The Real Winners and Losers From UFC 301

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Alexandre Pantoja and Steve Erceg face off before UFC 301Alexandre Loureiro/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The UFC was back on our screens on Saturday night with the under-the-radar UFC 301 card out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

As expected, the line-up was loaded with top Brazilian talent.

In the main event, reigning flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja sought the first defense of his title reign, taking on streaking Australian contender Steve Erceg. Pantoja ultimately retained the title with a unanimous decision, but the underdog Erceg gave him everything he could handle.

Co-headlining honours for the card went to Brazilian legend Jose Aldo, who returned from an almost two-year layoff on home turf. The so-called "King of Rio" was welcomed back to the Octagon by No. 12 bantamweight contender Jonathan Martinez, whom he defeated with a masterful unanimous decision.

The middle bout of the main card was contested at light heavyweight, where No. 10 contender Anthony Smith looked to slow the rise of unranked Brazilian finisher Vitor Petrino. Smith did so in style, tapping his opponent with a choke inside a round.

The main card was kicked off by back-to-back middleweight fights. First up, fast-rising Brazilian Caio Borralho scored a highlight reel knockout win against Paul Craig, earning a spot in the rankings in the process. Then, Brazilian action fighter Michel Pereira delivered one of the most entertaining performances of his career en route to a first-round submission of Ihor Potieria.

It may not have been the blockbuster UFC 300 was, but it was a great night of viewing, and a career-changing night for many fighters on the card.

Scroll on for the real winners and losers of the night.

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Very few people felt Steve Erceg belonged in his UFC 301 fight with flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja. The Australian's talent was undeniable, but he had fought just three times in the UFC—all in the span of a year—and was thought to be outmatched against the experienced Brazilian titleholder.

In the end, Erceg proved that he deserved to be fighting near the top of the division, giving the champ everything he could handle in an entertaining five-round scrap. Had he not surrendered several minutes of control time after an ill-advised takedown attempt in round five, he might have won the belt.

"I blew it," a dejected Erceg told commentator Daniel Cormier after Pantoja was announced the winner by decision.

Maybe he did blow it, but he also proved that he can be competitive with the best fighter in his division and that he stands a good chance of becoming a champion himself in the future.

Pantoja also proved he belonged. We've known he's one of the top flyweights in the world for a while, but he won the title with a tight decision against Brandon Moreno, and still had plenty of doubters ahead of UFC 301. Those doubters will surely quiet down after his gutsy win over Erceg.

"What a tough guy, what a tough division," he said in his post-fight interview.

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Jose Aldo looked as good as ever in the UFC 301 co-main event.

The 37-year-old former featherweight champ was back in action against No. 12-ranked bantamweight Jonathan Martinez, and despite having not fought since a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili in August of 2022, he quickly established himself as the quicker, faster fighter in the cage. His boxing was impeccable. His leg kicks were as devastating as ever. He even flaunted some of his rarely-seen grappling, scoring a beautiful takedown after wobbling his opponent with a left hook in round three.

By the time it was over, there was no doubt he would win a unanimous decision, and when that decision was read, his hometown crowd exploded into deafening applause.

The fight with Martinez marked the final obligation on Aldo's current UFC contract. Ahead of UFC 301, the expectation was that win or lose, he would leave the UFC and focus on boxing, having won two fights in the ring since he lost to Dvalishvili in 2022. However, in his post-fight interview with his fellow Hall-of-Famer Daniel Cormier, he laid out plans for an extended stay in the Octagon.

"My next step is sitting with Dana [White], Sean [Shelby] and Hunter [Campbell], and we'll see how it goes," he said. "Maybe we can come back in here and become the champion again."

Whatever the future holds, Saturday will always be remembered as one of the most impressive performances of Aldo's career—one made all the more memorable by the love he shares with his legions of his fans in his hometown of Rio.

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Anthony Smith needed a win at UFC 301. The former light heavyweight title challenger, still ranked No. 10 in the weight class, had lost three of his last four fights, and may have been out of the title picture for good with another defeat.

There was plenty of reason to believe that's the way it would end for Smith, but in the end, he picked up one of the best wins of his recent career—and it was all thanks to a rookie mistake from his opponent, unbeaten Brazilian Vitor Petrino.

After a tense opening minute, Petrino dove in on a double leg takedown, leaving his neck completely exposed in the attempt. Smith, a veteran of nearly 60 fights, then calmly wrapped his arms around his opponent's neck, and when he was slammed to the canvas a moment later, locked up a guillotine choke for a quick tap.

