UFC Vegas 85 Results: Winners And Losers From Dolidze Vs. Imavov

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 03: (L-R) Nassourdine Imavov of Russia punches Roman Dolidze of Georgia … [+] in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on February 03, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The UFC was back at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas for Saturday’s UFC Vegas 85 fight card. In the main event, Nassourdine Imavov, who was the No. 11 fighter in the official UFC middleweight rankings, scored a majority decision win over the No. 8 ranked Roman Dolidze. Meanwhile, the evening’s co-headliner saw Renato Moicano return to action for the first time since November 2022 to score a unanimous decision victory over Drew Dober.

Below we look at the winners and losers from the UFC Vegas 85 fight card, which streamed in its entirety on ESPN+.

Winners

Nassourdine Imavov: Nassourdine Imavov had an excellent first round against Roman Dolidze in their UFC Vegas 85 middleweight main event. However, because of the effort he put toward finishing the fight inside the first five minutes, Imavov did not have much to offer over the next four rounds. Despite his output dipping over the last 20 minutes of the contest, Imavov did enough to get a majority decision win.

Saturday’s victory will elevate Imavov standing in the UFC middleweight rankings as he entered the bout at No. 11 and Dolidze was No. 8, but it’s hard to say just how much of a jump he will make in the 185-pound rankings.

Renato Moicano: Renato Moicano did an excellent job of taking Drew Dober out of their lightweight scrap early in their UFC Vegas 85 matchup. He did this via takedowns and a heavy top game. However, Dober was able to get back into the fight following a takedown of his own in the second stanza. Then, a failed takedown attempt from Dober in the third round was the opening Moicano needed to change the tide of the scrap and give Moicano the decision to win.

Moicano, who had not fought since he submitted Brad Riddell in November 2022, was the No. 13 fighter in the official UFC 155-pound rankings heading into this fight. He should be in line for a top-10 opponent in his next outing.

Randy Brown: Wow. Randy Brown snapped a double jab to the head of Muslim Salikhov and followed that with a perfectly timed and placed right hand that put his opponent down and out at the

With the win, Brown has quietly moved to 6-1 in his past seven outings. His only setback during that time was a February 2023 setback to the rising Jack Della Maddalena.

Natalia Silva: Natalia Silva continued climbing the UFC women’s flyweight rankings. Silva was No. 9 on those rankings heading into her UFC Vegas 85 matchup against the No. 7 ranked Viviane Araujo. Silva, who turned 27 on fight night, used her speed and ability to mix up her striking techniques and targets to pick up the win.

The rising Brazilian, who was my fighter to watch on this card, struggled at some points to get off the cage when Araujo put her there, but she did enough work in the open to pick up the victory.

There are still questions about how Silva will fare against well-rounded fighters with strong defensive striking and wrestling skills, but Silva has yet to face a fighter who can impose their will on her inside the Octagon.

With the win, Silva, a former Jungle Fights flyweight champ, moved to 5-0 under the UFC banner. She should face a fighter inside the top five of the division in her next outing.

Charles Radtke: Gilbert Urbina did his best to keep Charles Radtke as far away from him as possible. The reason for Urbina’s approach became clear when Radtke landed a perfect left hook to drop him to the mat with 45 seconds left in the round. Urbina got back to his feet, but a second left, with 15 ticks left on the clock, brought the fight to its abrupt end.

With the win, Radtke moved to 2-0 in the UFC and he is now on a six-fight winning streak.

Molly McCann: Molly McCann contemplated retirement before dropping to strawweight for her UFC Vegas 85 matchup against Diana Belbita. McCann looked excellent in her first UFC contest at 115 pounds. She was aggressive from the start of the fight and threw all her strikes with bad intentions.

McCann used a power takedown to get the fight to the mat, and from there, she set up a nasty armbar to end the bout at 4:59 of the first round.

The victory ended a two-fight losing skid for McCann. Both those defeats came via first-round submission. UFC Vegas 85 was a bounce-back performance for McCann, who was on a three-fight winning streak between September 2021 and July 2022.

Charles Johnson: Charles Johnson was in deep trouble in the early going of his flyweight scrap opposite Azat Maksum at UFC Vegas 85. Maksum dropped Johnson in the first round and nearly finished him with a D’arce choke, but Johnson adjusted his style ahead of the second round, and that was all he needed to get the decision win.

Johnson forced Maksum to come to him for the final 10 minutes of the contest while landing solid counter-strikes. Johnson also was close to wrapping things up with a choke against the fence late in the fight.

Johnson looked excellent in the last 10 minutes of this matchup. The win ended Johnson’s three-fight losing skid.

Themba Gorimbo: Themba Gorimbo was aggressive in the opening moments of his fight against Pete Rodriguez, landing a powerful overhand right that put Rodriguez on the mat. The ground strikes that followed left Rodriguez looking to wrestle with referee Herb Dean, who had stepped in to end the fight at 32 seconds of the first round. The win was Gorimbo’s second career knockout victory and first since 2019 under the EFC banner.

