Manoel Sousa proved he can carry his knockout power into the final minute of a gruelling back-and-forth brawl.
The UFC newcomer bookended his victory over fellow lightweight Bolaji Oki with a pair of knockdowns on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: Emmett vs. Vallejos.
Brazil’s Sousa stunned Belgium’s Oki in the opening minute of the fight and later put him to sleep with 48 seconds remaining in the final round.
Sousa, 28, is from the 2025 class of Dana White’s Contender Series graduates and is known for his ability to land finishing blows on his opponents. The Brazilian is 14-1 in mixed martial arts and even holds a knockout victory over No. 9-ranked lightweight contender Mauricio Ruffy.
Sousa landed 23 significant strikes through the first two rounds but exploded for 48 significant strikes in the final round until he hit Oki on the button late.
This was one of eight preliminary matchups on Saturday’s event at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
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Myktybek Orolbai set a new UFC welterweight record with 19 takedowns landed against Chris Curtis in the featured prelim.
Orolbai is a former lightweight, a little too big for the 155-pound division, and Curtis a former middleweight who was a small 185-pounder. However it was Orolbai who appeared the bigger, stronger athlete when they met at 170 pounds, and he won all three rounds on all scorecards.
The 28-year-old from Kyrgyzstan smothered and frustrated his 38-year-old American opponent for nearly the entire matchup, accumulating 12:33 of control time in the 15-minute bout. None of Curtis’s middleweight opponents were able to control him the way Orolbai did, which speaks to what a force Orolbai can be in the welterweight division.
Heavyweights Vitor Petrino and Steven Asplund channelled their inner Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots in a thrilling scrap. Asplund was left a bloody mess and Petrino overcame getting sent to the canvas a couple times to get his hands raised after 15 minutes of trading heavy leather.
Petrino landed 92 significant strikes and is now 3-0 since moving up from the light-heavyweight division last year, while Asplund had a four-fight finishing streak broken.
Elijah Smith continued rolling in the bantamweight division. The 23-year-old second-generation UFC athlete improved to 10-1 as a pro and 3-0 at the UFC level with a second-round submission of Suyoung You.
Smith was coming off a highlight-reel slam knockout of Toshiomi Kazama last summer and is a gifted boxer, but this time he showed off his grappling ability, snatching up You’s neck after a nifty transition on the mat. You had won five in a row and had never previously been submitted.
Smith’s father, Gilbert Smith, had brief stints in the UFC in 2013 and 2017 and serves as one of Elijah’s cornermen and coaches at Team Victory in Colorado Springs.
Also on the prelims, Eryk Anders got the better of fellow veteran Brad Tavares via unanimous decision. Anders, 38, has won two of his past three and is 10-9 with one no-contest overall in the UFC since 2017.
Tavares, 38, has a 16-12 UFC record since debuting all the way back in 2010. Earlier in the week, Tavares was acknowledged by the organization for achieving 50 clean drug tests throughout his UFC career.
Beatriz Mesquita had another dominant showing in her second UFC appearance, submitting Montserrat Rendon with a rear-naked choke two minutes into the opening round of their bantamweight bout.
The 34-year-old is one of the most credentialled Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists of her era and a 10-time world champion. Mesquita is an American Top Team teammate of current 135-pound champion Kayla Harrison. She only debuted in MMA in June of 2024, but is already 7-0 and won a Legacy Fighting Alliance title in her fifth pro fight prior to joining the UFC roster.
Spanish bantamweight Hecher Sosa earned a UFC contract this past September when he fought with a heavy heart on an episode of Contender Series and on Saturday at the same venue, won his UFC debut over Luan Lacerda via unanimous decision.
Sam Hughes had her three-fight winning streak snapped by Piera Rodriguez in the opening bout of the prelims. Rodriguez swept the scorecards and has now won three consecutive decisions since her baffling 2024 headbutt disqualification loss to Ariane Carnelossi.
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