UFC Vegas 101 Results: Mackenzie Dern Tapped Out Amanda Ribas in Rematch as 2025 Opens With Fireworks

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Mackenzie Dern forced Amana Ribas to tap out in the headliner of UFC Vegas 101: Dern vs. Ribas 2 at the UFC Apex Facility in Las Vegas on Saturday (January 11) night.

New years' fireworks played out at the UFC APEX in the first Fight Night of 2025 as the 14-fight card saw whopping nine fights, including the headliner, end in stoppages, while five fights went the distance in Las Vegas.

Incredible action start to finish set the tone for the year as seven among the nine stoppages on the UFC Fight Night 249 card were either knockout (KO) or technical knockout (TKO), and 2 were submission wins.

Chris Curtis vs Roman Kopylov middleweight bout bagged the fight of the night award, while two other fighters including the main eventer Dern and Cesar Almeida took home an extra $50,000 USD as performance bonus from the event. Here is the recap for the UFC on ESPN+ 107 event:

UFC Vegas 101 Recap

A pivotal strawweight rematch between No. 6 ranked Dern and No. 8 ranked Ribas turned out as expected: a back-and-forth grappling match of jiujitsu and judo set up by punches and takedowns.

Dern captured the first round with ground control, and Ribas got the second with preferred top position. In the third, Dern was on fire and set up a perfect armbar finish to get the tap out. It's now 1-1 with the two top strawweights, potentially setting up a rubber match.

After the win, Dern said, "I'm happy. I wanted to get my submission record higher. She's such a tough fighter, knowing her Judo too, it's not good to be on my back. So, there's lots of stuff to get better at.

"From five years ago to get this win weighed was heavy on me. So I'm happy to get up and make it two wins in a row. To be able to get the tap, I'm really happy. I just want to get another win in a row. I don't know who that will be, I hope someone in front of me (in the rankings)."

Exciting all-rounders Santiago Ponzinibbio and Carlston Harris clashed in a nail-biter that went deep until the third round with furious striking. Both men delivered and took damage, but it was Ponzinibbio who smelled blood, massively wobbled Harris, and swarmed with punches to get the TKO victory.

With the much needed win, Ponzinibbio said, "Give it up for this guy, he fought so good. I put my heart inside the cage. Twelve years inside the UFC cage. Everyone here is super tough. I fought on the first card of 2025, I'm so happy.

"My goal this year is to be active. I know my level. I know I can be champion. Just I need opportunities to study inside of the cage. Why not visit UFC Argentina again?"

Also on the main card, Roman Kopylov got a last second KO in an outstanding fight with Chris Curtis that was back-and-forth high level striking, an instant classic with a controversial ending, while Cesar Almeida, who was knocked down by Abdul Razak Alhassan, got back to his feet and returned the favor, ending the fight with a huge KO.

In the fastest finish of the night, Punahele Soriano only needed 31 seconds to knock out Uros Medic in the main card opener after Felipe Bunes locked in the armbar on Jose Johnson to claim a submission win to close the preliminary card.

The prelims also saw Marco Tulio, Jacobe Smith and Fatima Kline claimed stoppage wins in their respective bouts, while Thiago Moisés, Ernesta Kareckaitė, Bruno Lopes and Nurullo Aliev earned decision wins on the under card. Here is a look at the final results of UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Ribas 2:

UFC Vegas 101 Results

• Women's Strawweight Bout: Mackenzie Dern defeated Amanda Ribas by submission (armbar) at 4:56 of Round 3
• Welterweight Bout: Santiago Ponzinibbio defeated Carlston Harris by TKO (strikes) at 3:13 of Round 3
• Middleweight Bout: Cesar Almeida defeated Abdul Razak Alhassan by KO (left hand) at 4:16 of Round 1
• Middleweight Bout: Roman Kopylov defeated Chris Curtis by TKO (high kick) at 4:59 of Round 3
• Featherweight Bout: Christian Rodriguez defeated Austin Bashi by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Welterweight Bout: Punahele Soriano defeated Uroš Medić by KO (right hand) at 0:31 of Round 1
• Flyweight Bout: Felipe Bunes defeated Jose Johnson by submission (armbar) at 2:04
• Middleweight Bout: Marco Tulio defeated Ihor Potieria by TKO (strikes) at 3:04 of Round 1
• Lightweight Bout: Thiago Moisés defeated Trey Ogden by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Welterweight Bout: Jacobe Smith defeated Preston Parsons by KO (left hand) at 1:13 of Round 1
• Women's Flyweight Bout: Ernesta Kareckaitė (29-28, 29-28) defeated Nicolle Caliari by split decision (29-28)
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Bruno Lopes defeated Magomed Gadhziyasulov by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Women's Strawweight Bout: Fatima Kline defeated Viktoriia Dudakova by TKO (strikes) at 4:27 of Round 2
• Lightweight Bout: Nurullo Aliev defeated Joe Solecki by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)