A future title shot could be on the line in a battle of two of the top up-and-coming female talents in the UFC.
Mackenzie Dern will face Marina Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday in Las Vegas. Both are on winning streaks and are looking to gain an edge in the competitive UFC women’s strawweight division.
ESPN ranks Rodriguez No. 4 and Dern No. 6 at women’s 155 pounds. The winner could find herself close to a title shot, with No. 1 Rose Namajunas defending against No. 2 Zhang Weili at UFC 268 on Nov. 6 in New York. Carla Esparza is ranked No. 3 and she is likely to get the Namajunas vs. Zhang winner, but the Dern vs. Rodriguez winner would be right in the mix.
Dern (11-1), was once considered the best pound-for-pound women’s jiu-jitsu competitor in the world, has won four straight and is coming off a first-round submission over Nina Nunes in April. The Arizona-born fighter of Brazilian descent fights out of Orange County, California, under coach Jason Parillo, who has coached the likes of legends BJ Penn, Michael Bisping and Cris Cyborg. Dern, 28, is 6-1 in the UFC with her only loss coming to Amanda Ribas in 2019.
Rodriguez (14-1-2) has won two in a row, most recently a unanimous decision win over Michelle Waterson in May. Hailing from Brazil, Rodriguez is 4-1-2 in the UFC with a pair of draws coming against Cynthia Calvillo and Randa Markos. Rodriguez, 34, has been a pro MMA fighter only since 2015. She competed in Muay Thai prior to that.
In the co-main event, Randy Brown takes on Jared Gooden in a battle of promising welterweights. Brown (13-4) has won three of his past four fights. Gooden (18-6) has won four of six.
Follow along as Marc Raimondi recaps all the action, and watch the fights on ESPN+.
Fight in progress:
Welterweight: Randy Brown (13-4, 7-4 UFC; -230) vs. Jared Gooden (18-6, 1-2 UFC; +190)
Men’s flyweight: Matheus Nicolau (17-3-1, 5-1 UFC) def. Tim Elliott (18-12-1, 6-10 UFC) by unanimous decision | Watch this fight on ESPN+
It appears Nicolau is ready to take his place near the top of the flyweight division — a point he almost reached before getting cut by the UFC in 2019.
Nicolau outpointed the always game Elliott via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a battle of streaking 125-pound fighters. The UFC cut Nicolau 2 ½ years ago when the promotion was considering dropping the flyweight division altogether, but he has not lost since then.
Elliott, a fan favorite, outgrappled Nicolau in the first round, but Nicolau rallied with his striking and then wrestling in the third round. Afterward, Nicolau said he’d like to fight anyone above him in the rankings next.
“My goal here is I want to become champion,” Nicolau said in his postfight interview. … “I know it’s step by step. With very hard and serious work, I’ll get there.”
Nicolau, 28, has won four in a row, including two straight since his return to the UFC earlier this year. The fighter from Brazil has just one loss since 2012. Elliott, a 34-year-old fighting out of Missouri, had a two-fight winning streak snapped, and he has lost five of his last seven.
Women’s flyweight: Mariya Agapova (10-2, 2-1 UFC) def. Sabina Mazo (9-3, 3-3 UFC) by third-round submission (rear-naked choke) | Watch this fight on ESPN+
This win could be the one people go back to as a turning point in Agapova’s career.
Agapova landed a beautiful combination — a straight left followed by a crushing right hook out of the southpaw stance — to drop Mazo. Agapova then pounced on Mazo’s back and quickly locked in a rear-naked choke. Mazo tapped almost immediately, with the finish coming at 53 seconds of the third round.
In both the first and second rounds, Agapova looked as good as she ever has with her boxing. Mazo pressed forward, but Agapova landed multiple combinations with her hands, bloodying Mazo late in the first.
Agapova, 24, bounced back from a stunning upset loss to Shana Dobson in August 2020. From Kazakhstan and fighting out of Florida, Agapova has won four of her last five fights and must be considered a top prospect now in the women’s flyweight division. Mazo, a 24-year-old from Colombia who fights out of California, has dropped two straight following a three-fight winning streak.
Men’s bantamweight: Chris Gutierrez (17-3-2, 5-1-1 UFC) def. Felipe Colares (10-3, 2-3 UFC) by split decision | Watch this fight on ESPN+
Gutierrez escaped after spending most of the third round on his back, got up and started landing big combinations, including a couple of spinning elbows mixed in as he fought until the final bell.
