former ranked fighter who suffered two knockout losses to ranked opponents in Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez. Those setbacks came after Yanez opened up his UFC run at 5-0.

As a huge favorite, Yanez did exactly what he was expected to at UFC Vegas 92.

The fight was all striking. Yanez kept the pressure on until he found his moment to land a big right hook which dropped Salvador. Adrian pounced on top and rained down a good twenty-five punches before referee Chris Tognoni finally deemed it necessary to stop the bout.

Adrian Yanez then used his post-fight speech to raise awareness for disaster relief for his hometown of Houston, Texas. Houston and surrounding areas in Texas were recently hit by deadly storms, resulting in at least seven deaths in the Houston area alone.

Official Result: Adrian Yanez def. Vinicius Salvador by TKO (right hook to ground strikes) Round 1, 2:47

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With Pinheiro engaged in a fight with Hill in Las Vegas, she was forced to forgo her brother’s wedding that very same day in Brazil- though according to the UFC Vegas 92 broadcast, the family would take in the fight prior to the bride making the walk down the aisle on Saturday.

That was no doubt extra motivation for Pinheiro, who would have to overcome to volume of “Overkill” at the UFC APEX. No easy feat, as it turned out, though the finish wouldn’t come on the feet.

Hill, as is the norm for her, walked forward early, darting in and out, feinting, and working her right hand and kicks. Pinheiro looked to set up power shots, but “Overkill” appeared hip to them. When Pinheiro changed levels for a takedown, Hill easily fought it off. Pinheiro did land with a left, while Hill connected with a right as things started to open up and get scrappy. Hill wound up taking her opponent to the fence, working on a single leg takedown and eventually landing it when Pinheiro chased a guillotine. That choke wasn’t there, though Pinheirso stayed busy off her back, threatening with upkicks, but Hill managed to get her shots in from up top.

In round two, Hill stayed in the face of Luana Pinheiro, who fired off a low-percentage spinning back fist at one point. Hill was busier with not just her striking but feints and movement as well. Again they would end up along the fence with Hill showing improved grappling ability.

Moving off the cage, Hill’s jab split the guard, which was followed by the pair exchanging kicks. With just under two minutes remaining, a Hill jab sat Pinheiro down, who backpedaled before hitting the canvas. She popped back up, but Hill briefly put her in a front headlock, then fired a head kick moments later that could have been fighting-ending had it hit the mark full-force. Eventually, they’d hit the canvas with Angela Hill hitting a mounted guillotine (initially securing it off her back before rolling) of all things! Pinheiro tapped, and Hill had a big submission win, the first of her career! In UFC fight #25 for Hill, no less.

A slick submission for the Muay Thai specialist who has started to show more of a well-rounded game.

Official Result: Angela Hill def. Luana Pinheiro by submission (mounted guillotine), Round 2, 4:12

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Coming from down under, Australia’s Nolan impressed on Dana White’s Contender Series when he improved to 6-0 as a professional with a devastating first round KO. However, the tables were turned on the giant Aussie got put to sleep quickly in his UFC debut. Martinez won his DWCS contract with a decision, but was similarly put out in his debut.

The fighters traded kicks to start, Nolan pressing forward. Martinez was game and tried to counter but was usually unable to get past the reach of Nolan. Suddenly, the fight changed when Nolan got dropped. However he was not out of it. Tom fought back up to his feet and hit Martinez with a knee to the sternum that made Victor drop to the fetal position. A few more ground strikes finished the job for the Aussie, securing the TKO victory in impressive, come-from-behind fashion.

Now 6-1 and with his first loss coming to a tough out in Nikolas Motta, Tom Nolan likely has a bit of breathing room moving forward. Not so for Martinez, with “The Brick” now 0-2 inside the octagon and in must-win territory.

Official Result: Tom Nolan def. Victor Martinez by TKO (knee to the body/punches), Round 1, 3:50

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Tokkos had lost both of his Bellator fights, and despite some decent showings on the regional circuit, the match-up saw Sy as a solid favorite.

Round one started and Tokkos opened up with a series of kicks. Soon after, Oumar Sy shot in on the legs and got an easy takedown. Sy was able to posture up and throw the legs to the side. It gave Tokkos a false sense of security to try to scramble to his feet. Sy capitalized and instead took the back.

Tokkos had wrist control which for a little bit saved himself from being put in a bad position. He made it to his feet briefly but Sy dragged him right back down. Tokkos was doing a good job of not accepting the bottom but got too careless and let Sy take his back with the body triangle. It wasn’t long after until Sy got his hands free and forced Tokkos to tap with the rear-naked choke!

Official Result: Oumar Sy def. Tuco Tokkos by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 3:43

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