It was a rough weekend for several UFC veterans, two of whom were competing for the first time since exiting the promotion.
Highlighted by a fairly underwhelming UFC Vegas 116 card that did see former UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling put on a dominant showing against Youssef Zalal, last weekend’s MMA slate also featured notable events from Cage Warriors and Oktagon MMA to go along with plenty of lower-profile regional action.
Three veterans of the UFC stepped into the cage at various events during the course of the weekend, and unfortunately all three of those fighters came up short in their respective outings.
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Arman Petrosyan falls to 1-2 in post-UFC run
Removed from the UFC roster shortly after suffering a third-straight loss to Brunno Ferreira at UFC 313 in March of last year, Arman Petrosyan has kept busy since his exit from the world’s leading MMA promotion.
The 35-year-old rebounded from his losing skid by stopping MMA veteran Igor Svirid in the opening round of his first post-UFC outing last October. He ended the year by challenging for the RCC MMA middleweight belt at RCC 24, where he was submitted by Vladislav Kovalev in the second round.
Petrosyan returned last weekend to take on Mikhail Kolobegov at BetCity Fight Nights 136 in Russia, and “Superman” now finds himself on another losing streak after dropping a unanimous decision to Kolobegov, who came into the matchup after losing all three of his fights last year (h/t to the one and only @Grabaka_Hitman).
Josefine Knutsson suffers masssive upset at Oktagon 97
A contract winner on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2023, Swedish strawweight Josefine Knutsson improved to 7-0 when she defeated Marnic Mann in her UFC debut in late 2023.
“Thunder” extended her unbeaten record when she also took a decision over Julia Polastri the following year before coming up short against Piera Rodriguez, which ended up being the final bout of her UFC career. She was initially booked to meet Miao Ding as part of the GFL’s second planned event, but she signed with Oktagon MMA when the initial launch of the GFL fell apart.
Knutsson finally made her promotional debut on Saturday at Oktagon 87, but she unfortunately was submitted by Brazil’s Mileide Simplicio with just 5 seconds remaining in the opening round.
Viacheslav Borshchev comes up short in first fight since UFC exit
The most recent of the three fighters to leave the UFC, Viacheslav Borshchev went 3-6-1 in the Octagon after a first-round knockout of current UFC lightweight Chris Duncan earned him a UFC contract on DWCS in 2021.
“Slava Claus” did earn “Performance of the Night” bonuses for his first two UFC wins and a “Fight of the Night” bonus for a UFC 295 meeting with Nazim Sadykhov that ended in a majority draw, but a three-fight losing streak brought his UFC career to an end earlier this year.
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The 34-year-old quickly got back into action at Xtreme Fighting Championships 54, but Borshchev suffered a split decision loss at the hands of LFA and Combate Global veteran Jose Ferreira.
Ferreira outworked Borshchev to take a unanimous decision at XFC 54. (Credit: XFC/Instagram)