Gorimbo was a -245 favorite over Rodriguez, who was competing for the first time since he knocked out Mike Jackson in October 2022.

After his stoppage win, the 33-year-old said his goal is to become the UFC welterweight champion in 2024.

Jung Gyeong Lee: Jung Gyeong Lee looked excellent in dismantling Blake Bilder at UFC Vegas 85. The 28-year-old was calm and confident throughout the fight. He took advantage of small openings, including landing a nasty knee when the two separated along the fence in the first stanza.

Lee’s striking was on point throughout the fight, and his takedown defense left Bilder frustrated and ineffective. Another thing that stood out in this featherweight matchup was that Lee never overextended himself when he had Bilder hurt. He did not waste energy or time pursuing a finish that might not have been there.

Lee is a fighter to watch in the 145-pound division.

Luana Carolina: Luana Carolina fought off three submission attempts in the third round of her flyweight fight opposite Julija Stoliarenko to pick up a late finish via ground strikes.

With the win, Carolina moved to 4-3 in the UFC. An awkward striker with a lanky frame, Carolina is on a two-fight winning streak.

Carolina came in overweight for the bout, tipping the scales at 128 pounds, which takes some shine off her victory.

MarQuel Mederos: MarQuel Mederos looked slightly uncomfortable early in his UFC debut matchup opposite Landon Quinones. However, he quickly adjusted to his foe’s offense, countering Mederos’ strikes well while landing more volume in the final 10 minutes of the lightweight scrap, which was enough to give him the decision win.

Mederos needs work on his offensive clinch work. He didn’t have much to offer in close as far as wrestling or striking.

Losers

Roman Dolidze: Roman Dolidze had little to offer in the way of offense against Nassourdine Imavov. He didn’t land more than eight significant strikes in any round and finished the fight with a total of 34 significant strikes landed. He also did not register a single takedown or submission attempt during the 25-minute scrap.

Drew Dober: Drew Dober looked like he was on the way to a comeback win over Renato Moicano, but an ill-advised takedown attempt put him on his back halfway through the third round. That ended any hope of Dober picking up the win.

Muslim Salikhov: Muslim Salikhov put together a five-fight winning streak between 2018 and 2021. However, since then he has gone 1-3 with two knockout losses, including his loss to Randy Brown on Saturday night. Salikhov turns 40 in early June. His future does not look bright.

Viviane Araujo: Viviane Araujo knew what she had to do to win this fight, negate the time and space Natalia Silva uses for her striking. She did that for prolonged periods of the bout, but she failed to generate any offense from in close, which cost her the fight. With the loss, Araujo fell to 1-3 in her past four outings.

Diana Belbita: Diana Belbita didn’t seem fazed by Molly McCann’s power and aggression in the opening moments of their UFC Vegas 85 scrap. Her game plan seemed to be to weather the early storm and then see what McCann had later in the contest. Unfortunately for Belbita, there was no later as McCann submitted her with one second left in Round 1.

Azat Maksum: Azat Maksum had a fantastic first round against Charles Johnson. He dropped Johnson in the first stanza and nearly had a D’arce choke submission. However, Maksum and his team did not adjust to Johnson’s style in the final 10 minutes of the fight. That inability to change things up left Maksum with his first career defeat.

Maksum has talent, so seeing how he responds to this defeat will be interesting.

Julija Stoliarenko: Julija Stoliarenko is a specialist. Of her 11 career wins, 10 have come via armbar submission. She almost had an 11th submission victory on Saturday against Luana Carolina, but her opponent fought off those attempts and picked up a third-round TKO finish.

Stoliarenko needs to become a more well-rounded fighter. Her 2-5 record in the UFC shows that her specialty is ineffective at this level. She needs to evolve her fight game.

Landon Quinones: Landon Quinones fell to 0-2 in the UFC with a decision loss to MarQuel Mederos at UFC Vegas 85. Quinones did some good work early with his striking from distance, but once his opponent figured out his timing, Quinones struggled.

If Quinones had more output, the ability to take the fight to the mat, or could have landed some strikes in the clinch, he might have picked up the win in the lightweight scrap.

Thomas Petersen: Thomas Petersen had a decent first round in his UFC debut, scoring a takedown and some ground control time against Jamal Pogues, but he didn’t have much to offer his foe on the feet.

Petersen had opportunities to take over the fight, but his lack of offensive striking, his weak striking defense, and his lack of a backup plan hurt him in a big way.

Petersen needs a lot of work if he hopes to have a long stay on the UFC roster.

Neither

Jamal Pogues: Jamal Pogues was a better striker than his opponent, Thomas Petersen in their heavyweight scrap. Pogues used that striking, distance control and some takedown defense to pick up the decision win.

Pogues needs to work on his conditioning, takedown defense, and ability to get back to his feet once he hits that mat. The 28-year-old heavyweight is a work in progress, and he needs to improve if he wants to get off the prelims of UFC Fight Night cards.