The Octagon’s return to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas kicked off with a bang as two middleweights set a high bar.
UFC 313 promised to be the biggest card of the year to date with Alex Pereira vs Magomed Ankalaev topping the card on March 8.
The night had to overcome some hurdles before getting underway with 2 of the 12 scheduled bouts falling off the card at the last-minute.
As a result, the action at UFC 313 started much later than expected with the broadcasting team filling for time before the opening bout finally began.
Fortunately for the fight fans who were forced to wait a bit longer than usual, the very first fight of the night set the standard for the rest of the card to follow.
- READ MORE: Joe Rogan details ‘unfortunate’ real reason two UFC 313 fights were cancelled at the last minute
Ozzy Diaz reveals that he couldn’t see after beating Djorden Santos in a three-round brawl
In the one and only UFC Fight Pass prelim, America’s Ozzy Diaz looked to bounce back from a loss on his Octagon debut by moving down to middleweight.
He faced Brazil’s Djorden Santos who earned his spot on the roster via a unanimous decision win on Dana White’s Contender Series last September.
It quickly became apparent that these two men were going to really test each other over three rounds in what was largely a boxing match with a few knees and elbows thrown in.
Whilst Diaz clearly got the better of the action in the final round, the previous two could’ve gone either way but all three judges scored the fight the same.
The cards had the American winning the second and third rounds for a unanimous decision of 29-28 in favor of Diaz.
Some fans debated the scoring of the second round where Santos landed more strikes but on closer inspection, the victor produced the more significant shots.
After an emotional reaction to getting his hand raised, Diaz told Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview that he was severely compromised throughout the fight after losing vision in one eye.
“I don’t know what happened in the first exchange, I couldn’t see from my left eye so I had to get in that paint, I had to dig deep. It was f—— tough, I couldn’t see for like, we had one exchange in the beginning and that was it, my left eye, I couldn’t see.”
- READ MORE: Conor McGregor’s teammate replicates his greatest achievement by winning second world title
Both men have a long way to go before winning a performance bonus
Ozzy Diaz and Djorden Santos kicked off UFC 313 with a fight of the night contender but there is still lots of action to come that could take that spot from them.
It’s always going to be hard to win a performance bonus when Justin Gaethje is on the card, especially considering his first fight with Rafael Fiziev which stole the show at UFC 286.
Not to mention the main event between two of the light heavyweight division’s most consistent finishers in Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev.
Still, if the fights get better than the opening bout, we are in for a special night in Las Vegas.