The UFC 273 results rundown offered up some major winners and losers from inside the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. Saturday’s card featured two title fights and one of the most anticipated welterweight clashes of 2022.
In the co-main event, lineal bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling looked to prove his merit as a belt holder when he faced interim titlist, Petr Yan, in their rematch that was over a year in the making. After five hard-fought rounds, “Funkmaster” proved his doubters wrong and became the unified bantamweight king by split decision.
In the main event, featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski battled fan-favorite brawler Chan Sung Jung and proved why he was the biggest favorite on the card. Dominating “Korean Zombie” for the four rounds it lasted and getting the technical knockout finish to retain his title.
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Along with the “people’s main event” between 170-pound stars Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns, UFC 273 also featured rising stars Ian Garry and Mark O. Madsen, and the return of top-10 flyweights Mackenzie Dern and Tecia Torres. Let’s take a look at the fighters that had nights to remember and evenings they would like to forget.
Biggest winners and losers from UFC 273 results
Winner: Alexander Volkanovski
Alexander Volkanovski could have used a finish in this fight and he got it at UFC 273. It is the only knock on his place as a pound-for-pound fighter. He hadn’t gotten a finish since 2018 and just three in the UFC. But in Jacksonville, he dismantled a fighter he was far better than and got him out of there within the distance. “The Great” is the best fighter alive not named Kamaru Usman.
Winner: Aljamain Sterling
Despite being a major underdog with Vegas oddsmakers and questioned for a year by fans and media, Aljamain Sterling shut them all up and beat his hated rival Petr Yan on Saturday night. While the fight was very close and could have gone the Russian’s way, it wasn’t controversial and proved once and for all that “Funkmaster” truly is the best bantamweight in the world. At least for right now.
Loser: Petr Yan
This loss is going to be a tough one for Petr Yan to swallow. He was the better fighter in his first fight with Sterling and gave his title away with an epic bonehead moment. The Russian finished strong at UFC 273 but didn’t get the nod in a very close split-decision loss. He has only two defeats in the promotion, and both are questionable setbacks against the same man.
With Sterling calling for a fight against TJ Dillashaw next, the former champion is now in a bit of limbo as a deserving contender who will have to wait a while for his next title shot.
Winner: Khamzat Chimaev
The MMA world wanted to know if Khamzat Chimaev was for real, well after his UFC 273 results, there is no doubt about it. Opponent Gilbert Burns made oddsmakers look ridiculous for having him as such a massive underdog. He gave the young superstar everything he could handle and hurt him several times in their fight.
However, the biggest takeaway from “Borz’s” win is not that he is just a very talented and elite 170-pounder, but he has the heart and toughness to battle through serious adversity and still wins against top competition. Chimaev has arrived as a legitimate UFC superstar and welterweight contender, ladies and gentlemen.
Loser: Tecia Torres
The UFC 273 results for Tecia Torres were similar to many other key instances in her fight career. Every time she has faced an elite of the division (Marina Rodriguez, Rose Namajunas, Zhang Weili, Joanna Jedrzejczyk) she has come up short. It has to be frustrating for a fighter who has been top-10 caliber at strawweight for the last seven years.
Unfortunately for “The Tiny Tornado” there is one undeniable truth following her loss to Mackenzie Dern on Saturday night, she is a really good but not great UFC fighter.
Winner: Mark O. Madsen
People won’t be writing songs about Mark O. Madsen’s performance at UFC 273 but that doesn’t diminish its importance. The silver medal-winning “Olympian” had a tough task in Vinc Pachel, a fighter who was the betting favorite. It wasn’t pretty but he outworked and used his stellar wrestling to score a key development win against another proven UFC-level fighter.
The 37-year-old is now 12-0 and is deserving of a test in the back end of the ultra-deep lightweight division’s top-15.
Loser: Aspen Ladd
In 2019 Aspen Ladd was viewed as one of the brightest young female talents on the roster. That feels like a long time ago now. Since winning three straight to start her UFC career, she has had a couple of notable failures cutting weight, had to change divisions, and lost three of her last four — including Saturday against Raquel Pennington.
The veteran “Roxy” took the fight on short notice and still outworked the 27-year-old over three rounds. After getting off to such a great start in the promotion, Ladd is at a career crossroads after her UFC 273 results, where she might need to win her next fight to hold on to her roster spot.
Winner: Aleksei Oleinik
Aleksei Oleinik really needed a W at UFC 273, after losing his last three. He got it and earned an absurd 47th submission win in what has been a memorable career as one of the best heavyweight MMA grapplers of all time. The Russian is unlikely to become a contender any time soon, but at 44, he is still a very dangerous fighter and showed Saturday that even when he’s in a bad position on the ground, he can quickly turn the tables on an opponent and make them tap, as he did to Jared Vanderaa.
Loser: Mickey Gall
Mickey Gall entered the night a 10-fight veteran facing a newcomer and left with only the second knockout loss of his career as his UFC 273 results. Mike Malott’s KO of the New Jersey native will be on his career highlight-reel forever as he folded Gall up bad enough that he face-planted. The 30-year-old changed camps to Sanford MMA in hopes of improving his striking weaknesses and instead has the first losing streak of his career and has fallen in four of his last six Octagon appearances.