UFC Vegas 97: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady: Full Results
UFC Vegas 97 is in the books. The event unfolded at the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sept. 7 and featured 12 fights in eight weight classes. The main and co-main event featured classic veteran vs. rising contender matchups, marking the change of guard in two weight classes. This article recaps the fights and explores the full results.
In the main event, former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns fought No.8-ranked Sean Brady to defend his top-six spot. One of the most decorated fan-favorite fighters in the division, Burns is in the twilight of his career. He was coming off a third-round KO loss against another young contender Jack Della Maddalena in his last outing.
Meanwhile, Brady was coming off a dominant submission win over Kelvin Gastelum in December 2023. The Philadelphia native suffered the sole defeat of his professional MMA career in 2022 against newly crowned welterweight king Belal Muhammad.
In the fight, both men were wary of each other's grappling background and engaged in a stand-up battle for the most part. Brady, who appeared to be leading on the scorecards, put together high-volume combinations while Burns largely relied on short and powerful combos.
The Philadelphia native was able to take Burns down with relative ease in the second half. However, he had little success in controlling or inflicting damage as 'Durinho' threatened with submissions from the bottom and quickly reversed positions.
While Burns succeeded in deflecting or rolling with the strikes to minimize the damage, his inability to implement offense consistently hurt his chances on the scorecards. Brady finished strong by controlling Burns on the ground in the final frame, walking away with a dominant unanimous decision victory.
In the co-main event, former strawweight champion and perennial contender Jessica Andrade fought rising fellow Brazilian Natalia Silva. Andrade was the No.6-ranked women's flyweight contender heading into the fight while Silva occupied the No.8 spot.
Andrade's lethal power and Silva's dynamic striking ensured fireworks in the three-round contest. Andrade started aggressively and tried to put the fellow Brazilian on the back foot from the get-go. However, Silva dealt with the pressure skilfully and got away with clean strikes of her own.
Both women had to prove their toughness in the grueling three-round battle. However, Silva appeared to have landed the more impactful strikes and outstruck Andrade 2-to-1 in significant strikes. The judges scored all three rounds in Silva's favor, declaring the 27-year-old the winner by unanimous decision.
UFC Vegas 97 main card results: Steve Garcia and Cody Durden score impressive finishes
Featherweight fighters Steve Garcia and Kyle Nelson competed on the UFC Vegas 97 main card to extend their win streaks in the division. Nelson, who missed weight by 2.5 pounds on the weigh-ins, was off to a better start when Garcia slipped to the mat after getting pushed against the cage.
The Canadian took Garcia's back immediately and seemed to be controlling him on the ground. However, Garcia explosively spun around to get caught in an armbar. He landed a few powerful elbows with the free hand to get out of the submission. Garcia eventually scored a TKO win with a continued onslaught as Nelson had little to offer in return and could not defend himself against the sustained assault.
Top 15 flyweight Matt Schnell returned to competition after the devastating KO loss against Steve Erceg to take on Cody Durden on the main card. Coming off consecutive stoppage losses in their most recent bouts, both men were in hot water and needed to score wins to regain momentum.
The pair fought aggressively to keep their UFC dreams alive, producing a back-and-forth battle in Round 1. However, Schnell made an ill-advised move when he shot for a takedown from a distance without setting it up. Durden timed him well to sink in a tight anaconda choke, drawing a furious tap a few seconds later.
In the main card opening bout, Trevor Peek and Yanal Ashmouz contested in a lightweight contest. Ashmouz implemented his wrestling-heavy game to outpoint Peek en route to a unanimous decision win.
UFC Vegas 97 preliminary card results: Four fights end in finishes
In the preliminary card headlining bout, Rong Zhu and Chris Padilla battled it out to further their journey in the featherweight division. After a closely contested opening round, a slashing elbow from Padilla caused Zhu's eye to swell up immediately.
Repeated blows worsened the swelling and the referee paused the action for the doctor to examine Zhu's eye. After closely inspecting, the doctor ruled him unable to continue. Padilla was declared the winner by TKO.
Isaac Dulgarian defeated Brendon Marotte by submission due to an arm-triangle choke after dominating the fight for the most part.
Meanwhile, Chute Boxe's Felipe dos Santos, who made his UFC debut with a gritty performance against Manel Kape at UFC 293, suffered his second UFC loss at the hands of Andre Lima on the preliminary card. Lima defended all of Santos' takedowns while successfully scoring his own and did enough to score a convincing unanimous decision victory to extend his win streak to six.
In another bout, Yi Zha faced Gabriel Santos. Zha had built momentum with a few wins in the 'Road to UFC'. However, Santos shut down his offense and outclassed him for three rounds to walk away with a unanimous decision win. Santos also scored the fight's only knockdown when he sent Zha crashing down to the canvas with a front kick. To his credit, the Chinese fighter survived the early scare and made it to the final bell. However, he could not do enough to swing the momentum in his favor.
In the only strawweight fight on the card, Jaqueline Amorim did quick work of Vanessa Demopoulos to secure a submission win by armbar.
Middleweight Dylan Budka, who had a scary moment at the official weigh-ins, had little to offer Andre Petroski in the cage presumably due to the botched weight cut. Petroski controlled the fight for the most part and outworked Budka en route to a unanimous decision win. Statistically, he outstruck Budka 78 to 23 in total strikes that landed and scored three takedowns.
TUF 32 contestants Zygimantas Ramaska and Nathan Fletcher got the opportunity to make their UFC debut in the first fight of the night. The pair were expected to compete at UFC Vegas 96. However, the fight was canceled a few hours before the event as Fletcher had to deal with a medical issue.
While the fight was initially a competitive affair, Fletcher proved to be a better grappler and got the better of Zygimantas by the end of Round 1. He resumed the dominant top position in Round 2 and got a tight arm triangle, forcing a tap out of Zygimantas.
Check out the UFC Vegas 97 full results below:
Main card
Welterweight - Sean Brady def. Gilbert Burns by unanimous decision (50-45 X 2, 49-46)
Women's flyweight - Natalia Silva def. Jessica Andrade by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3)
Featherweight - Steve Garcia def. Kyle Nelson by TKO (R1, 3:59) (Nelson missed weight by 2.5 pounds)
Bantamweight - Cody Durden def. Matt Schnell by submission (Anaconda choke) (R2, 0:29)
Lightweight - Yanal Ashmouz def. Trevor Peek by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 X 2)
Preliminary card
Lightweight - Chris Padilla def. Rong Zhu by TKO (Doctor's stoppage) (R2, 4:14)
Featherweight - Isaac Dulgarian def. Brendon Marotte by submission (Arm-triangle choke) (R2, 4:19)
Flyweight - Andre Lima def. Felipe dos Santos by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 X 2)
Featherweight - Gabriel Santos def. Yi Zha by unanimous decision (30-26 X 2, 30-27)
Women's strawweight - Jaqueline Amorim def. Vanessa Demopoulos by submission (Armbar) (R1, 3:28)
Middleweight - Andre Petroski def. Dylan Budka by unanimous decision (30-27 X 3) (Budka missed weight by 2.5 pounds)
Featherweight - Nathan Fletcher def. Zygimantas Ramaska by submission (Arm-triangle choke) (R2, 1:34)