Kayla Harrison is announced as the winner over Holly Holm in a women’s bantamweight bout during UFC 300 at T-Mobile Arena Saturday, April 13, 2024, in Las Vegas. Harrison won by submission in the second round.
Saturday, April 13, 2024 | 7 p.m.
Las Vegas has a reputation for drawing late-arriving crowds to UFC events.
Not tonight.
T-Mobile Arena was already packed before the first fight on tonight’s milestone UFC 300 card between former champions Deiveson Figueiredo and Cody Garbrandt. The fans were treated to a preliminary card that lived up to the considerable hype, starting with Figueiredo submitting Garbrandt via rear-naked choke all the way through to former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka knocking out Aleksandar Rakic.
Five fights remain to welcome the UFC into its new centennial. Five big fights.
Three titles are on the line starting with what mixed martial arts fans have been referring to as “the people’s main event” between former featherweight champion Max Holloway and former interim lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
The showdown is slated for five rounds with the “BMF” belt Gaethje won off Dustin Poirier last July at risk.
Two lineal titles are up for grabs after that. A pair of Chinese fighters will square off for gold for the first time in the co-main event with women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang facing challenger Yan Xiaonan.
Zhang is a major favorite, about -500 (i.e. risking $500 to win $100), but that’s uncommon compared to the rest of the card.
The main event, light heavyweight championship bout between Alex Pereira and Jamahal Hill is a virtual pick’em. Pereira is a small favorite to defend his belt, but some would argue it’s not his belt to begin with.
Hill vacated the title upon rupturing his Achilles tendon in a basketball game last summer, and returns off the gruesome injury in less than a year.
The opening two bouts are a lightweight tilt between former champion Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan after a showcase for undefeated middleweight prospect Bo Nickal against Cody Brundage.
The 10 fighters still to compete have a lot to live up to from the preliminary card, but the spectacle of UFC 300 seems to be brining the best out of everyone.
Read below for full results from the preliminary card and check throughout the main card for updates.
Jiri Prochazka reasserted himself in the 205-pound division by being the last man standing in a light heavyweight slugfest. Prochazka finished Aleksandar Rakic via TKO at 3:17 of the second round after the two exchanged wild strikes to the delight of the crowd.
Aljamain Sterling defeated Calvin Kattar by unanimous decision, winning every round on every judge’s scorecard, in his featherweight debut. The crowd booed the locally-based fighter throughout, but he didn’t seem to mind as he put on a clinical performance repeatedly taking down Kattar.
Kayla Harrison guaranteed she’d be a UFC champion by the end of the year, and surely no one would dispute that after the former Professional Fighters League champion ragdolled Holly Holm in her octagon debut. Harrison officially stopped Holm by submission at 1:47 of the second round of their women’s bantamweight championship, but it’s a miracle that the former champion even lasted that long considering the amount of damage she took.
Diego Lopes viciously stopped Sodiq Yusuff via TKO at 1:29 of the first round of their featherweight bout. Lopes immediately rushed to UFC President Dana White to plead his case for a $300,000 Performance of the Night bonus, and he just might be the leader through the preliminary bouts.
Renato Moicano supplied the first upset of the night in the lightweight decision. Moicano took down Jalin Turner in both rounds, ultimately earning a TKO victory at 4:11 of the second. He lived up to his reputation for wild post-fight speeches, as he cursed profusely despite an edict not to do so on the ESPN broadcast and detailed how he could not afford to lose and wouldn’t stop until he won a championship.
Former women’s featherweight champion Jessica Andrade inched a step closer to earning a title shot at women’s strawweight with a tightly-contested victory over contender Marina Rodriguez. Andrade faded but started strong, and that was enough for the judges to award her with a split-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).
The UFC’s pre-eminent ironman couldn’t pull of a win at UFC 300 to go with his prior victories at UFC 100 and UFC 200, but Jim Miller did avoid getting stopped — barely. The bell sounded with Miller bloodied and dazed as Bobby Green took a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-25, 29-26) in the lightweight bout.
Las Vegas-based bantamweight Cody Garbrandt held his own in the first round, but couldn’t survive going to the mat with former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo. The class grappler Figueiredo forced Garbrandt to tap out to a rear-naked choke at 4:02 of the second round.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or
