The UFC APEX Center in Las Vegas, Nevada was home to a great night of fights at UFC Vegas 6: Lewis vs. Oleinik. The card saw four (T)KOs, two submissions and six decisions, including one split-decision.
The prelims opened up with a very competitive match-up between Irwin Rivera and Ali Qaisi that ended up with Rivera wining the split-decision. That was followed by Yusuff Zalal completely outclassing Peter Barrett and winning a lopsided unanimous decision. Gavin Tucker survived an early knockdown to lay down an absolutely demoralizing beating on Justin Jaynes before he finally finished him off via rear-naked choke. Andrew Sanchez ended up landing the perfect punch on Wellington Turman, shutting the lights off on the Brazilian late in the first round. Nasrat Haqparast soundly defeated Team Alpha Male prospect Alex Munoz via unanimous decision, and Kevin Holland scored a third-round TKO of Joaquin Buckley early in the third. The undercard was rounded out with Tim Means getting back in the win column by scoring a unanimous decision over Argentina’s Laureano Staropoli.
The main card opened with a sensational round of action between Beneil Dariush and Scott Holtzman, but “Hot Sauce” would not see any further action after a nasty spinning elbow planted him, marking Dariush’s fifth consecutive win. Yana Kunitskays thoroughly beat up Julija Stoliarenko in a real grinder of a fight, winning a unanimous decision and Darren Stewart and Maki Pitolo put on a few minutes of scrapworthy entertainment, but Stewart clamped on a tight guillotine from the bottom, forcing the tap from Pitolo, just past the mid-point of the first stanza. Chris Weidman and Omari Akhmedov was another grinder that saw Weidman take the first, Akhmedov take the second, and Ray Longo give the Strong Island pep talk that spurred Chris to dominate Omari on the ground, taking the unanimous decision.
Derrick Lewis came out hot and heavy from the jump, throwing everything from flying knees to the kitchen sink. Oleinik didn’t have much to offer at all, and by the time the second round rolled around, it was a foregone conclusion. At the 21-second mark, that big right did its job and once again, Herb Dean waited until Oleinik’s head was bouncing off the canvas before he intervened. “The Black Beast’s” first comment on the mic during the post-fight interview—’Man, I gotta take a shit.’ Classic.
Performance of the Night: Andrew Sanchez, Darren Stewart, Gavin Tucker, Kevin Holland
Gavin Tucker (RNC at 1:43 of round 3), Andrew Sanchez (KO (punch) at 4:14 of round 1), Kevin Holland (TKO (punch) at 0:32 of round 3), Beneil Dariush (TKO (spinning back-fist) at 4:38 of round 1), Darren Stewart (guillotine at 3:41 of round 1), and Derrick Lewis (TKO (punches) :21 of round 2) all finished their respective bouts inside the distance, but it would be Andrew Sanchez, Darren Stewart, Gavin Tucker, and Kevin Holland taking home $50K bonuses
Fight of the Night: NONE
Irwin Rivera (29-28, 28-29, 29-28), Youseff Zalal (30-26, 30-26, 30-27), Nasrat Haqparast (30-27, 30-27, 30-27), Tim Means (29-28, 30-27, 29-28), Yana Kunitskaya (30-27, 30-27, 30-26), and Chris Weidman (29-27. 29-27, 29-28) all saw their fights go to the final horn, but none of them warranted FOTN in the eyes of the overlords at the UFC.
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