"There's levels to this sh--" he said. "I'm just happy to be back in here and prove myself. To all you haters out there, maybe I'm not so f--king old."

Ahead of the fight, Smith talked a great deal about his hopes for a fight with light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. That opportunity is definitely still some distance away for him, but he took a big step in that direction with his quick and decisive win over Petrino.

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Michel Pereira is the closest thing to surefire entertainment that you'll find in MMA. The Brazilian dazzles fans every time he steps into the Octagon, with a wild striking style that features all kinds of acrobatics, and his UFC 301 middleweight bout with Ukraine's Ihor Potieria was no different.

Pereira was quick to action in the fight and dropped his foe with a fast two-punch combo in a matter of seconds. Once Potieria was supine, the Brazilian then unleashed an attack that seemed to defy gravity: a wild flip that saw him land, knee down, on his opponent's face.

That stunning maneuver shockingly didn't finish the Ukrainian, but Pereira didn't relent. Moments later, he had his opponent locked up in a tight guillotine choke. Suddenly, Potieria was tapping, but he was too late: he started snoring before the referee could break them apart.

It was Pereira's eighth win in a row, and his third since moving from welterweight up to middleweight. While he hasn't entered his new division's rankings yet, his performance in Rio could certainly change that, and even if it doesn't he can count on a big fight next time out.

One way or the other, he's looking more dangerous than ever in his new weight class.

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Caio Borralho scored one of the best wins of the entire UFC 301 card and announced himself as one of the hottest new contenders in the middleweight division.

Borralho kicked off the main card opposite Scottish grappler Paul Craig, a former light heavyweight. Like many men before him, he quickly showed that he was a far sharper striker than Craig, and landed some huge shots through round one, including a devastating knee that might have stopped lesser opposition.

While he wasn't able to put Craig away in the first, he did so in highlight-reel fashion in round two, slumping his Scottish foe with a rocket-fuelled left cross. It wasn't just one of the best performances of UFC 301, but one of the best knockouts of the year so far.

The win should send Borralho into the middleweight top 15, and after the fact, he called for a fight with long-time contender Jarred Cannonier.

"I'm gonna tell you what I want next," he told commentator Daniel Cormier. : First I want my $50K bonus. After that, I think it's time for a top 10 or even top 5 fighter. With all due respect, Jarred Cannonier, I want to test myself against you."

While the Brazilian might be getting a bit ahead of himself with that callout, there's no question he's on his way. He has now won 15 straight fights, including six in the Octagon.

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The final bout of the UFC 301 undercard was not one you'd want to show anybody with a weak stomach.

The fight was contested at featherweight, with Brazil's Joanderson Brito taking on Welshman Jack Shore.

Heading into the fight, Shore had lost just once before and had quite a bit of hype behind him, but things got pretty ugly for him in Brazil.

Brito spent much of the first round attacking Shore's legs with hammering kicks. By the mid-way point of the second, the Welshman's shin was bruised and badly swollen. Then things took a turn for the worst. Brito threw yet another leg kick, and this time, opened a huge gash on his opponent's shin. To make matters even worse he then started punching—yes, punching—the lacerated leg, inflicting further damage.

Before long, Shore was leaking all over the canvas, and the referee paused the action and invited the cage-side physician into the Octagon. After prodding and pulling at Shore's wound for a moment, the doc then advised the ref that the fight should be stopped, and it was.

It was not the worst cut we've seen in the Octagon, but its position on Shore's leg rather than the brow or hairline made for quite a grisly scene.

It was Brito's fifth win in a row—and all of those wins have been stoppages.

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At 38 years old, former strawweight title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz is a whopping 16 years older than her UFC 301 opponent Iasmin Lucindo. The 5939-day age gap between the two opponents is the biggest in the history of the UFC's women's divisions.

Ahead of time, Kowalkiewicz was confident she could prove that age is just a number, and outsmart her 22-year-old foe. It didn't work out that way. Instead, Lucinda proved to be stronger, faster, and generally one step ahead of the former title challenger, landing some huge shots en route to a unanimous decision win.

It would have been nice to see Kowalkiewicz pull this one off—it certainly would have been a victory for those of us who have left our athletic primes—but the fact is that age matters in a sport like MMA.

However, it may be too early to call for Kowalkiewicz's retirement just yet. Before her loss to Lucinda, she had won four straight fights. Lucindo, on the other hand, is now on a nice three-fight streak of her own and has plenty of time to work her way into title contention.

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MMA is as full of fouls as any sport out there. Nearly every fight card features some combination of groin shots, eye pokes and fence grabs, but unfortunately, these fouls are very rarely penalized by referees. In most cases, fighters are only given a warning, and oftentimes, they are given several.

