Last night (Saturday, September 26, 2026), the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned home to the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. UFC Vegas 121. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most interesting homecoming ever on paper. The featured match promised some intrigue given the 18-year age gap Raoni’s Barcelos and Raul Rosas Jr.., although it didn’t necessarily feel like it the main event. Otherwise there were a couple Ultimate Fighter finals — does ANYONE still watch TUF?!? — and some decent prospects mixed into the map.
Let’s take a closer look at the best performances and highlight the finishing touches of the night:
I wrote the intro above before what was expected to be the most terrifying Apex map of the year. A few hours after the event, with publication time fast approaching, I don’t know much to talk about Barcelos vs. Rosas Jr.
It wouldn’t be difficult to summarize and break down the action of the fight, the recovery of Rosas Jr. or the draining of Barcelos. On a technical level, there is a lot to talk about in more than 20 minutes of a high-level and exciting fight. The question I ask is whether that would be an appropriate response to what we all saw tonight.
The reports are there Barcelos is conscious after his phantom knockout loss, which may actually have been some other medical incident. Consciousness is a broad term, and being awake alone does not guarantee long-term health and safety. In these circumstances, however, it seems wrong to really discuss anything other than the central priority of Raoni’s Barcelos well-being.
Raul Rosas Jr. said it best at the start of his post-fight interview: Let’s pray for Raoni Barcelos. Until we have real confirmation of what happened here, talk of strategic choices and separation effects can wait.
Two TUF champions were crowned
In the first of two TUF finale matches Tin Black crushed Melissa Amaya in the strawweight war.
This matching can be divided into one weapon: the right hand for interception. Again and again, Black took his head off the midline as Amaya leaped forward and nailed her opponent with repeated right hands. Black also showed good offense with a double jab, but it was his counter right that repeatedly rocked and eventually finished Amaya.
Black has some serious power for a 115-pounder and is a welcome addition to the roster. He could have signed directly without going through the TUF house, but either way, he’s here now, waiting to be assigned an opponent already lined up.
A little later, Ilimbek Akylbek the square Men’s model Ottoman in the bantamweight final, a classic case of wrestler vs. striker. The UFC machine was clearly inferior to Osmanli, who won in the semi-finals insane buggy choke finish. Unfortunately, Osmanli landed a massively illegal knee early in the fight, which soon landed Akylbek in the face, who was kneeling in the first round.
The bottom line? Akylbek’s win by disqualification … and a lot of disappointment in general.
Brady Hiestand was forced to dig deep and be crafty to get upset Rinya Nakamura In the “preliminaries” title.
Hiestand started the fight with a nonstop takedown, but couldn’t quite put the lauded wrestler down. However, with all that energy expenditure, Hiestand was able to feign takedowns and strikes. This added a necessary level of unpredictability to his offense that helped make up for his athleticism disadvantage. On the other hand, Nakamura’s kickboxing was sharp. His left jab flew, knocking Hiestand out of position and hitting the body as well. When Nakamura landed his punches, he was clearly the heavier hitter. Hiestand threw a fair amount of volume, but didn’t put all of his power into each shot, making for some interesting exchanges.
The already exciting fight got even hotter in the second round. Nakamura began to wrestle offensively and was forced to fend off a deep choke attempt. Later, his grappling efforts allowed him to unleash a left hand and left elbow along the fence in a left flurry. He started hurting Hiestand’s legs more often, but Hiestand was able to wrestle back into good position and stay behind Nakamura.
For the second time in the round, Nakamura didn’t show enough respect for his opponent’s submission threat. He focused on grappling and getting top position rather than protecting his neck. As a result, Hiestand was able to get far ahead of Nakamura in the submission race. By the time the Japanese concentrated on defending the choke, it was too late!
“Bam Bam” has now won four in a row and just picked up the best scalp of his young career. A well-thought-out and tactical Hiestand can soon be knocking on the door of the leaderboard.
I don’t mind Josiah Harrellbut I was glad to see Dwarves Brener return to the win column.
The Chute Boxe representative and teammate of Charles Oliveira has been facing some tough times lately. Brener began his UFC career with a notable upset victory Guram Kutateladze and then another awesome knockout followed and then he hit the wall. Brener would lose his next three fights to a tough trio of lightweight opponents: Myktybek Orolbai, Joel Alvarezand Esteban Ribovics.
Two of these guys are now lightweights, the exception is the lightweight, and all three are very talented!
However, the UFC career does not bring exciting defeats. Brener’s back was against the wall here, but a competitive step back allowed him to showcase his skills. Harrell tried to push aggressively with his takedowns and combinations, but Brener smoothly closed the wrestle and picked him apart.
For once, the Brazilian slugger didn’t fight. Using position switches to mask his offense, Brener landed powerful blows on various targets. He then started jabbing hard, feigning kicks, and continued his offense. He was one step ahead of Brener and the damage was adding up quickly. Suddenly, Brener threw a right, stepped inside the southpaw and hit Harrell with a nasty right hook from the southpaw position.
Harrell hit the canvas in front of his face.
An exciting knockout win should secure Brener a spot on the roster for a while. It’s also a reminder that the talented lightweight is only 28 years old, so maybe he can continue to develop and have more success in the top 15.
- Luis Hernandez defeated Sedriques Dumas by guillotine in the first round (highlights): I know everyone had a lot of fun with him “Brother vs. Criminal” from the angle of this short-notice fight, but I’m here to be the underdog: Dumas is embarrassing. He should have been cut a long time ago and he hardly puts any effort in the cage. Dumas did NOTHING to defend against the guillotine choke. Just a downright terrible effort from Dumas, which in turn diminishes Hernandez’s accomplishments. Honestly, you might as well consider Hernandez’s next UFC fight his actual promotional debut.
- Christian Edwards defeated Rodolfo Bellato by third round knockout (highlights): Bellato won a large portion of this fight. He never bothered to match his opponent’s volume, but Bellato’s punches had much more impact in the first two rounds, rocking Edwards on a couple of occasions. Edwards’ burst attack looked decent, but his complete lack of head saw him intercept punches repeatedly. But Edwards’ corner did a great job of lighting a fire under him with just one round left. He charged forward and – after being cracked by a flurry of left hooks in the first two rounds – smoked Bellato with a left hook of his own!
- Montel Jackson defeated Ricky Simon by second round knockout (highlights): Revenge! It’s been eight years since the first match between Simon and Jackson, where short-notice replacement “Quik” was repeatedly grounded in Simon’s UFC debut. There wouldn’t be a repeat performance, however, as Jackson ran the range much more effectively. He forced Simon to try to close the distance with his combinations, then took him down, repeatedly driving Simon with a long left hand. Simon had some success with hard low kicks and the occasional takedown, but he couldn’t hold off Jackson. The left hand continued to land with terrifying consistency, producing a late blow in the first and then a full-on knockout in the second. Simon is a tough weight, but a big hitter like Jackson just can’t take that many power punches.
- Yazmin Jauregui defeated Vanessa Demopoulos by first round knockout (highlights): damn it! Jauregui released two years of frustration from his opponent’s jawline in just 62 seconds. He connected cleanly with a right hand early on and then fired off about 30 punch combinations while his opponent was on the fence. The hesitant referee thought about stopping the fight on several occasions and probably should have acted. Instead, Jauregui threw his foe to the floor and sealed the deal with a pair of hammerfists that left Demopoulos limping. Jauregui was a highly touted prospect when he joined the UFC roster, but he has yet to live up to those expectations. Still only 27 years old, it was an encouraging victory for an outstanding Mexican team. Hopefully this is the start of a streak?