5 biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori

#4. Nicolae Negumereanu – defeated Ike Villanueva in a UFC light heavyweight bout

Nicolae Negumereanu impressed in his win over Ike Villanueva last night

The opening bout of last night’s UFC main card saw a pretty brutal knockout finish. That alone makes Nicolae Negumereanu one of the event’s major winners.

‘Nick’ needed just over a minute to finish off Ike Villanueva. While the result didn’t come without some controversy, it was still enough to move him to a 2-1 record in the UFC and should push him up the ladder at 205 pounds.

After a short feeling-out process, a shot that seemingly landed to the back of the head put Villanueva down. Negumereanu didn’t need any invitation to finish things off, landing a series of follow-up shots that put him out.

Whether those shots were legal is up for debate. It’s been a gray area in the UFC for years, with the likes of Vitor Belfort finishing opponents in similar fashion before. However, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.

What does matter is that ‘Nick’ looks like he has the punching power to worry most of the fighters in the UFC at light heavyweight. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in his next fight.

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#3. Gregory Rodrigues – defeated Junyong Park in a UFC middleweight bout

Gregory Rodrigues' fight with Jun Yong Park was a classic UFC war

Last night’s Fight of the Night bonus went to middleweights Gregory Rodrigues and Junyong Park. Naturally, Rodrigues, who won the fight via second-round TKO, belongs on a list of the event’s big winners.

The fight was utterly crazy and that means that Rodrigues may not feel like such a winner today. He took a ton of shots from ‘The Iron Turtle’, particularly in the second round. He even found himself caught deep in a guillotine choke at one point following a desperate takedown attempt.

‘Robocop’ managed to free himself, though, and once he found his range, he began to land the cleaner, heavier punches on his Korean foe. He did so until only the fence kept Park standing, forcing the referee to step in.

The win was Rodrigues’ second in the UFC and moved his record to 10-3 overall. Given that he’s lost just once since 2015, it should be clear that he’s a very dangerous man indeed.

Obviously, the Brazilian would be better off avoiding the kind of brawl he became involved in last night, even if it made him $50k richer. Ultimately, a chin can only take so much punishment.

If he does continue down that path, though, he’ll become a definite fan favorite in the UFC and last night probably pushed him further into that area. That makes him a big winner indeed.