UFC 325 wasn’t built the same as its predecessor, sacrificing quality to ensure local favorites were featured prominently on the card, and having a main event that kind of makes no sense. But that doesn’t mean the event was a bust—quite the opposite. The undercard saw an even mix of finishes to decisions, and some fresh ROAD to UFC talent to keep our eye on in the future.

The main portion of the card bore witness to Quillan Salkilld embarrass Jamie Mullarkey in about three minutes flat, proving the gigantic gulf in the odds was justified. Tai Tuivasa took his sixth, straight loss at the hands of Tallison Teixeira, and it was as depressing as you might assume, for those that didn’t watch. UFC has to let Tai go and stop embarrassing him in front of his people.

Mauricio Ruffy took Fiziev nearly to the end of round two, then decided he would end Rafael’s suffering, scoring the TKO and sending the Azerbaijani back to the L side of the column. Benoit Saint-Denis put a whooping on Dan “Prostituta” ← (IYKYK) after a first round of Hooker besting him with body kicks and guillotine attempts. The second round was a different story once BSD got the Aussie down, raining down elbows and strikes of all kinds, bloodying the man to the point that Herb Dean stepped in to wave the fight off.

Alexander Volkanovski proved once again that he’s the featherweight kingpin. He damned near got a shutout, but I gave Diego Lopes a narrow round 2, as did two of the judges. The third judge gave Volk a perfect 50-45, which was also acceptable, as many fans and pundits did. It was a terrific contest, though, and Lopes never looked like he was out of it. He never gave up trying to get the fight finished, yet still couldn’t solve the riddle. On to the next one.

Now that we’ve reviewed the highlights, let’s check out the results and bonuses while we’re here.

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UFC 325 Results

* 145 lbs.: Alexander Volkanovski def. Diego Lopes by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45)

* 155 lbs.: Benoit Saint-Denis def. Dan Hooker by TKO (elbows), round 2 (4:45)

* 155 lbs.: Mauricio Ruffy def. Rafael Fiziev by TKO (punches), round 2 (4:30)

* 265 lbs.: Tallison Teixeira def. Tai Tuivasa by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

* 155 lbs.: Quillan Salkilld def. Jamie Mullarkey by submission (rear naked choke), round 1 (3:02)

* 205 lbs.: Billy Elekana def. Junior Tafa by submission (rear naked choke), round 2 (3:18)

* 185 lbs.: Cam Rowston def. Cody Brundage by TKO (ground and pound), round 2 (4:08)

* 185 lbs.: Jacob Malkoun def. Torrez Finney by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)

* 170 lbs.: Jonathan Micallef def. Oban Elliot by technical submission (rear naked choke), round 2 (3:31)

* 145 lbs.: Kaan Ofli def. Yizha by majority decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

* 155 lbs.: Don Mar Fan def. Sangwook Kim by unanimous decision (30-27. 30-27. 30-27)

* 145 lbs.: Keiichiro Nakamura def. Sebastian Szalay by TKO (knee), round 3 (3:28)

* 135 lbs.: Lawrence Lui def. Sulangrangbo by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

UFC 325 Bonuses

* $100K each FOTN: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes

* $100K each POTN: Quillan Salkilld, Mauricio Ruffy

* $25K each to the other fighters that got a finish:Keiichiro Nakamura, Jonathan Micallef, Cam Rowston, Billy Elekana, Benoit Saint-Denis

Thank you for reading this article and listening to the podcast. Please consider subscribing to The MMA Vivisection & 6th Round Post-fight Show podcast Substack to enjoy our premium content. Your paid subscriptions are keeping hope alive that we can continue on with our shows. If you haven’t already, please pledge with a paid subscription today. If you have, please share this post far and wide.

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UFC 324 was ravaged by injury before it ever got off the ground. A few weeks out, we lost Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes. On weigh-in day, after successfully making weight, Cameron Smotherman stepped off the scale, took a few steps and then faceplanted, busting open his chin which ended up requiring stitches. This morning, just hours before the event’s kickoff, we lost yet another bout, this time due to suspicious betting activity which later revealed Alexander Hernandez was injured, so his bout vs. Michael Johnson was canceled. Rocky start to a billion-dollar-per-year deal.

The card itself was pretty good, with the prelims seeing four straight finishes. Considering that the bonuses have doubled now, and there’s added incentive ($25K bonus for all finishes that didn’t already earn a standard bonus) to get a finish, perhaps a fire has been lit under our modern day gladiators. And may I just say that the old guys really do find some magical reserves because Nikita Krylov certainly did.

The rest of the fights, save one, went the distance, with Silva-Namajunas being closer than I thought it would be. Nurmagomedov predictably routed Figueiredo, as O’Malley did with Song Yadong. The lone finish was Cortes-Acosta sending Derrick Lewis to the land of banana peels and loss.

Gaethje-Pimblett was an absolute banger—not exactly a classic, mainly because there was an abundance of chicanery with eye-pokes, low blows and just wild striking, but still very good. Paddy has no quit in him and Justin can still crack. It was very clear that the significant strikes were very different for these gents, with Gaethje’s being far more impactful. Oh yeah, some brave person put $1.3M on Paddy to win, so there’s that.

