The Ultimate Fighting Championship delivered a record-equalling UFC Atlantic City 2024: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot event at the Broadwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where a roller coaster ride of knockouts was in-store.
In their first visit to Atlantic city in almost six years, we saw the record tied for the most KOs on a single event in history as eight of the 13 fights ended in stoppages – all either by technical knock out (TKO) or knockout (KO).
The event that saw six fights go the distance, including the main event, witnessed four fighters bag bonuses as a light heavyweight bout on the preliminary card featuring Anton Turkalj vs Ibo Aslan was awarded the fight of the night.
Apart from the light heavyweights, Nate Landwehr and Dennis Buzukja pocketed an extra USD50K as performance bonus. Here is a look at the recap and results of UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs. Fiorot:
UFC Atlantic City 2024 Recap
In the main event, top women’s flyweight contenders No. 2 Erin Blanchfield and No. 3 Manon Fiorot clashed in a style-versus-style match up for the right to have the next title challenge.
The action was immediate as Fiorot surprised with an early shot, and Blanchfield locked on a crushing guillotine. Once separated, the two stayed on their feet and exchanged all the way through the fifth round.
Fiorot’s striking acumen kept Blanchfield on the outside thus preventing her from grappling. With the unanimous decision win, Fiorot cemented her contender status and said she wants the title shot, having beaten everyone from the flyweight division.
“I’ve fought everyone in this division, I want the title, that’s it! I’ll take on anyone, no matter, I want my title shot. She didn’t stop, but I was ready, I didn’t get hurt, so I’m happy everything went well,” Fiorot said in the Octagon interview.
Welterweight finishers No. 11 Vicente Luque and Joaquin Buckley lived up to their co-main event billing. Clashes of sharp punches and powerful kicks punctuated round one, then in round two, Luque failed a shoot and Buckley took over with massive ground and pound to get the TKO victory.
Buckley climbed into the rankings with the stoppage win and said, “They messed up and gave your boy a ranking! On the road to gold! We’re about to take the throne. This is what we’ve been talking about for a long time.
“Everybody I called out never wanted to give me the opportunity, Vicente was the only one, so nothing but love for that man. People think I’m just a striker, but I’m a mixed martial artist. Anywhere you want to take it, I can get you out of there, no matter what happens.”
Also on the main card, Chris Weidman’s stoppage due to accidental eye poke by Bruno Silva in the third round of a middleweight bout was changed to a unanimous decision win for the former.
Chidi Njokuani edged Rhys McKee for a split decision win in the welterweight main card opener, while Kyle Nelson and Nursulton Ruziboev claimed first round stoppage wins over Bill Algeo and Sedriques Dumas in their respective bouts.
Earlier in the preliminary card, Virna Jandiroba and Caolan Loughran earned decision wins, while Julio Arce, Dennis Buzukja, Ibo Aslan and Jacob Malkoun claimed stoppage wins. Here is a look at the final results:
UFC Atlantic City 2024 Results
- Women’s Flyweight Bout: Manon Fiorot (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) defeated Erin Blanchfield by Unanimous Decision
- Welterweight Bout: Joaquin Buckley defeated Vicente Luque by TKO (strikes) at 3:17 of Round 2
- Middleweight Bout: Chris Weidman defeated Bruno Silva by technical unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Middleweight Bout: Nursulton Ruziboev defeated Sedriques Dumas by KO (strikes) at 3:18 of Round 1
- Featherweight Bout: Kyle Nelson defeated Bill Algeo by TKO (strikes) at 4:00 of Round 1
- Welterweight Bout: Chidi Njokuani (30-27, 30-27) defeated Rhys McKee (28-29) by Split Decision
- Featherweight Bout: Nate Landwehr defeated Jamall Emmers by KO (strikes) at 4:43 of Round 1
- Women’s Strawweight Bout: Virna Jandiroba defeated Loopy Godinez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Featherweight Bout: Julio Arce defeated Herbert Burns by TKO (strikes) at 2:00 of Round 2
- Featherweight Bout: Dennis Buzukja defeated Connor Matthews by TKO (strikes) at 0:22 of Round 3
- Light Heavyweight Bout: Ibo Aslan defeated Anton Turkalj by TKO (right hand) at 1:32 of Round 3
- Women’s Flyweight Bout: Viktoriia Dudakova vs. Melissa Gatto – Cancelled due to medical issue with Dudakova
- Middleweight Bout: Jacob Malkoun defeated Andre Petroski by TKO (strikes) at 0:39 of Round 2
- Bantamweight Bout: Caolan Loughran defeated Angel Pacheco by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
