UFC 313 Results: Magomed Ankalaev Ends Alex Pereira’s Unbeaten Light Heavyweight Streak to Win Title

Add as a preferred source on Google

The Ultimate Fighting Championship staged it's third numbered event of 2025 where a title changed hands in the headliner of UFC 313: Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2 event, which took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada on Sunday (March 9).

Magomed Ankalaev snapped Alex Pereira’s unbeaten streak in the light heavyweight and in the process took away the world title following a dominant five-round thriller on top of a card that saw four fights end in stoppage.

On a long night in Las Vegas, 7 of 11 fights, including the headliner, went the distance, while 4 fights ended in either submission or stoppages as four fighters took home bonuses worth USD50K. Here is a look at the awards followed by recap from UFC 313:

UFC 313 Awards

• Fight of the Night: Justin Gaethje vs Rafael Fiziev
• Performance of the Night: Ignacio Bahamondes
• Performance of the Night: Mauricio Ruffy

UFC 313 Recap

In the championship headliner, UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira took on No. 1 ranked contender Magomed Ankalaev in what was his stiffest challenge to date.

Pereira started very good early with kicks, and Ankalaev landed punches to hurt him in round two. The third and fourth rounds saw Ankalaev stalking and Pereira landing hard kicks off the back foot, making it a very close and thrilling fight.

The fifth round saw Ankalaev have more control at the cage, but Pereira's takedown defense was still 100%. When the scorecards were read, Ankalaev was awarded the unanimous decision.

And new UFC light heavyweight champion Ankalaev said, "I can't even put it into words. It's been such a long way, and here's my dream: it's on my waist. The plan was to pressure, pressure, pressure.

"Everybody who fights against him always counters, but my job was to make sure that I work as number one. Everybody who fights against me, becomes the counter striker. And my plan worked."

In the co-main event, No. 3 ranked lightweight contender Justin Gaethje welcomed former foe Rafael Fiziev to re-engage in a repeat of their first match, and the bout did indeed deliver fireworks, earning the fight of the night bonus.

Fiziev came out in round one with perfect Muay Thai knees, then Gaethje dropped him with an uppercut in the second. The third round was a back and forth between two warriors that went to the scorecards, where Gaethje pulled away with the unanimous decision.

After the win, Gaethje said, "He really changed his tactics from the last fight. I really just had to start pushing forward. It was just 12 days notice for him to (fight and) not get completely exhausted? He deserves so much credit. I had to come back.

"I had to show everybody (it doesn't matter) how far down you are, it's on you to get back on the horse. That's what we do. That's what I do, that's who my parents taught me to be. And I hope you're teaching your kids that same exact thing."

Also on the main card, Ignacio Bahamondes and Mauricio Ruffy claimed stoppage wins over Jalin Turner and King Gree in their respective lightweight bouts, while Amanda Lemos outpointed Iasmin Lucindo for the decision win in a women's strawweight bout.

Earlier in the preliminary card, Myanmar's only representative in UFC Joshua Van almost came into this fight as a top-15 ranker against undefeated ROAD TO UFC tournament winner Rei Tsuruya of Japan, but a rankings update bumped him out.

Incidentally, former Philippines PXC round girl and former Rizin Japan referee Jason Herzog were booked for the bout. It played out as expected, with Van using his boxing and well-rounded MMA intelligence, and Tsuruya working hard with his wrestling experience. After three rounds, it was evident that Van's work was superior to Tsuruya's, and he won by unanimous decision.

The prelims and early prelims, which saw some late alterations, also witnessed Osman Diaz and Mairon Santos earn decision wins, while Brunno Ferreira and Carlos Leal claimed stoppage wins to round of the fights on the 11-fight card. Here is a look at the final results from UFC 313:

UFC 313 Results

Main Card

• Light Heavyweight World Championship Bout: Magomed Ankalaev defeated Alex Pereira by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
• Lightweight Bout: Justin Gaethje defeated Rafael Fiziev by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Lightweight Bout: Ignacio Bahamondes defeated Jalin Turner by submission (triangle choke) at 2:29 of Round 1
• Women's Strawweight Bout: Amanda Lemos defeated Iasmin Lucindo by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Lightweight Bout: Mauricio Ruffy defeated King Green by KO (spinning wheel kick) at 2:07 of Round 1

Preliminary Card

• Flyweight Bout: Joshua Van defeated Rei Tsuruya by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Middleweight Bout: Brunno Ferreira defeated Armen Petrosyan by submission (armbar) at 4:27 of Round 2
• Welterweight Bout: Carlos Leal defeated Alex Morono by TKO (strikes) at 4:16 of Round 1
• Featherweight Bout: Mairon Santos defeated Francis Marshall by split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)

Early Preliminary Card

• Middleweight Bout: Osman Diaz defeated Djorden Santos by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)