Biggest Winners, Loser From UFC Orlando

UFC Orlando went down last night (Sat., Dec. 3, 2022) from inside Amway Center in Orlando, Fla., featuring a welterweight matchup that saw Stephen Thompson defeat Kevin Holland via fourth-round technical knockout (TKO) after “Trailblazer’s” corner threw in the towel prior to the fifth round (see it here). In further action, Sergei Pavlovich knocked out Tai Tuivasa in just 54 seconds (highlights). Also, Rafael dos Anjos strangled Bryan Barberena in the second round via rear-naked choke (video here).

Biggest Winner: Stephen Thompson

Let’s face it, any one of the main card fighters could have very well earned this spot since all the winners ended their opponents in exciting fashion. But we’re going to give the honors to Thompson because he had perhaps the best performance of his career by completely picking Holland apart for five rounds. “Wonderboy” got what he wanted, a man who was willing to stand and trade with him. And he took full advantage of it, utilizing his unmatched kicking game to pepper and hurt “Trailblazer.” And he three everything at him, spinning kick, switchkicks, liver kicks, and pretty much every strike that he threw with his legs found its mark. And he mixed up his boxing in there very well, too, ultimately forcing a fourth-round stoppage from Holland’s corner. The win for Thompson was a crucial one because it stops the bleeding of a two-fight losing streak.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Runner Up: Sergei Pavlovich

Pavlovich didn’t have the best UFC debut after he was knocked out by Alistair Overeem in 2018. Since then, the Russian big man has been a man possessed, winning five straight fights, all via first-round knockout. It seems as if Pavlovich had long been the forgotten man in the 265-pound division, and he hasn’t really been talked about as a heavy-hitter or legit contender. But his body of work over his recent run has shown that he does belong with the elite power-hitters in the game, and his destruction of Derrick Lewis and now Tuivasa in back-to-back outings has put the Top 5 on notice. One can only imagine where Pavlovich would be in the pecking order had he not had that 2.5-year hiatus from 2019 to 2022 as a result of injury and visa issues.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Biggest Loser: Tai Tuivasa

Tuivasa was hoping to erase the memory of of his knockout loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC Paris earlier this year by picking up a win over Pavlovich. Instead, things went from bad to worse for “Bam Bam” in a hurry, losing in under a minute after getting tagged repeatedly by the heavy hands of Pavlovich. Once the referee put an end to the massacre, Tuivasa was a disappointed and bloody mess that now has to go back home and to the drawing board after suffering back-to-back knockout losses. He did bounce back nicely to win five straight after enduring a career-long three-fight losing streak in 2018-2019, but there is no telling how he will recover and bounce back after these two brutal losses.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

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For complete UFC Orlando results and coverage click here.