Ardelean dug into her bag of tricks against Polyana
Viana at
UFC Vegas 117.
Ardelean received a $100,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus for
her first-round submission victory over Viana in their preliminary
strawweight clash at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Vianna appeared to have Ardelean neutralized with a body triangle
from her back until the Romanian deftly shifted position and forced
a tapout at the 4:36 mark of Round 2. The move that apppeared to
injure Viana’s knee was described as a capsule lock on the
Paramount+ broadcast.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED 😳@ArdeleanAlice
is now on a 3 fight win streak after
#UFCVegas117![ LIVE NOW on @ParamountPlus
] pic.twitter.com/eHIk2DMe35— UFC (@ufc)
May 16, 2026
Superboy and a Memorable Debut
Elsewhere, Doo Ho Choi
and Daniel
Santos secured “Fight of the Night” honors and $100,000 apiece
for a back-and-forth featherweight battle in the evening’s co-main
event. While Santos went all-out in the opening stanza, he paid the
price for those efforts in Round 2, as “The Korean Superboy” put
the Brazilian away with body punches and follow-up shots on the
canvas at the 4:29 mark of the period.
Finally, Octagon newcomer Juan Diaz
garnered the evening’s other $100,000 “Performance of the Night”
check for his submission of Malcolm
Wellmaker in a featured bantamweight affair. Diaz avoided
Wellmaker’s vaunted power and dragged his opponent into his world,
ultimately forcing a tapout with a rear-naked choke 4:08 into the
second stanza.