Cody Garbrandt earned his first win in more than two years and it certainly wasn’t a walk in the park.
The one-time bantamweight champion overcame multiple fouls and emerged with a unanimous decision victory over Xiao Long in the featured preliminary bout at UFC 326.
Following a competitive first two rounds, Garbrandt was on the receiving end of a pair of low blows early in Round 3 as Long connected with Garbrandt’s cup when attempting low kicks.
The second unintentional foul was so severe that Garbrandt could be seen vomiting into a bucket in the corner of the cage during the break in action.
Referee Herb Dean deducted one point from Long for the damaging foul, yet within a minute of the fight resuming, Long landed an illegal knee to the groin, the fight was paused again, and Long was deducted a second point.
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Garbrandt was relatively unscathed on the third foul, but he was noticeably frustrated with his opponent.
The double point deduction proved significant at the end of the 15-minute contest, though, as Garbrandt won 28-27 on all three scorecards.
That means all three judges scored two of the three rounds in favour of Long, because of the two points deducted in Round 3, he ended up losing a decision.
It’s the third decision loss in four UFC appearances for the 27-year-old from China.
Garbrandt, 34, began his career 11-0 and became UFC champ late in 2016, but he never defended the title and had only won three of his previous 10 fights prior to UFC 326.
In other preliminary action, Donte Johnson escaped with a split decision win over short-notice replacement opponent Cody Brundage. Johnson, who was originally supposed to face Dusko Todorovic, was the biggest betting favourite on the entire UFC 326 card but had his hands full with Brundage, who only has one win in seven fights since the end of 2023.
Ricky Turcios tried his hand up in the 145-pound division for the first time in the UFC after a 2-3 run in the 135-pound division, Alberto Montes outpowered the winner of Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter.
Montes locked up a tight squeeze on an anaconda choke early in the second round that put Turcios to sleep. The 31-year-old from Venezuela is 11-1 with seven submission wins, four of which have been anaconda chokes.
Lanky flyweight Sumudaerji effectively utilized his significant height and reach advantage over Jesus Aguilar and swept the scorecards. Aguilar fell to 4-3 in the UFC as Sumudaerji improved to 6-4 in the UFC, thanks to his third consecutive decision victory in the past 11 months.
In other 125-pound action, Nyamjargal Tumendemberel out-grappled Cody Durden for the majority of their bout en route to a unanimous decision win.
A pair of light-heavyweight bouts kicked off the early prelims with Diyar Nurgozhay winning a decision over Rafael Tobias and Rodolfo Bellato picking up a first-round knockout of Luke Fernandez. Both Tobias and Fernandez were making their UFC debuts after earning a contract through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2025.
A featherweight matchup between Jeong-yeong Lee and Gaston Bolanos had been scheduled for Saturday’s prelims but was cancelled on Friday due to weight management issues with Lee. The cancellation was announced after Bolanos had already successfully made weight.
UFC 326 took place at T-Mobile Arena and was headlined by a BMF Title fight between former featherweight champion Max Holloway and former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
