A pair of rising bantamweights collided in the UFC Vegas 113 main event on Saturday in Las Vegas. No. 9 ranked Mario Bautista and No. 11 ranked Vinicius Oliveira headlined the fight card at Meta Apex in Las Vegas.
Bautista had an eight-fight winning streak snapped in his last outing, losing Umar Nurmagomedov in October. Oliveira enters the bout riding a six-fight winning steak looking to build on the momentum.
Like in the co-main event, there was no touch of gloves. Oliveira took the center of the cage and Bautista delivered a kick to the body. Oliveira responded with a calf kick. They clinched and worked for position along the fence. They separated and Oliveira delivered a kick to the body and tied Bautista up. Bautista drove forward, changed levels and took Oliveira down. Oliveira isolated a leg but Bautista got it free. With 90 seconds remaining in the round, Bautista stood over Oliveira. He dropped back into Oliveira’s butterfly guard. He stood again and Oliveira looked to land up kicks. MMAWeekly scored the round 10-9 for Bautista.
Oliveira opened the second round with a hard outside let kick. He delivered another. He pressed forward and Bautista ducked under and took him down. Oliveira worked his way to the cage and used it to stand. Bautista tripped him back to the canvas. Oliveira got to his feet only to be taken down again. Oliveira again rose to his feet. They separated and Oliveira landed a counter left hand. Bautista answered with a kick to the body. Oliveira caught a kick and took Bautista down. Bautista revered the position. He moved to half guard. He stood and dropped in with a right hand. Bautista moved to side control. He applied a crucifix and switched to a kimura. He then took Oliveira’s back and locked in a rear-naked choke. Oliveira was forced to tap out.
The official time of the submission finish was 4:46 of the second round.