Now that we’ve reviewed the highlights, let’s check out the results and bonuses while we’re here.

MMA Vivisection & 6th Round is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

UFC 324 Results

* 155 lbs.: Justin Gaethje def. Paddy Pimblett by unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)

* 135 lbs.: Sean O’Malley def. Song Yadong by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

* 265 lbs.: Waldo Cortes-Acosta def. Derrick Lewis by TKO (ground and pound), round 2 (3:14)

* 125 lbs.: Natalia Silva def. Rose Namajunas by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

* 145 lbs.: Jean Silva def. Arnold Allen by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

* 125 lbs.: Umar Nurmagomedov def. Deiveson Figueiredo by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

* 185 lbs.: Ateba Gautier def. Andrey Pulyaev by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

* 205 lbs.: Nikita Krylov def. Modestas Bukauskas by KO (punches), round 3 (4:57)

* 125 lbs.: Alex Perez def. Charles Johnson by TKO (left hook), round 1 (3:16)

* 265 lbs.: Josh Hokit def. Denzel Freeman by TKO (strikes, I guess), round 1 (4:59)

* 170 lbs.: Ty Miller def. Adam Fugitt by TKO (punches), round 1 (4:59)

UFC 324 Bonuses

* $100K each FOTN: Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett

* $100K each POTN: Ty Miller, Josh Hokit

* $25K each to the other fighters that got a finish:Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Nikita Krylov

Thank you for reading this article and listening to the podcast. Please consider subscribing to The MMA Vivisection & 6th Round Post-fight Show podcast Substack to enjoy our premium content. Your paid subscriptions are keeping hope alive that we can continue on with our shows. If you haven’t already, please pledge with a paid subscription today. If you have, please share this post far and wide.

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UFC 323 delivered big in their last PPV event ever (or so they say). It had all the hallmarks of a great event going in with solid matchmaking and terrific stats on paper, and the action and skill level we were treated to surpassed our expectations. Nine finishes on a 14-fight card was just the beginning of the bonanza, as we also bore witness to a comeback story that might end up being called a fight of the year. Petr Yan gave a masterclass on how to defeat Merab Dvalishvili and ended up reclaiming his belt in spectacular, high level fashion.

Joshua Van took the belt from Alexandre Pantoja, but it was in an anti-climactic, depressing way. Alexandre went to post on his left arm on his way down to the canvas and let’s just say it didn’t cooperate, snapping the entire wrong way, grossing out multitudes of fans in the process.

Henry Cejudo put on a valiant effort in his bout with Payton Talbott, but was no match for the younger man, losing convincingly, despite a warrior’s performance. He retired in the cage and the promotion sent him off with a montage video. Hopefully he’s actually made enough to retire for real this time.

Tatsuro Taira defeated Brandon Moreno via TKO, and while some declared the referee’s call a mite early, it wasn’t egregious and the result would almost undoubtedly have been the same if it had gone on much longer. Taira was teeing off and Moreno wasn’t putting up much in the way of defense. Now that we’ve reviewed most of the main card, let’s check out the rest of the results and bonuses while we’re here.

MMA Vivisection & 6th Round is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

UFC 323 Results

* 135 lbs.: Petr Yan def. Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)

* 125 lbs.: Joshua Van def. Alexandre Pantoja by TKO (injury), round 1 (0:26)

* 125 lbs.: Tatsuro Taira def. Brandon Moreno by TKO (punches), round 2 (2:24)

* 135 lbs.: Payton Talbott def. Henry Cejudo by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

* 205 lbs.: Jan Blachowicz vs. Bogdan Guskov ends in a majority draw (29-28, 28-28, 28-28)

* 155 lbs.: Manuel Torres def. Grant Dawson by TKO (punches), round 1 (2:25)

* 155 lbs.: Chris Duncan def. Terrance McKinney by submission (anaconda), round 1 (2:30)

* 125 lbs.: Maycee Barber def. Karine Silva by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

* 155 lbs.: Fares Ziam def. Nazim Sadykhov by TKO (punches), round 2 (4:59)

* 185 lbs.: Official decision: Brunno Ferreira def. Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

* 155 lbs.: Jalin Turner def. Edson Barboza by TKO (punches), round 1 (2:24)

* 205 lbs.: Iwo Baraniewski def. Ibo Aslan by KO (punches), round 1 (1:29)

* 185 lbs.: Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Antonio Trocoli by submission (guillotine), round 1 (1:09)

* 145 lbs.: Mairon Santos def. Muhammad Naimov by KO (punch), round 3 (0:21)

UFC 323 Bonuses

* FOTN: Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili 2

* POTN: Manuel Torres, Iwo Baraniewski

Thank you for reading this article and listening to the podcast. Please consider subscribing to The MMA Vivisection & 6th Round Post-fight Show podcast Substack to enjoy our premium content. Your paid subscriptions are keeping hope alive that we can continue on with our shows. If you haven’t already, please pledge with a paid subscription today. If you have, please share this post far and wide.

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