Respected veterans Ricky Simon and Raoni Barcelos went toe-to-toe in a spirited 15-minute bantamweight scrap on the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas, with Barcelos extending his winning streak to four in a row thanks to a unanimous decision victory.
Barcelos dropped the first round to Simon on all three judges’ scorecards before using his boxing and solid takedown defence to give him the edge in each of the final two rounds. The 38-year-old from Brazil was coming off consecutive wins over Cristian Quinonez, Payton Talbott and former 135-pound champion Cody Garbrandt prior to snapping Simon’s two-fight streak.
Touted heavyweight prospect Josh Hokit was successful in his official UFC debut, picking up a 56-second knockout over fellow newcomer Max Gimenis.
The 27-year-old American is a former college football player who had brief stints on a couple NFL practice rosters from 2020 to 2022, and is now 7-0 in mixed martial arts. Hokit earned a UFC contract in August thanks to a win over Guilherme Uriel on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Following the quick KO, Hokit took to the microphone where he called out streaking heavyweight Valter Walker.
“I already stomped two Brazilians (Gimenis and Uriel), and I’m looking for a third,” Hokit said before adding, “Valter Walker, you absolutely suck.”
Walker has made a name for himself lately by winning his past four fights via first-round heel hook submission, which is a UFC record.
The prelims kicked off with a pair of second-round rear-naked choke submissions.
Daniel Marcos put Miles Johns to sleep in bantamweight action. Peru’s Marcos, 32, improved to 18-1 as a pro and bounced back from his first-ever loss, a decision to Montel Jackson back in May. It was his first stoppage win in the UFC since his organizational debut nearly three years ago. Johns, 31, has now lost three in a row following a 14-2 start to his career.
Zachary Reese earned a short-notice win over Jackson McVey in a 195-pound catchweight bout to open the card. Reese found a finish after getting a dominant position on the ground following a back-and-forth opening round. The matchup was put together in the middle of the week after McVey’s original opponent, Robert Valentin, withdrew from the event due to injury.
Also on the preliminary card, Jamall Emmers mixed in timely takedowns en route to a unanimous decision win over fellow featherweight Hyder Amil. Jacqueline Cavalcanti improved to 5-0 in the UFC with a unanimous decision win over one-time women’s bantamweight title challenger Mayra Bueno Silva, who’s now on a four-fight losing streak. Denise Gomes won her fourth fight in a row as she swept the scorecards against Tecia Pennington in their strawweight bout.
