The UFC Vegas 55 results are in following Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bantamweights Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira headlined the fight card.
UFC Vegas 55 Results: Ketlen Vieira upsets former champ Holly Holm
Holm is a former champion of the UFC women’s bantamweight division, earning that honor by defeating Ronda Rousey nearly seven years ago. She has since struggled to earn the belt back, failing to win a belt on four separate occasions. Her plans for another title shot took a major blow on Saturday with Vieira taking a split-decision nod over her in the UFC Vegas 55 main event.
As the score reflected, it was a close fight from bell to bell. Holm looked strong throughout much of the fight by pressing Vieira up against the cage and controlling the position. She also landed numerous side kicks to Vieira’s legs and midsection, even knocking her down with a kick to the midsection in round four.
Vieira, however, never backed down. Though she didn’t look as good as Holm along the fence, Vieira was sharp with her hands, snapping Holm’s head back throughout the fight, frequently landing a counter uppercut.
Holm didn’t do as much damage with her punches, but her kicks were on point throughout.
The Decision
After five rounds of action, the judges all scored the fight 48-47. Two of the nods went to Vieira, while one cast the decision in Holm’s favor.
Not surprisingly, Holm disagreed with the decision. “I thought I won the fight. I gave her round two, but I thought I won the rest of the rounds. One step forward, one step back is how it usually goes, so we’ll see what happens.”
The UFC’s official fight stats seemed to stack up in Holm’s favor. The former champion overwhelming controlled the vast majority of the fight, and also landed more overall strikes as well as significant strikes throughout the bout.
Vieira broke down in tears after the bout, seemingly surprised that she won, although she quickly shifted gears and declared, “I’m the next champion of the division.”
UFC Vegas 55 Results: Michel Pereira takes co-main event victory in blistering slugfest
Michel Pereira and Santiago Ponzinibbio fought at a blistering pace for all three rounds of the UFC Vegas 55 co-main event. They slugged it out, both men left bloodied and bruised after 15 minutes of action. Neither had a clear advantage by the end with Pereira taking a split-decision nod from the judges.
After the fight, Pereira called for a fight with Jorge Masvidal, who is currently mired in legal trouble after attacking Colby Covington outside of a restaurant following his in-Octagon loss to the top ranked UFC welterweight.
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UFC Vegas 55 Results
UFC Vegas 55 Main Card
- Main Event – Women’s Bantamweight: Ketlen Vieira def. Holly Holm by split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
- Co-Main Event – Welterweight: Michel Pereira def. Santiago Ponzinibbio by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 28-29)
- Middleweight: Chidi Njokuani def. Duško Todorović by KO (elbow) at 4:48, R1
- Women’s Strawweight: Tabatha Ricci def. Polyana Viana by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Middleweight: Jun Yong Park def. Eryk Anders by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
UFC Vegas 55 Preliminary Card
- Middleweight: Joseph Holmes def. Alen Amedovski by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:04, R1
- Heavyweight: Jailton Almeida def. Parker Porter by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:35, R1
- Lightweight: Uroš Medić def. Omar Morales by TKO (punches) at 3:05, R2
- Bantamweight: Jonathan Martinez def. Vince Morales by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Featherweight: Chase Hooper def. Felipe Colares by TKO (punches) at 3:00, R3
- Women’s Strawweight: Sam Hughes def. Elise Reed by TKO (punches and elbows) at 3:53, R3
(Photos courtesy of UFC News)