5 biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez

#2: Andrea Lee – defeated Cynthia Calvillo in a UFC flyweight bout

Andrea Lee shone in her win over Cynthia Calvillo

Given that there were a number of incredibly violent knockouts on offer last night, it was somewhat of a surprise to see UFC flyweight contender Andrea Lee handed one of the event’s $50k bonus awards.

However, when you stop to think about it, it made perfect sense.

‘KGB’ didn’t knock opponent Cynthia Calvillo out in violent fashion; while she did get a stoppage, it came due to Calvillo’s corner calling off the fight. However, that didn’t make her performance any less impressive.

Lee essentially boxed up Calvillo from the off, keeping her on the back foot with a stiff jab and never letting her get comfortable. Considering Calvillo had always shown decent boxing in her tenure with the UFC, this was mightily impressive.

What makes ‘KGB’ such a big winner, though, is that this victory was her second in a row in the octagon, following her submission of Antonina Shevchenko earlier in the year.

Given the thin nature of the UFC’s flyweight division, is it inconceivable that Lee could take the next shot at champion Valentina Shevchenko? Perhaps not.

Calvillo was ranked at #5 coming into this fight, and so Lee can be expected to take that slot next week. Given that Shevchenko has already beaten everyone above that spot, a 2022 title shot for ‘KGB’ may not be a surprise at all, making her a huge winner from last night’s show.

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#1: Max Holloway – defeated Yair Rodriguez in a UFC featherweight bout

Max Holloway's win over Yair Rodriguez may have been enough to net him another UFC title shot

Easily the biggest winner from last night’s event was Max Holloway. Not only did the former UFC featherweight champion come out on top in a classic bout with Yair Rodriguez, but he may well have captured an unlikely shot at the title he lost in 2019.

The only reason that such a title shot would be unlikely is the fact that ‘Blessed’ has lost twice to current champion Alexander Volkanovski, but after last night, it might be impossible to deny him a third shot at the Australian.

Holloway looked truly phenomenal in his war with Rodriguez. Not only did he display the same brutal combination striking style that he’s shown for years now – most notably against Calvin Kattar in January – but his wrestling and ground game looked tighter than ever, as he took Rodriguez down and punished him on the mat on numerous occasions.

Sure, it’s probably fair to question the fact that ‘Blessed’ took a lot of damage from Rodriguez too, but for now at least, he seems practically invincible when he’s fighting in this manner.

Will the UFC award him another shot at Volkanovski? They probably should. With ‘Alexander the Great’ defeating Brian Ortega, and Rodriguez losing here, there’s really no other viable opponent for the Aussie.

Can ‘Blessed’ defeat Volkanovski at his third attempt? That’s obviously a trickier question to answer, but when he’s fighting like this, who wouldn’t want to see him try? At the end of the day, there can be no doubt that he was last night’s biggest winner.