UFC Fight Night 224 play-by-play and live results

Round 1 – What’s up folks? We have 13 fights on tap today. Not the most high-stakes card of all time, but there are some fun matchups. The first fight is underway. Sato comes in aggressive and Gorimbo clinches him. Sato stuffs a Gorimbo takedown attempt but Gorimbo keeps driving. Gorimbo drives Sato into the fence. They’re just hanging out here. Sato briefly takes Sato’s legs out but Sato pops back up. Sato gets off the cage and takes Gorimbo down. Gorimbo uses a beautiful reversal and now has Sato’s back. Gorimbo seeks the rear-naked choke but Sato defends. Gorimbo lands some punches from the back. Sato survives until the horn. 10-9 Gorimbo.

Round 2 – OHHH! Gorimbo drops Sato with the first punch of the round. It was a right hand. Sato is on his back. Gorimbo pounding away. Sato ties him up and rises up to his feet. Sato lands a nice knee in the clinch – and another. Gorimbo shoves him into the fence, but Sato reverses and lands another pair of hard knees to the body. Gorimbo reverses position again. Sato tosses Gorimbo to the canvas with a head and arm throw. Gorimbo works back up and takes Sato down against the fence. Sato wall-walks upward. Satos lands a knee to the body and breaks. Gorimbo lands a hard punch and shoots for a low single leg. Sato tries to stuff but ends up on the ground against the cage. 20-18 Gorimbo.

Round 3 – Unless the judges are smoking something funky, Sato needs a finish here to win the fight – and potentially his UFC career hangs in the balance. Gorimbo grabs hold of Sato again and slips the legs out from under his opponent. Sato tries to scramble but ends up in butterfly guard. Sato tries to scramble away again but Gorimbo takes his back. That was a risk and it didn’t pay off. Gorimbo has the body triangle and Sato is trapped. Eventually, Sato rolls into Gorimbo and rains down some ground-and-pound. Gorimbo is blocking a lot of these elbow attempts. Sato runs out of time. 30-27 Gorimbo.

Result: Themba Gorimbo def. Takashi Sato via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Recap:
Records: Themba Gorimbo (11-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC), Takashi Sato (16-7 MMA, 2-5 UFC)
Division: Welterweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
Referee: Chris Tognoni
Judging:

Round 1 – Silva comes out with some very slick, confident combinations. The high kick is her combo-finishing strike of choice early. Leonardo is staying calm and composed, but hasn’t really threatened much of anything. Perhaps she’s trying to get a feel of what Silva is showing. Silva snaps another head kick. Silva is spamming head kicks. Leonardo is leaking and on the retreat. A right hand stuns Leonardo, who covers up while standing. Silva blasts her with a head kick against the cage and referee Kerry Hatley jumps in. A standing stoppage, but a good one. Silva lets out a victorious roar. She’s a force to be reckoned with.

Result: Natalia Silva def. Victoria Leonardo via TKO (strikes) – Round 1,
Recap:
Records: Victoria Leonardo (9-5 MMA, 1-3 UFC), Natalia Silva (15-5-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC)
Division: Women’s flyweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
Referee: Kerry Hatley

Round 1 – Both men come out super aggressive on the feet. Hooper shoots for a takedown. Fiore drops to a knee but gets up against the fence. Fiore tries to toss Hooper on his face. They crash to the canvas, but Fiore grabs hold of a calf slicer attempt in the scramble. Fiore smartly escapes and lands on top. Hooper scrambles but Fiore lands in north-south. They get to the feet and Hooper tags Fiore, who retreats. Hooper pushes forward and the tie up against the fence. Fiore gets away and the two trade. Their heads brush. They need to watch out for that. Fiore lands some decent combinations. Hooper returns and ties up Fiore. It backfires, though. Fiore tosses him to the canvas. Hooper bucks his legs up and puts Fiore in a position reminiscent of Gary Goodridge vs. Paul Herrera. Fiore rolls out and they get to the feet. Hooper swarms Hooper with a barrage of punches with about 20 seconds left in the round. Referee Jason Herzog is warning him to move. Fiore absorbs dozens of strikes but survives until the bell. 10-9 Hooper.

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Records: Nick Fiore (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), Chase Hooper (11-3-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC)
Division: Lightweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
Referee: Jason Herzog
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Round 1 –

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Records: Ilir Latifi (16-8 MMA, 9-6 UFC), Rodrigo Nascimento (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC)
Division: Heavyweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
Referee:
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Round 1 –

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Records: Orion Cosce (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), Gilbert Urbina (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC)
Division: 172.5-pound catchweight (Cosce missed the welterweight limit)
Broadcast: ESPN+
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Round 1 –

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Records: Vanessa Demopoulos (9-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC), Karolina Kowalkiewicz (14-7 MMA, 7-7 UFC)
Division: 117.5-pound catchweight (Demopoulos missed the women’s strawweight limit)
Broadcast: ESPN+
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Round 1 –

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Records: Viacheslav Borshchev (6-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC), Hayisaer Maheshate (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
Division: Lightweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
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Records: Diego Ferreira (17-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC), Michael Johnson (21-18 MMA, 13-14 UFC)
Division: Lightweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
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Round 1 –

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Records: Joaquin Buckley (15-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC), Andre Fialho (16-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC)
Division: Welterweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
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Records: Emily Ducote (12-7 MMA, 1-1 UFC), Loopy Godinez (9-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC)
Division: 120-pound contract weight
Broadcast: ESPN+
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Records: Anthony Hernandez (10-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC), Edmen Shahbazyan (12-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC)
Division: Middleweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
Referee:
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Round 1 –

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Records: Mackenzie Dern (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC), Angela Hill (15-12 MMA, 10-12 UFC)
Division: Women’s strawweight
Broadcast: ESPN+
Referee:
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