Bogdan Guskov spent most of the first round attempting to avoid being choked out by Ryan Spann. But once the fight got back on its feet in the second round, Guskov made the most of his opportunity. Guskov stunned Spann in the second half of the round with an uppercut.

Spann, who has considerably more UFC experience than Guskov, was immediately on wobbly legs. When Guskov followed up with another combination, he scored a knockout win. Guskov has now won two straight fights by KO after he lost his initial fight in the UFC.

Silva Handles Veteran Fighter

Karine Silva passed the test any good prospect must face. She could still get her hand raised when facing more difficult competition. The flyweight fighter opened her UFC career with three straight submission victories. Silva then was asked to fight Ariane Lipski.

While Lipski has struggled in the promotion after coming into it as a respected prospect, she represented a step up in competition for Silva. Silva was able to lean on her wrestling to pick up a narrow decision, and she learned a lesson about climbing the rankings ladder. 

If you want to climb the ladder, you must continue to evolve as a fighter. Silva still needs to sharpen up her striking but appears to be on the right track overall.

Diniz Survives Scare, Flattens Opponent

Jhonata Diniz found a lot of success in kickboxing. But MMA’s ruleset features many different types of attack that kickboxers don’t have to worry about. When Austen Lane took down Diniz during the first round, Diniz looked like a fish out of water.

Lane held Diniz down for nearly the entire round and worked his way to mount at the end of the round. While Lane rained down ground and pound, Diniz had to hold on to survive the round.

But Diniz showed a veteran fighter’s composure in his UFC debut. During the second round, a visibly tired Lane couldn’t get the fight back to the ground. That’s where Diniz’s kickboxing skills shined through.

Diniz landed a nasty uppercut that led to a sequence where he knocked Lane out cold. He has won all seven MMA fights by knockout, according to MMA breaking news, but will need to improve his grappling to rise through the ranks in his new sport.

Onama Won’t Accept the Position

David Onama missed weight leading up to his fight with Jonathan Pearce. Despite that, Onama didn’t seem to be limited by his conditioning during a fight with his grappling-heavy approach to Pearce. Every time Pearce took down Onama, he would find a way to spin to the top and end up on top.

Not accepting the position allowed Onama to continue to use his advantage in striking to his benefit. Onama outstruck Pearce and survived a wild exchange in the final 10 seconds of the fight to come away with a unanimous decision victory.

Dirty Bird Shows His Age

Tim Means is an incredible story of perseverance and durability. Means battled through a tough upbringing, struggling with drugs and violence, before eventually finding success in combat sports. Means, 40, has fought in the UFC since 2020 and was viewed as a live underdog against Uroš Medić.

While Means could do some things right with his grappling early, Medić took advantage of his eagerness to grapple. When Means went to shoot on Medić about two minutes into the fight, Medić was able to catch up with a strike and finish the fight with a flurry of punches.

People believed Medić could struggle with his cardio against Means. But cardio doesn’t come into play when you have the power to finish quickly.

Hubbard Picks Up Controversial Decision

The lightweight fight between Austin Hubbard and Michal Figlak is the worst-case scenario for any MMA judge or bettor. Neither Hubbard nor Figlak produced a moment that stood out from the rest of the fight. There were no knockdowns and no near submissions.

MMA news sites reported that when the fight ended, many believed Figlak had edged out Hubbard thanks to his volume. But all three judges awarded Hubbard the win 29-28 on the scorecards. Looking at a box score will show there wasn’t much separation. Hubbard scored three of his seven takedown attempts but didn’t do much with them.

Figlak held a 92-86 edge in significant strikes and a 100-99 edge in overall strikes. It was almost too close to call. It’s hard to be too mad at the judges for that one.

Here’s a look at the other fights from the card not mentioned above:

• Bantamweight, Victor Henry win by TKO over Rani Yahya, Round 3 2:36
• Heavyweight, Don’Tale Mayes win by decision over Caio Machado, 29-28 (x3)
• Women’s strawweight Ketlen Souza win by decision over Marnic Mann, 30-27 (x3)
• Catchweight, Chris Padilla win by submission over James Llontop, Round 1 4:33
• Women’s flyweight, Ivana Petrovic win by submission over Liang Na, Round 3 1:29
• Lightweight, Maheshate Hayisaer win by split decision over Gabriel Benitez, 29-28 Maheshate (x2), 29-28 Benitez