UFC Vegas 116, The Morning After: Old Dogs Save Dreadful Card
Here’s what you may have missed!
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 25: (L-R) Davey Grant of England knees Adrian Luna Martinetti of Ecuador in a bantamweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at Meta APEX on April 25, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC) UFC Vegas 116 was probably the worst card of 2026 ( so far ). That’s not intended as a slight to Aljamain Sterling , who fought masterfully to end Youssef Zalal ’s run up the Featherweight ranks in the main event.
“Funkmaster” accomplished his task with a great deal of intelligence, demonstrating the value of championship experience in five-round fights. Unfortunately, a 25-minute and fairly one-sided decision was not what the doctor ordered after a whole bunch of uneventful previous bouts. I will do my best to keep the negativity brief, but there were plenty of low points on the card.
Norma Dumont vs. Joselyne Edwards in the co-main event felt insulting ahead of time, and the actual fight barely qualified as background noise. Women’s Bantamweight is doomed .
Scheduling Rodolfo Vieira and Marcos Buchecha — two big, tired BJJ legends who cannot meaningfully strike or wrestle — in consecutive fights also felt like a cruel punishment for the crime of being a committed fight fan. The entire “Prelims” were particularly miserable and uninteresting. All told, there were only two finishes in 13 total fights.