HOUSTON — UFC 262 will usher in a new era in one of the promotion’s premier divisions, as Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler vie for the vacant lightweight title in the main event at the Toyota Center. Saturday night will mark the first time someone other than Khabib Nurmagomedov, who retired last October, will reign as the undisputed lightweight champ since April 2018.
Oliveira, 31, has been in the UFC since he was 20 years old, debuting in 2010. He had an inconsistent start to his UFC career, but since he moved up from featherweight in 2017, he is 9-1, including wins his last eight in a row. Oliveira (30-8, 1 NC) has the most submission victories in UFC history (14), as well as the most performance bonuses in promotion history (10). Oliveira is also tied for the most finishes in UFC history with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (16).
Chandler has been in the UFC for only eight months, after signing as a free agent from Bellator. But Chandler was one of the longtime stars of that promotion, winning their lightweight championship three times, and he has staked his claim as the best 155-pound fighter in the world for nearly a decade.
Chandler (22-5) has won three straight, including an emphatic, first-round TKO win over Dan Hooker in his UFC debut at UFC 257 in January. The Missouri native owns wins over former UFC champions Benson Henderson and Eddie Alvarez. Chandler, 35, owns the record for the most finishes in Bellator history (13) and is now looking to make some history in the UFC.
ESPN has Oliveira ranked No. 3 in the world at lightweight and Chandler No. 4.
In the co-main event, lightweight standout Tony Ferguson will try to snap a two-fight losing streak against Beneil Dariush. Before the recent skid, Ferguson (25-5) won 12 straight, but he was never able to challenge for the undisputed lightweight title as multiple scheduled bouts against Nurmagomedov fell through for various reasons. Dariush (20-4-1) is red hot, a winner of six straight. He is trying to storm into contention as a member of the 155-pound elite.
Also on the card, women’s flyweight contenders Katlyn Chookagian and Viviane Araujo face off, plus an all-action featherweight battle between Shane Burgos and Edson Barboza, and Antonina Shevchenko, sister of women’s flyweight champ Valentina, meets Andrea Lee in a 125-pound contender bout.
The early results — several finishes — suggest Dana White’s decision to up the performance bonuses from $50,000 to $75,000 is making an impact.
Follow along with as Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim recap all the action, or watch the fights on ESPN+ PPV.
Fight in progress:
Men’s featherweight: Shane Burgos (13-2, 6-2 UFC, -140) vs. Edson Barboza (21-9, 15-9 UFC, +120)
Results:
Middleweight: Andre Muniz (21-4, 3-0 UFC) defeats Jacare Souza (26-10, 9-7 UFC) by first-round submission
Oh man. I can’t watch this. Feel terrible for Jacare
— Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) May 16, 2021
Recap to come.
Men’s featherweight: Lando Vannata (12-5-2, 4-5-2 UFC) defeats Mike Grundy (12-3, 1-2 UFC) by split decision
The story of this fight coming in was going to be Grundy’s wrestling versus Vannata’s striking. And, in the end, it was Vannata’s striking — with some wrestling of his own — that won out.
Vannata pulled out a split decision win (29-28, 27-30, 30-27) over Grundy in a very entertaining, back-and-forth fight. A Vannata slam, perhaps the biggest surprise technique of the fight, helped seal the victory in the third round. This was Vannata’s debut at featherweight.
Grundy is a very good wrestler and it was clear that his game plan was to take Vannata down and keep him there. But it never worked out for him. Vannata was slick evading the takedowns and made Grundy pay with kicks and knees as he was coming in. Vannata’s striking was flowing, as he landed combination and flashy spinning techniques.
In the second round, Grundy landed two hard straight rights that did damage. But Vannata was landing combinations — not just single strikes — and he opened a cut on Grundy’s head. Vannata landed a massive slam in what ended up being a one-sided third round for him, sealing the victory. However, one judge did not think so, giving all three rounds to Grundy.
“Those scorecards had me second-guessing my life,” Vannata said in his postfight interview.
Vannata, 29, has alternated wins and losses in his past five fights. The New Mexico resident is known for his exciting fights, but lacked consistency at lightweight — which he hopes to change at 145 pounds. Grundy, a 34-year-old Liverpool, England, native, has dropped two straight following a nine-fight winning streak.
— Raimondi
Middleweight: Jordan Wright (12-1, 2-1 UFC) defeats Jamie Pickett (11-6, 0-2 UFC) by first-round TKO
Coming off his first pro loss, Wright did not take much time to get back into the win column — 64 seconds to be exact.
Wright, 29, of Los Angeles, hurt Pickett with a string of elbows to the side of the head, as Pickett looked for an early single-leg attempt. After Pickett finally bailed on the takedown, Wright went for blood, as he swarmed Pickett with knees from the clinch. One of the knees knocked down Pickett in the center of the Octagon and Wright finished it from there with hammerfists.
75k got y’all out here acting differenttttttt ! #UFC262
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) May 16, 2021
It was a major bounceback for Wright, who suffered a knockout loss to Joaquin Buckley in November. He is now 2-1 with the promotion. Pickett, 32, of Wilmington, North Carolina, falls to 0-2 in the UFC.