Colares had his moments throughout the fight, but ultimately the judges gave the nod to Gutierrez via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27). Gutierrez was more active and the more dangerous striker throughout, using his leg kicks and boxing combinations to keep the edge.
Gutierrez, 30, is unbeaten in six straight UFC fights. Hailing from Boston and training out of Factory X in Colorado, Gutierrez has lost just once since 2017 and could be looking at a contender fight next at 135 pounds. Colares, a 27-year-old from Brazil, has alternated wins and losses since debuting in the UFC in 2019.
Heavyweight: Alexandr Romanov (15-0, 4-0 UFC) def. Jared Vanderaa (12-6, 1-2 UFC) by second-round TKO (strikes) | Watch this fight on ESPN+
The undefeated Romanov took things to the ground, got into mount and proceeded to maul and bloody Vanderaa. Referee Mark Smith stepped in to stop it at 4:43 of the second round, giving Romanov the win via TKO.
Romanov, 30, has won all four of his UFC fights. That’s the third longest active winning streak in the heavyweight division, behind only interim champion Ciryl Gane (7), champion Francis Ngannou (5) and Marcin Tybura (5). The fighter from Romania has never gone the distance in any of his 15 pro fights, and looks like a potential future contender. Vanderaa, a 29-year-old from Washington, has dropped two of three in the UFC.
“I have come here for fighting,” Romanov said in his postfight interview. “What decision will be from UFC’s side, I’m ready to accept anyone’s challenge.”
Men’s featherweight: Damon Jackson (19-4-1, 1 NC; 2-2-1, 1 NC UFC) def. Charles Rosa (14-6, 4-2-1 UFC) by unanimous decision | Watch this fight on ESPN+
The win was a big one for Jackson, but the story of the fight was one of the bloodiest rounds in UFC history.
Rosa landed a spinning, upward elbow — reminiscent of the one Yair Rodriguez used against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung — to open the third round. The blow opened up a gnarly cut to the right of Jackson’s right eye.
That was a nasty elbow!! #UFCVegas39
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) October 9, 2021
To Jackson’s credit, he never lost his cool and held on for a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 30-27) win. Most of the third round consisted of Rosa and Jackson grappling in a slippery mess of Jackson’s blood.
Jackson, 33, has won two of three fights in his second UFC run. The Texas resident holds a 10-3 record since his first stint in the UFC, which ended in 2016. Rosa, a 35-year-old from Massachusetts fighting out of Florida, has alternated wins and losses in all of his 11 UFC fights going back to 2014.
Strawweight: Loopy Godinez (6-1, 1-1 UFC) def. Silvana Gomez Juarez (10-3, 0-1 UFC) by first-round submission (armbar) |Watch this fight on ESPN+
Godinez dominated the whole way with her wrestling and grappling. Then, she transitioned from the back into a beautiful armbar, and the submission finish came at 4:14 of the first round.
Godinez, a 28-year-old Mexican fighting out of Vancouver, picked up her first UFC victory after falling to Jessica Penne by split decision in April. Godinez is a former LFA strawweight champion. Gomez Juarez, a 36-year-old from Argentina, was making her UFC debut on short notice.
Godinez lost her original opponent, Sam Hughes, due to COVID-19 protocols. Gomez Juarez, who was scheduled for Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday, got called up for this bout. Gomez Juarez had a three-fight winning streak snapped.
Lightweight: Steve Garcia (12-4, 1-1 UFC) def. Charlie Ontiveros (11-8, 0-2 UFC) by second-round TKO (strikes) | Watch this fight on ESPN+
Garcia was dropped twice in the first round, but split Ontiveros open late in the first round and finished on the ground — from mount — with punches one round later. The official result was a TKO at 1:51 of the second round.
Garcia, a 29-year-old from New Mexico, has won five of six, but this was his first UFC victory. Ontiveros, a 30-year-old fighting out of Texas, has lost two in a row to start his UFC run. Ontiveros debuted in the UFC at middleweight last October and, in this fight, competed in a division that’s 30 pounds lighter.
Still to come
Strawweight: Mackenzie Dern (11-1, 6-1 UFC; -170) vs. Marina Rodriguez (14-1-2, 4-1-2 UFC; +145)
