Fight of the Night
Chidi Njokuani vs Carlos Leal
Last weekend’s fight night in Houston, Texas, had a handful of entertaining fights, with the featured preliminary bout between Chidi Njokuani and Carlos Leal my pick for fight of the night.
Njokuani had won five of his previous nine UFC bouts prior to this matchup, with three of these victories coming via KO/TKO. However, a submission loss to Jake Matthews in July last year meant he faced Leal off the back of a loss.
As for Leal, he made his UFC debut in 2024 and suffered a controversial decision defeat at the hands of Rinat Fakhretdinov before beating Alex Morono by TKO in March 2025.
A TKO loss to Muslim Salikhov in July 2025, however, meant ‘the Lion’ would also come into this fight off the back of a loss.
Njokuani stood at six foot three inches tall, while Leal stands at five foot eleven inches, something that Njokuani tried to capitalize on in the bout.
Faced with a significant height difference, Leal tried to close the distance whenever possible, connecting with a host of well-constructed combination shots.
Former kickboxer Njokuani targeted the lead leg of Leal but was unable to land any real shots of note in the first round due to his opponent’s frantic pressure.
The second-round saw ‘Bang-Bang’ Njokuani wobble Leal with a big right hand, although the Brazilian responded with a big one-two of his own, hunting his opponent down like a crazed predator.
The action continued into the final round with both men exchanging huge shots, and despite Leal’s best efforts, the chin of Njokuani stood firm.
This enthralling welterweight bout eventually came to an end with Leal claiming a unanimous decision victory.
A great way for the prelims to be closed out with both men leaving everything in the Octagon.
Performance of the Night
Sean Strickland vs Anthony Hernandez
The main event of the evening saw number three ranked Sean Strickland take on number four ranked Anthony Hernandez in the middleweight division.
Strickland hadn’t fought since being defeated by Dricus Du Plessis in February 2025 due to a six-month suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
On the other hand, Hernandez was on an eight-fight winning streak, defeating the likes of Roman Dolidze and Brendan Allen, making him the favourite in this particular affair.
The fight started as many expected, with Strickland adopting his hands-down approach and working behind his jab, frustrating ‘Fluffy’ in the opening exchanges.
Strickland landed a big right hand early on which stunned Hernandez, but he was unable to capitalise to secure a finish.
Hernandez started to get more involved in the latter stages of the first round, mixing between right hooks and leg kicks to try and find a home for some shots.
Moving into the second round, Strickland continued to impress, showcasing great defence and patience to not overexert when Hernandez was pushing in with big strikes.
The American also showed great takedown defence to frustrate his opponent before connecting with yet another big right hand in the closing stages of round two.
A great performance was capped off two minutes into round three when Strickland landed a huge body shot which forced Hernandez against the cage before finishing the fight with a flurry of strikes to his grounded opponent.
This was Strickland’s first knockout victory in over two years, earning him my performance of the night title.
A statement victory by the returning Strickland, who will set his sights on the champion, Khamzat Chimaev. Can the hunter be hunted?
Best Knockout
Melquizael Costa vs Dan Ige
The third fight on the main card was a featherweight clash between the exciting Melquizael Costa and the experienced Dan Ige.
Costa made his UFC debut in 2023 and has fought eight times for the company, winning six of these fights. The ‘Dalmatian’ had a big year last year, winning all four of his bouts.
Ige made his UFC debut in 2018 and has racked up an impressive 21 bouts, with 11 victories along the way.
The 29-year-old Costa showed no respect for the resume of his opponent in this bout and was desperate to take his spot in the rankings, going on the offensive straight away.
Despite looking for a fast start, Costa was quickly taken down by his opponent but managed to scramble productively and returned to his feet quickly.
Ige attempted to control Costa against the cage, but the Brazilian continued to resist, exploding away with sharp jabs and right hooks.
The finish came with just seconds of the fight left, as Costa connected with a beautiful spinning back kick that floored his opponent before he finished him off with some brutal ground-and-pound.
A tremendous knockout – that is my knockout of the night, especially considering it was the first time Ige had been finished in the UFC.
Underperformer of the Night
Zachary Reese vs Michel Pereira
The main card in Houston opened with a middleweight affair between former teammates Zachary Reese and Michel Pereira.
After making his UFC debut in January of last year, Reese has secured two wins, one loss, and one no contest.
As for Pereira, the Brazilian has been in the UFC since 2019 and has entertained fans with his unique style over the years. However, he has recently fallen to three consecutive defeats against Anthony Hernandez, Abusupiyan Magomedov and Kyle Daukaus.
This contest seemed like a great opportunity for Reese to get another win in the column against a declining Pereira.
The fight didn’t start as the American would hope, though, as Pereira landed an early knockdown but chose not to engage his opponent on the floor, perhaps wary of Reese’s ground game.
Twice the fight was halted via inconclusive groin strikes from Reese, with the replays suggesting that Pereira was perhaps exaggerating the damage.
Reese failed to really deal any damage in the first round, something that carried on into the second with Pereira landing the bigger shots, bloodying the face of his opponent.
Pereira tends to fade away after the first round, and Reese failed to capitalize on this, with, in my opinion, the first two rounds going to the Brazilian.
It was a better display by the American in the final round with a more pressurized approach adopted, but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome of the fight.
Pereira was given the win by two judges, with the other one scoring the contest 29-28 in favour of Reese.
In my view this was a disappointing performance by Reese, but I’m sure this won’t be the last we see of him.
My name is Jack Latham.
I am 20 years old and am currently studying Sports Journalism at the University of Chester.
I became interested in combat sports, particularly MMA, in the lockdown period and have followed it closely ever since.
I have previously created my own website titled ‘Combat Corner,’ where I produce MMA content.