Last night (Saturday, November 7, 2026) the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) stayed at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada UFC Vegas 124. Unfortunately, the original main event between Sean Brady vs. Gabriel Bonfim scrapped after a player from Philadelphia withdrew due to injury. The shakedown resulted in a heavyweight clash Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Johnny Walker was elevated to the highest billing. Outside of the main event Tatiana Suarez which aimed to achieve a showdown versus Mackenzie Dern by turning away the former title challenger Stack Jandiroba.
Let’s take a closer look at the best performances and highlight the finishing touches of the night:
Still crazy after all these years
205 pounds or heavyweight Johnny Walker is a crazy man.
The difference seems to be that he can accept the consequences of his actions at heavyweight. Without a massive water wound draining his body and jaw, Walker can land a big punch and return fire. He was forced to show his strength and durability on several occasions with Cortes-Acosta throwing right-handed as if he were still trying to pitch in the MLB. Walker definitely got hurt a few times, but he kept his wits about him and survived, rather than disintegrating like a cartoon.
On offense, Walker remains a special force. His low kicks brutalized Cortes-Acosta and robbed him of much of his speed. He also punched the stomach with front kicks and occasionally threw jabs. The Brazilian would benefit greatly from the fundamentals of boxing, yet he won this contest on a high kick landed with a wildly spinning backfist. There is a time and a place for criticism, but Walker just knocked out one of the better boxers in the division with the best win of his career.
The worm after the victory was fully deserved.
If you’re the type of fighting fan who regularly turns to those nameless Apex maps, then you already know Davey Grant. At 40, he’s a die-hard fight fan favorite, a consistently violent veteran with a unique skill mix that always makes for fun fights. He often upsets younger men with prettier records and has generally done well against quality competition in recent years.
Elijah Smith rolled him in 60 seconds.
Granted, Grant looked great for about 55 seconds! He was landing punches and looking for his range, then it all went horribly wrong when he … landed a clean left hand that knocked Smith backwards? Smith also landed, a short check hook that didn’t have as much visible impact but still hurt the Englishman. “Swift” followed with a combination and Grant was instantly out cold.
At just 24 years old, Grant is a serious problem for the Bantamweight division. The hyper-athletic young talent is already 4-0 inside the Octagon with a downright nasty highlight reel, and he just picked up the biggest win of his career.
I hate that it came against Davey Grant, but a wonderful young fighter still needs to impress.
The Priscilla Cachoeira the experiment should have ended a long time ago.
Let’s be clear: the Brazilian knockout artist was never good. His UFC career began with three consecutive losses that exposed monstrous technical errors. But she bounced back, winning four of her next five fights with a handful of hilarious knockouts. That stretch remains the highlight of his entire career and still featured missing weight and questionable refereeing.
Since then, Cachoeira has won once in seven trips to the cage. He has cheated relentlessly and still rarely finds victory. The move to Bantamweight has stripped away his main asset – his raw physicality – and now he’s just plain awful.
Nina Milosevic easily surpassed him. He let him land dozens of counter punches, then dominated from top position in a TKO finish. There is no need to book the 38-year-old Cachoeira, whose skills have never improved and who is now in physical decline.
- Thomas Petersen defeats Gabriel Lorenco by third round knockout: Cardio and toughness decide many fights. Lorenco enjoyed the first round, dropping Petersen three times and nearly finishing, but he absolutely drained the tank in the process. However, Petersen entered the second shootout and almost stopped his opponent … but also emptied the tank in the process! With five minutes remaining, Petersen was able to dig deeper and overtake his younger foe to get back into the winning column.
- Austin Bash defeated Carlos Calderon with a first-round rear naked choke (highlights): Bashi, 25, has yet to live up to the hype in his four-fight UFC career, losing to a pair of skilled opponents. Christian Rodriguez and Jose Delgado. This bounce back win was a nice reminder that Bash still has plenty of time to excel in the Octagon! Bash took about a minute to choke his debut foe, as one takedown led to a lightning-quick comeback and a subsequent submission victory.
- Andre Petroski defeats Mantas Kondratavicius by second round knockout: This match of the “Preliminaries” was a tale of two rounds. Kondratavicius did well early, getting a quick read on his opponent’s timing and shutting down takedown attempts with long jabs. He stunned Petroski – not known for his stamina – and put him in real danger. In the second, Kondratavicius was a little slower and Petroski got on the hip. Once Petroski gained top position, the gap in grappling was huge and he was able to break his opponent with a groundstroke.
- Jose Souza defeated Jonny Parsons by first round knockout (highlights): Parsons hasn’t wrestled in three years, and his Octagon return didn’t receive a softball. Souza was over a decade younger and had HUGE advantages in height and reach! Parsons gamely tried to press into his boxing ring, but Souza put him under fire and hurt him every step of the way. Finally, the top connected cleanly and Parsons slept before reaching the canvas.