Steve Garcia just keeps on rolling.
The rising featherweight contender made quick work of David Onama in the main event of a Fight Night card Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The 33-year-old from New Mexico extended his winning streak to seven in a row, with six of them via knockout or technical knockout, as he shone in his first UFC main event spotlight.
Garcia has risen to the No. 12-ranked contender at 145 pounds and looked like he’s ready for the top 10 after his relentless pressure wore on Onama, who is the No. 13-ranked contender and was on a four-fight streak of his own.
Onama had never previously been finished in his career as he fell to 14-3 as a pro, getting stopped in the opening round by Garcia.
Garcia was coming off an impressive three-round decision win over veteran Calvin Kattar in July and hasn’t lost since moving back down to featherweight three years ago following a stint up at 155 pounds.
The co-main event was dramatic to say the least.
At first, it appeared that Ante Delija had earned a technical knockout victory over Waldo Cortes-Acosta following a flurry of punches midway through the opening round of their heavyweight scrap. However, the fight was not officially called off because it became apparent that Delija accidentally poked Cortes-Acosta in the left eye before the finishing sequence. Then it seemed the bout would be declared a no-contest, but after several minutes, Cortes-Acosta was able to continue seeing, and the fight resumed.
Immediately following the break in action, Cortes-Acosta landed a massive overhand right that dropped Delija, and a few follow-up shots put Delija out.
One week ago at UFC 321, the heavyweight championship matchup between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane ended in the first round and was declared a no-contest due to an eye poke from Gane that rendered Aspinall unable to see.
Somewhat ironically, Delija is a friend and training partner of Aspinall. Delija was coming off a first-round knockout win over Marcin Tybura in his UFC debut in early September.
Cortes-Acosta, who is currently the No. 6-ranked heavyweight contender, rebounded from an August decision loss to Sergei Pavlovich.
Jeremiah Wells, who celebrated his 39th birthday just two days before his welterweight bout with Themba Gorimbo, snapped a two-fight skid and got his hand raised thanks to a unanimous decision. Gorimbo, who was submitted by Vicente Luque in his previous outing last December, is now on the first two-fight losing streak of his career. Wells hadn’t fought since February of 2024.
The middle portion of the card saw four consecutive fights end in a submission.
The main card kicked off with Allan Nascimento tapping out Cody Durden with an anaconda choke in a 130-pound catchweight bout. Nascimento and Durden both typically compete at 125 pounds, but Durden accepted the matchup on roughly one week’s notice, so they met at catchweight.
Charles Radtke controlled Daniel Frunza for the duration of their welterweight contest before locking up a rear-naked choke in the final minute of the final round to get back in the win column. The outspoken American was coming off a loss in May to Mike Malott.
Yadier del Valle kept his unblemished pro record intact with a first-round rear-naked choke of Isaac Dulgarian at featherweight. The 29-year-old from Cuba is now 10-0 in mixed martial arts and 2-0 in the UFC, with both of his wins inside the Octagon coming via first-round rear-naked choke.
Billy Elekana put Kevin Christian to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the featured prelim after dropping him with a lead right hook in their 205-pound matchup.
Also on the preliminary card, Norma Dumont extended her winning streak to six in a row with a narrow split decision win over fellow Brazilian Ketlen Vieira in a meeting of two of the top women’s 135-pounders in MMA. Vieira clearly won the opening round, and Dumont won the final round, but the judges were split on the second, with Dumont landing more significant strikes but Viera securing a takedown and accumulating almost two minutes of control time.
Dumont, 35, entered the weekend ranked No. 4 at 135 pounds and moves one step closer to title contention. Her only loss in the past five years was a split decision to Macy Chiasson in 2022. Vieira, 34, is the No. 3-ranked contender but will likely take a slight dip after this loss.
Donte Johnson earned a UFC contract with a win on Dana White’s Contender Series in August and won his UFC debut with a second-round submission of Sedriques Dumas. Johnson, who improved to 7-0 overall, had won his first six pro bouts all by first-round KO/TKO.
Timothy Cuamba outlasted Chang-ho Lee to win a unanimous decision in a men’s bantamweight bout. Seok-hyun Ko wrestled his way to a sweep of the scorecards against Philip Rowe in welterweight action. South Korea’s Ko, 32, improved to 2-0 in the UFC since debuting in the organization.
Talita Alencar earned her first stoppage win at the UFC level with a third-round submission of fellow strawweight Ariane Carnelossi. In other 115-pound action, Alice Ardelean won her second bout via unanimous decision this year by handing Montserrat Ruiz her fourth consecutive loss in the UFC.
