The first UFC event of 2025 was ‘incredible’, according to Dana White, but one fighter went through war to get a victory.
Despite not being the best of cards on paper, Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas headlined a blockbuster start to the New Year for the UFC.
Dern walked away with a third round submission victory over Ribas, as well as a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus following the main event.
And one fighter, Roman Kopylov, went through hell and high water to get his victory at the UFC Fight Night 249.
Kopylov defeated fellow middleweight Chris Curtis on the main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The stoppage was highly debated by Curtis, who was floored by a head kick in the last round before referee Mark Smith stopped the bout with just one second left on the clock.
UFC President White shared photos on Instagram after the bout which showed Kopylov’s devastating wound despite his victory.
“Tonight’s card was incredible!” he wrote. “Respect to the entire card tonight.”
The two photos showed Kopylov, who has won six of his nine UFC bouts since his debut in 2019, with a nasty wound above his right eyebrow.
The cut looked absolutely brutal and definitely required at least 10 stitches to get it closed up.
Kopylov is now tied with Israel Adesanya and Gregory Rodrigue for the most UFC knockouts among active middleweights.
He has finished finished five of his six victories before the final bell and will now be on the hunt for a ranked opponent in his next bout.
Curtis has now suffered back-to-back UFC defeats, having lost to Brendan Allen by split-decision in April.
MMA fans were quick to the scene with their reaction to Kopylov’s nasty cut.
One took to X and wrote: “Props to the doctors. That’s a clean stitching.”
Another added: “That’s insane.”
A third, reacting to the stoppage, said: “Anyone who genuinely thinks it was a bad stoppage…needs to stop watching MMA immediately.
“The refs job isn’t to check how many seconds are left before stopping a fight. Curtis looked completely defeated and didn’t stand up. Clean stoppage.”
Dern, who is the ranked sixth in the women’s strawweight division, may have earned herself a title shot against current champion Zhang Weili following her win.
However, the Brazilian-American believes another fight should come first.
“I think I’m very hard on myself,” Dern said at UFC 249’s post-fight press conference.
“I’m always trying to get better. Even when I have a great performance, I think I did so many things wrong.
“I think that it’s a lot of play messing in your head, so it can take your journey and maybe make it a little longer.
“But I think in the end, it really helps you evolve to be the best fighter possible if you can really look back and have constructive criticism on yourself.
“My idea isn’t to go fight for the belt and then lose it fast. My idea is to get the belt, and I want to be a dominant champion.
“I’m not in a rush to get there. I want to have good fights and I want to make a statement.”
There were nine finishes in the 14 fights put on by the UFC in their first event of 2025.
White also handed out $50K bonuses to Kopylov for a Fight of the Night and Cesar Almeida, following his victory over Abdul Razak Alhassan.