5 biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Thiago Santos vs. Johnny Walker

#2. Alexander Hernandez – defeated Mike Breeden in a UFC lightweight bout

Alexander Hernandez wasted no time in dispatching newcomer Mike Breeden

UFC lightweight contender Alexander Hernandez was largely in a no-win situation last night. Faced with a late replacement opponent in the form of UFC newcomer Mike Breeden, everyone expected ‘Alexander the Great’ to come away with a win, and an impressive one at that.

Had he failed to finish Breeden – or even worse, lost to the debutant – it may well have left Hernandez in the last chance saloon with the promotion.

However, the Texas native basically did as well as he possibly could’ve been expected to given the circumstances. He took out Breeden with a flurry of brutal strikes in just over a minute of the first round.

The win erased the memories of Hernandez’s disappointing February loss to Thiago Moises. While nobody can pretend that it’ll move him into title contention, it was still nice to see him return to form.

Whether ‘Alexander the Great’ can produce similarly explosive performances against the better fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division is still up in the air. However, this was an important win for him, making him one of last night’s biggest victors.

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#1. Casey O’Neill – defeated Antonina Shevchenko in a UFC flyweight bout

Casey O'Neill may find herself in UFC title contention in 2022

She may not have featured on the main card of last night’s UFC Fight Night, but it’s hard to argue that Casey O’Neill was the biggest winner overall.

‘King Casey’ battered Antonina Shevchenko en route to a second round TKO win. In doing so, she sent a very serious message that she’s a dangerous contender for the UFC flyweight title.

This was a complete showing from O’Neill, who survived an early blitz from Shevchenko to dominate in all areas. She eventually finished Shevchenko off by beating her down from top position on the ground.

Sure, ‘El Pantera’ isn’t close to being as good a fighter as her sister, reigning UFC flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko, but she’s a strong fighter in her own right. Nobody had ever really dominated her like this previously.

When you consider that O’Neill is now 3-0 in the UFC and 8-0 overall, it’s hard not to imagine her as a genuine title contender.

So could she be next for ‘Bullet’? It’s doubtful given that she came into this fight outside of the UFC’s top 15. However, it’s also hard to imagine her losing to some of the division’s ranked fighters such as Joanne Calderwood and Taila Santos.

That means that one more big win should move her onto the radar of the champion. Therefore, she could easily claim a title shot in 2022. Based on that, ‘King Casey’ should be seen as last night’s biggest winner.