— Okamoto
Women’s flyweight: Andrea Lee (12-5, 4-3 UFC) defeats Antonina Shevchenko (9-3, 3-3 UFC) by second-round submission
When Lee got a takedown in the opening seconds of Round 2 and immediately secured a mounted triangle, it appeared that the fight was about to be over. But Shevchenko persevered in that position for nearly five minutes before Lee switched to a triangle armbar to finally, finally elicit the tapout at 4:52.
Beautiful Jiujitsu, @AndreaKGBLee !!!!! Big congrats! #ufc262
— Roxanne Modafferi (@Roxyfighter) May 16, 2021
It was a much-needed victory for Lee, a 32-year-old Texas native now based just over the border in Shreveport, Louisiana. She ended a three-fight losing streak, utilizing a striking advantage of 88-36, mostly coming on the ground.
Shevchenko looked sharp on her feet for much of the first round, but once the fight went to the canvas she had no answers, though she did survive. The 36-year-old older sister of UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko has lost two of her past three.
— Wagenheim
Women’s flyweight: Priscila Cachoeira (10-3, 2-3 UFC) defeats Gina Mazany (7-5, 2-5 UFC) by second-round TKO
1:20
Priscila Cachoeira overwhelms Gina Mazany with punches at the end of Round 2 for the dominating victory at UFC 262.
Two fights ago, it appeared as if Cachoeira was on the verge of getting her walking papers. Now? She’s on a bit of a run.
Cachoeira stopped Mazany via TKO at 4:51 of the second round. Living up to her “Zombie Girl” nickname, Cachoeira rallied after getting taken down repeatedly, walked forward and blasted Mazany over and over again with big right hands.
What a comeback
— Chito Vera (@chitoveraUFC) May 15, 2021
Mazany looked good early on. She used her wrestling to put down Cachoeira several times in the first round and landed some ground and pound. It looked like the second round would be more of the same. Mazany took down Cachoeira and worked from half guard with ground and pound.
But Cachoeira caught Mazany with an elbow from the bottom that opened a nasty cut near Mazany’s left eye. That might have been the beginning of the end. Referee Mike Beltran stood the two women up and Cachoeira began to stalk forward. Mazany was clearly tired and Cachoeira continued to pressure, landing right hand after right hand after right hand. Mazany was spent and hurt and Beltran had to step in to call for the TKO.
Cachoeira, 32, has won two straight by finish after losing her first three fights in the UFC. The Brazil native was destroyed by current women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko in her first UFC bout in 2018, but picked up the quickest knockout in division history over Shana Dobson in February 2020. Mazany, a 32-year-old Alaska native fighting out of Missouri, has alternated wins and losses in her past five fights.
— Raimondi
Men’s featherweight: Tucker Lutz (12-1, 1-0 UFC) defeats Kevin Aguilar (17-5, 2-4 UFC) by unanimous decision
A former Dana White Contender Series contestant fighting out of Maryland, Lutz landed more meaningful shots on the feet and mixed in key takedowns to earn the win. According to UFC Stats, he did not significantly outland Aguilar in the high-pace fight, but he clearly caused more damage and spent time in top position in every round.
Tucker Lutz had a great debut! ?? #ufc262
— Tatiana Suarez (@tatianaufc) May 15, 2021
Aguilar, of Winnsboro, Texas, badly needed a victory as he went into the contest on a three-fight skid. That sense of urgency showed in the final round, as he continued to move forward and look for big shots, but the 32-year-old couldn’t do enough to avoid his fourth consecutive loss.
Lutz, 26, suffered a loss in his very first professional bout in 2015, but is unbeaten since.
— Okamoto
Lightweight: Christos Giagos (19-8, 5-4 UFC) defeats Sean Soriano (14-7, 0-1 UFC) by second-round submission
1:20
Christos Giagos gets the Houston crowd on their feet as he submits Sean Soriano in the first fight of UFC 262.
Giagos was pieced up in the first round in the standup and nailed by more punches and kicks early in the second, but when he went to his wrestling he found immediate success — using a takedown to lock in a D’Arce choke that gave him the win.
For Soriano, who returned to the Octagon six years after his first run in the UFC, the result was much like his last time in the cage: He showed flashes of brilliance, but in the end did not come out on top. Soriano was cut from the promotion in 2015 after three straight losses.
Damn that was a sick darce choke. #UFC262
— Tatiana Suarez (@tatianaufc) May 15, 2021
Giagos, a 31-year-old from Hawthorne, California, got the finish at 3:59 of Round 2 for his second win in a row. Afterward, he stated he wanted to be the opponent in what is expected to be Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone‘s retirement fight.
Soriano, also 31, is a Rhode Islander fighting out of Boca Raton, Florida. He had won three in a row.
— Wagenheim
Still to come:
Lightweight title fight: Charles Oliveira (30-8 1 NC, 18-8, 1 NC UFC, 135) vs. Michael Chandler (22-5, 1-0 UFC, +115)
Lightweight: Tony Ferguson (26-5, 15-3 UFC, +145) vs. Beneil Dariush (20-4-1, 14-4 UFC, -170)
Men’s bantamweight: Matt Schnell (15-5, 5-3 UFC, -160) vs. Rogerio Bontorin (16-3, 2-2 UFC, +135)
Women’s flyweight: Katlyn Chookagian (15-4, 8-4 UFC, -135) vs. Viviane Araujo (10-2, 4-1 UFC, -115)
Source:ESPN
