5 biggest winners from UFC 269: Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier

New UFC bantamweight champion Julianna Pena was the biggest winner at UFC 269

UFC 269 was built as one of the biggest pay-per-view events of 2021, and it undoubtedly delivered like few UFC shows before.

Not only was UFC 269 filled with explosive finishes, it was also topped with a pair of dramatic title fights and featured one of the promotion’s all-time greatest upsets.

So with plenty of fighters picking up huge wins, the aftershocks of UFC 269 will be felt for some time to come.

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With that in mind, here are the five biggest winners from UFC 269: Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier.

#5. Dominick Cruz – defeated Pedro Munhoz in a UFC bantamweight bout

Dominick Cruz may be back in UFC title contention after his win over Pedro Munhoz

After vowing to make a run at the UFC bantamweight title in 2022, there was plenty of pressure on former champion Dominick Cruz coming into last night’s fight with Pedro Munhoz.

‘The Dominator’ was coming off a solid win over Casey Kenney, but Munhoz – who was ranked at No.8 in the division coming into the fight – felt like another level of opponent entirely.

Early on, it didn’t look like it would be Cruz’s night at all. He was caught by two heavy shots from ‘The Young Punisher’. The second one – a right hand – looked like it may have even knocked the former champion out.

Showing phenomenal toughness, though, Cruz recovered from the setback and, as the fight began to tick into its later rounds, ‘The Dominator’ upped the pace. He began to find his range and used his movement and cleaner striking to pick his Brazilian foe apart en route to a decision win.

Vintage @DominickCruz 😡 #UFC269 https://t.co/yGc1gFEKEj

Sure, unlike some of the other winners on this card, Cruz was unable to deliver an impressive finish, but then that’s never been his forte. Of his seven victories in the octagon, just one came via stoppage.

At the end of the day, this was a key victory for Cruz to launch himself back into the top ten at bantamweight – and now a run at the UFC title next year isn’t as unlikely as it might’ve seemed.