The UFC returned to the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the main event of UFC Vegas 113 on Saturday, we saw a battle between heavyweights Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira. It was a battle to remember.
Mario Bautista was coming from a loss to Umar Nurmagomedov and was taking on an undefeated Oliveira. It was a competitive fight. But Bautista dominated Oliviera to win the bout by second-round submission. With this, Bautista came back to the winning column.
Bautista believes that cutting excess weight made Oliveira slow in their UFC Vegas fight. It was Oliveira’s first five-rounder fight. He started to look sluggish early in the second round. Bautista revealed that he initially thought he was playing it up to lure him into a knockout. It turned out that Oliveira was too slow for Bautista. Bautista saw everything coming his way, and he made sure to take advantage of that. Bautista believes that Oliveira weighing 165 pounds during the fight week might have something to do with his lack of speed.
Here is what Bautista said about the fight in the post-fight press conference. “I wasn’t sure if he was messing around, kind of trying to lure me into these big shots. It was kind of what he did. It was easy to see. That whole thing about him being 165 lbs [on fight week].. to me, that means you’re slow. It makes you slow. I could see everything, I had great eyes in there, all the experience I’ve had.”
Bautista (17-3) rebounded from a loss against Umar Nurmagomedov with this win. He lost to Umar Nurmagomedov last October. Before that, he had a eight fight winning streak. Oliveira (23-4) was undefeated in the four UFC appearances before this loss.