Who’s Stock Was Boosted The Most After Saturday’s Fights?

It was back to home base and familiar surroundings for the UFC this past weekend. Following long haul trips to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Sydney, Australia over the past 2 weekends, the Apex in Las Vegas played host to a fight card topped by a middleweight contest between Jared Cannonier and Gregory Rodrigues.

Let’s take a look at the fighters who shone the brightest at UFC Vegas 102.

Jared Cannonier

Jared Cannonier (18-8 MMA, 11-8 UFC) picked up his first win since 2023 in Saturday’s main event. “Killa Gorilla” had to weather a hell of a storm in the opening round and was dropped to the canvas twice by Gregory Rodrigues, before rallying to knock the Brazilian out at the beginning of round 4.

Despite the fact that he turns 41 years old next month, Cannonier’s display served as a reminder that he’s still a dangerous proposition at 185 lbs. Most of the contenders ranked above him in the division hold wins over him, but there are plenty of options elsewhere in the top 15 if the UFC are looking to put him in some fun fights.

Bo Nickal has just entered the rankings and badly needs a step up in competition. Could Jared Cannonier be the next obstacle for the Penn State wrestling phenom during his rise to stardom?

Valter Walker

Speaking of rankings, Don’Tale Mayes was occupying 15th spot in the heavyweight standings going into Saturday’s fights, which says a lot about the current standard of the division given that he had lost more UFC fights than he had won up to that point.

When Valter Walker (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) locked onto Mayes’ leg with a vice-like grip and wrenched on that ankle with all his power, he not only secured a submission win and performance of the night bonus, he will likely also find himself taking his opponent’s place in the rankings when they’re updated later this week.

Considering it was only Walker’s 3rd appearance inside the Octagon, that’s an impressive feat.

Edmen Shahbazyan

Xtreme Couture’s Edmen Shabazyan (14-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) is still trying to find his groove at the top level of sport. The 27-year-old began his UFC career in style, racking up 4 successive wins in 2018/19, before hitting a ceiling when the competition moved up a notch.

Losses to Derek Brunson, Nassourdine Imavov and Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez (among others) have shown that he isn’t yet ready for the best the division has to offer, but his impressive KO victory over Dylan Budka on Saturday proved that he still has plenty of potential to deliver exciting moments.

After pulling off 3 exciting finishes in his last 5 fights, it’s obvious “The Golden Boy” is still an interesting prospect. Give him time.

Angela Hill

26 fights deep into her UFC career, 40 years old, and now with a record 12 wins in the women’s strawweight division.

It may not have been pretty at times, but Angela Hill (18-14 MMA, 13-14 UFC) deserves to be commended for getting over the line against Ketlen Souza in the featured preliminary bout on Saturday night.

After a bright opening round from “Overkill”, Souza came back strong and made the next 2 rounds into a real war of attrition. Hill has lost plenty of these close fights over the years due to her lack of power, but she managed to convince 2 of the judge’s to vote in her favor this time.

Jose Miguel Delgado

A UFC debut to be proud of.

Jose Miguel Delgado (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) flatlined his opponent Connor Matthews less than 3 minutes into his maiden appearance inside the Octagon and bellowed “best in the world starts right now!”.

The MMA Lab featherweight revealed during his post-fight interview that he is visualizing a UFC title in the long term, and following Saturday’s performance there will surely be plenty of eyes on this Arizona native going forward.

Paul Browne

Paul Browne is a professional mixed martial arts commentator, feature writer and podcaster based in Dublin, Ireland.