We got a rare exception to that rule on the UFC 301 undercard, in a lightweight fight between Elves Brener and Myktybek Orolbai. Late in the fight, Orolbai grabbed hold of the fence, and while he probably didn't expect much more than a warning, he was ultimately hit with a point deduction from referee Fernando Portella.

Let's all give Mr. Portella a round of applause. While fighters often get away with cheating multiple times in a single fight, this ref had the guts to punish the first foul he saw. If more officials followed suit, fighters would be wholly less inclined to risk cheating, and we'd all be complaining about fouls a lot less.

In the end, the point deduction didn't change anything for Orolboi, who still won the fight by unanimous decision, but it was nice to see a referee taking action all the same.

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In the final bout of the UFC 301 early prelims, a Brazilian lightweight named Mauricio Ruffy made his UFC debut. While few fans had heard his name before he was signed by the promotion, they're sure to be talking about him at the proverbial water cooler come Monday.

Ruffy was matched up with Australia's Jamie Mullarkey in his debut. It was a tough test, as Mullarkey is both experienced and tough, but the Brazilian passed it with flying colors, first wowing fans by taking his opponent down with a slick leg lock attempt, then finishing things off with a flying knee and punches as the first round wore down.

"That was one of the greatest UFC debuts we've seen in a long time," a stunned Daniel Cormier said as a bloodied Mullarkey hobbled around the cage.

The win immediately had fans on social media comparing Ruffy to Conor McGregor, and the Brazilian quickly justified the McGregor comparisons in another way, maximizing his time on the mic by sending a warning to reigning lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.

Even after his impressive UFC debut, he's probably at least five more wins from a title shot, but he couldn't have introduced himself to the fans and the fighters in his division any more impressively.

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The cage-side judges earned the scorn of MMA fans early on the UFC 301 undercard.

The third bout of the night was contested in the women's flyweight division, with Brazil's Diane Barbosa taking on Ernesta Kareckaite from Lithuania. After three rounds, Barbosa was named the winner by unanimous decision—much to the elation of the Brazilian and the fans in the building in Rio—but not everyone agreed with that verdict. Within moments of the decision being read, social media was full of furious debate about the outcome, with a great many fans scoring the fight in favor of Kareckaite. It was a close fight, but it's hard to argue with anyone who felt that way.

Regardless, it will go down as a win for Barbosa. It was her fourth in a row, and her first in the Octagon, after she earned a UFC contract with a first-round armbar against Rainn Guerrero last year.

Kareckaite, meanwhile, will have to wait for her first UFC win. That's likely to sting when she realizes how many people scored the fight in her favor.

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Anyone who tuned in to watch the flyweights do their thing was rewarded with a very flashy finish with Alessandro Costa taking on Kevin Borjas in a clash of unranked flyweights.

Early in round two, Costa wobbled Borjas with a vicious leg kick. He followed up with a series of punches to drop his foe and finished things off with a torrent of ground strikes from back mount from there. Referee Joao Claudio Soares called it off at 1:35.

It was a huge moment for Costa. Not only did he drive the impassioned Brazilian fans in the building into a frenzy of applause and cheers, he also separated himself from a decision loss to Steve Erceg in his last fight.

It's too early to be calling Costa a serious title threat at 125 pounds, but on a night when the division's top prize will be up for grabs in the main event, he made sure to remind fans who he is and ensure that he'll get a big step up in competition next time out.

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Main card | ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET

Alexandre Pantoja def. Steve Erceg by unanimous decision

Jose Aldo def. Jonathan Martinez via unanimous decision

Anthony Smith def. Vitor Petrino via submission (guillotine) at 2:00 of round one

Michel Pereira def. Ihor Potieria via submission (rear-naked choke) at 0:54) of round one

Caio Borralho def. Paul Craig via KO at 2:10 of round two

Prelims | ESPN2/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET

Joanderson Brito def. Jack Shore via TKO at 3:35 of round two

Iasmin Lucindo def. Karolina Kowalkiewicz via unanimous decision

Myktybek Orolbai def. Elves Brener via unanimous decision

Drakkar Klose def. Joaquim Silva via unanimous decision

Prelims | ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET

Mauricio Ruffy def. Jamie Mullarkey viaTKO at 4:42 of round one

Dione Barbosa def. Ernesta Kareckaite via unanimous decision

Ismael Bonfim def. Vince Pichel via unanimous decision

Alessandro Costa def. Kevin Borjas via TKO at 1:35 of round two