The UFC 222 main card featured a few of top-15 fights that saw their rankings likely improve as a result, and a title shot secured for another.
The show's main event was originally to feature Frankie Edgar challenge Max Holloway for the UFC Featherweight Championship. Due to injury, Holloway was pulled and replaced by undefeated Brian Ortega to take on Edgar in what was dubbed as a "title eliminator."
#3 Brian Ortega clipped #2 Frankie Edgar with an elbow and became the first man to finish "the answer" on his way to gaining a UFC Featherweight Championship fight. After the bout, Ortega took to the microphone to promote his charitable interests as opposed to calling out the champion in Holloway.
#6 Ketlen Vieira earned one of the biggest wins of her career in defeating former UFC title challenger and #6-ranked Cat Zingano. Vieira used her wrestling to thwart the excellent kicking attacks of Zingano, although one judge curiously scored the fight for Zingano. With the loss, Zingano still hasn't won a fight since before her UFC Championship opportunity against Ronda Rousey way back in 2015. Meanwhile, Vieira is 4-0 in the UFC in just 16 months, which include victories over two top-10 opponents.
Elsewhere on the show, longtime UFC veteran heavyweights squared off in #10 Stefan Struve and #12 Andrei Arlovski. While the fight itself was underwhelming while going head-to-head with Deontay Wilder's KO win, Arlovski was able to grind out a unanimous decision win.
You can see our full UFC 222 coverage at this link, and our live post-show podcast at this link.
