UFC 313 fight grades: One fight earns an A, and one earns an F-
MMA fans wouldn’t have believed that a fight card with both Alex Pereira and Justin Gaethje could fail to deliver. It was unthinkable before Saturday, but unfortunately, UFC 313 did just that.
UFC 313 had two fights that flunked and a main event that failed to deliver the thrills that fans wanted to see. Fortunately, the card was salvaged by one of the most devastating knockouts you’ll ever witness and a co-main event that had the crowd on their feet. Was that enough to give UFC 313 a passing grade?
Not quite.
After each pay-per-view, we break down and assess the quality of each fight and the fight card itself based on skill displayed, competitiveness and what is at stake. Andreas Hale takes a look at all 10 fights of UFC 313 including the first fight to earn an F-.
Lightweight: Mauricio Ruffy vs. King Green
Result: Ruffy defeats Green by first-round KO
Grade: A
File this as the frontrunner for 2025 KO of the year. Ruffy demolished Green with a gorgeous spinning wheel kick that will certainly be replayed to nausea. Green collapsed face first in a heap with Ruffy standing over him, hands on his hips, admiring his work. It was absolutely one of the most beautifully violent finishes you will ever witness.
Lightweight: Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev
Result: Gaethje defeats Fiziev by unanimous decision
Grade: B+
I don’t think Gaethje is capable of having a fight that earns less than a “B” grade. Once again, he earned a Fight of the Night bonus (duh) against Fiziev but the bigger takeaway is that his chin hasn’t eroded as many thought could be the case after being brutally knocked out by Max Holloway. Instead, Gaethje was involved in several frantic exchanges where both fighters landed heavy strikes. But it wasn’t Gaethje who was hurt in the fight. It was Fiziev. Another excellent encounter by a fighter who has more than earned the nickname “The Highlight.”
Lightweight: Jalin Turner vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
Result: Bahamondes defeats Turner by first-round submission
Grade: B
Bahamondes continued his rise up the ranks with a slick triangle choke submission of Turner. The way he went about it was impressive, as Turner put Bahamondes on his back and appeared to be in control. But a quick shifting of the hips allowed Bahamondes to wrap his legs around Turner’s neck and methodically work in a triangle choke. This was the biggest win of Bahamondes’ career and a sign that he could be a threat in the lightweight division.
Welterweight: Alex Morono vs. Carlos Leal
Result: Leal defeats Morono by first-round TKO
Grade: B-
Leal walked through Morono like a man possessed. Morono attempted to slug it out and paid dearly as Leal battered him around the Octagon with elbows, body shots and hooks. It was impressive but one-sided as Leal made Morono look like he didn’t belong in there with him.
Light heavyweight: Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev
Result: Ankalaev defeats Pereira by unanimous decision
Grade: C+
Ankalaev had an excellent strategy to peel the light heavyweight title away from Pereira, but that doesn’t mean the fight was fun to watch. Pereira had everyone waiting for the big knockout punch and Ankalaev made sure he didn’t deliver. As the fight wore on, you could feel the air being sucked out of the building. From the pressure fighting to suffocating Pereira’s striking with clinch work along the fence, Ankalaev did everything right. However, in terms of excitement, this didn’t come close to what we expected from “Poatan.”
Middleweight: Brunno Ferreira vs. Armen Petrosyan
Result: Ferreira defeats Petrosyan by second-round submission
Grade: C
Ferreira was in pursuit of a finish from the start of the fight but Petrosyan did everything he could to stay away from “The Hulk,” including landing a pair of low blows that cost him a point in the opening round. Eventually, Ferreira got his hands on Petrosyan and secured a takedown late in Round 2. Ferreira pursued a rear-naked choke but Petrosyan began to squirm away. The Brazilian smartened up to the escape attempt and cut off Petrosyan by snatching an arm and securing an armbar finish. The first nine minutes of the fight is a chore to get through but the finishing sequence by Ferreira was excellent.
Flyweight: Joshua Van vs. Rei Tsuruya
Result: Van defeats Tsuruya by unanimous decision
Grade: C-
The battle of flyweights born in the 21st century didn’t quite deliver in the action department. Van fought well but spent a majority of the fight fending off Tsuruya’s takedown attempts, much to the chagrin of the crowd. But the 23-year-old’s seventh Octagon appearance went about as well as it could have in terms of adding another “W” to his win total. Unfortunately, Tsuruya wasn’t the willing participant in the striking exchanges that he was expected to be.
Middleweight: Ozzy Diaz vs Djorden Santos
Result: Diaz defeats Santos by unanimous decision
Grade: D
Maybe if Diaz weren’t sleepwalking through the first half of the fight this would have earned a better grade. For the first seven minutes of the fight, Santos peppered Diaz with jabs and appeared to be in control. But Diaz woke up late and turned a dull fight into something digestible with a somewhat entertaining final round where he hurt Santos with knees to the body. But, alas, the fight is skippable.
Featherweight: Francis Marshall vs. Mairon Santos
Result: Santos defeats Marshall by split decision
Grade: F
Aside from Marshall dropping Santos with a counter right hand in the opening round, there wasn’t much to write home about in this fight. It felt like Marshall was in control for long stretches of the fight but it wasn’t the kind of performance that set the world on fire. If you want to watch a fight where nothing happened and the wrong guy won, this fight is for you. Otherwise, you can pass and not feel bad about it.
Women’s Strawweight: Amanda Lemos vs. Iasmin Lucindo
Result: Lemos defeats Lucindo by unanimous decision
Grade: F-
There’s no nice way to put it. This fight was dreadful. Neither fighter inflicted any meaningful damage (16 combined signature strikes) and each stanza saw a fighter ride out a majority of the round in top position on the mat without doing much of anything. When the fans are waving their cell phone lights in the crowd, you know it isn’t going well. Let’s just forget this fight ever happened.
UFC 313 fight card grade: D+
Outside of Ruffy’s impressive knockout and a fun scrap between Gaethje and Fiziev, UFC 313 lacked much excitement. Two lousy fights (Lemos-Lucindo and Marshall-Santos) dragged this card into the mud and a main event that left the thrills on the bench kept it from being salvageable. You can watch the Ruffy highlight on social media and catch Gaethje-Fiziev some other time. The rest can be forgotten about.
