The Scorecard | UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs Holland

With a little over eight years on the UFC roster, Derek Brunson has already made his mark as an elite middleweight, but as of late, the North Carolina native has emerged as not just a spoiler when it comes to facing and beating up and comers, but as a legitimate threat in a division where a win or two more could put him in the title picture. Last Saturday, Brunson again showed that there’s no excuse for experience, as he shut down Kevin Holland over five rounds. He didn’t shut up the “Trailblazer,” because that may be an impossible mission, but he did prove that with experience, smarts and skills, he has the ability to beat anyone on any given night.

UFC Vegas 22 Rewind: Scorecards | Final Results

Hey, it says Adrian Yanez has a black belt in jiu-jitsu, but that may just be a rumor, because when it comes to his striking, Yanez has a black belt that he’s been showing off ever since his time on Dana White’s Contender Series. Not that I’m complaining, because it’s been fun watching the Texan go two for two in the Octagon with knockouts of Victor Rodriguez and Gustavo Lopez, and with so many intriguing matchups for him at 135 pounds, it’s going to be even more enjoyable seeing him throw hands with the bantamweight elite in the future.

Like Brunson, Max Griffin is a fighter who may not get his just due because of some key losses over the years, but there’s no question that the Californian can fight and win at the UFC level. Case in point, last weekend’s finish of Song Kenan, which gave “Pain” his first two-fight winning streak in the Octagon, first Performance of the Night bonus, and the kind of platform that will likely see him in another high-profile fight sooner rather than later. It’s precisely why MMA gets it right in these situations. In boxing, the guy with the 16-8 record isn’t getting a main card spot to try for 17. Griffin got that shot and made the most of it, proving that losses aren’t a career breaker when you’re fighting killers every night.

After I interviewed Bruno Silva in 2019, the first thing I did was tell a member of his management team that he was clearly one of the nicest folks I ever ran into in this sport. So when he went winless in his first three UFC bouts, I was disappointed for him because, hey, you want to see the good guys do well. On Saturday, he showed off the potential everyone saw in him with a second-round stoppage of JP Buys, and now he can get back to the business of beginning a title run at 125 pounds. And yeah, I’m happy for him.

At least from where I was sitting, Grant Dawson needed at least a big third round to win his fight against Leonardo Santos. Turns out he didn’t, but that didn’t matter to Dawson or his coach James Krause, because the plan was to turn up the heat and leave it out of the judges’ hands, and Dawson did as instructed, finishing Santos with a second left in the fight. Sure, the drama was taken out of it a bit after we found out the scores heading into round three, but in the moment, this was a prospect showing just how much he wants to win in this toughest of divisions. That’s something he’ll have with him forever.