Sooo … About Last Night

Last night (Sat., May 3, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa for UFC Des Moines. The second “Fight Night” event outside of the Apex in two weeks outperformed last week’s visit to Kansas City … marginally? The Iowan fans were hungry for blood after many years without Octagon violence, and there were certainly a handful of big knockouts and great scraps. Unfortunately, there was an equal amount of ho-hum decisions that aren’t really worth talking about, so let’s not waste time chewing fat.

Instead, let’s take a look back over the UFC Des Moines’ prime cuts, the best performances and techniques of the evening:

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

Sandhagen Shreds Figgy

Cory Sandhagen’s dedication to being a well-rounded martial artist just earned him a stoppage victory over a former UFC champion.

Think about it: Cory Sandhagen entered the Octagon as an expert kickboxer with good scrambling. Since joining the UFC roster, he’s suffered some tough losses to elite competition, but his focus has always remain on improving everywhere. Most any other striker that gets grounded by Aljamain Sterling or TJ Dillashaw doubles down on their wrestling, and Sandhagen certainly did that (as evidenced by his takedown-heavy wins over Marlon Vera and Rob Font).

That’s not all he’s worked on, though. Sandhagen’s scrambles have always been good, but he won the fight last night by dominating the leg entanglements. When Figueiredo tried to heel hook Sandhagen, he maintained top position and dropped about 50 hard ground strikes. When Sandhagen entered his own leg locks, he reversed Figueiredo then tore his knee apart in transition.

Figgy is the second former UFC champion whose knee Sandhagen has wrecked mid-fight. That doesn’t happen by accident, and it’s a testament to Sandhagen’s white belt mentality and pursuit of mastery.

Give that man his title shot!

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

De Ridder Breaks Down Bo

Despite entering as a major underdog, Reinier de Ridder won a vast majority of his highly-anticipated clash versus Bo Nickal.

I love when a fighter enters with a game plan and executes beautifully. I saw aggression as a major ingredient in de Ridder’s potential success, and he certainly lived up to that requirement. At the literal first bell, he sprinted forward with a four-punch combo punctuated by a knee up the middle that nearly chinned Nickal!

The other half of the game plan surprised me. “RDR” was a much, much better clinch striker than Nickal. I feel like most of us assumed that Nickal’s wrestling superiority meant that he would be able to really control clinch positions, but that definitely wasn’t the case against the lanky Dutchman.

De Ridder did a great job of incessantly working from the clinch. His heaviest lands were knees off frames in the clinch, which definitely took their toll and eventually set up the finish. When he wasn’t in position to gut check Nickal with knees, he still managed to dig into his ribs with short punches or smash into his nose with a shoulder strike.

It all wore Nickal down quickly. He clearly wasn’t used to getting beaten up in those positions, and he pretty much crumbled in the face of that adversity. World-class wrestling is undeniably one of the toughest forms of competition on the planet, but there’s nothing quite like being tired and wounded in the cage.

After this one … Bo knows.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

An Old Man Brawl

I’m not going to pretend Daniel Rodriguez vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio was great MMA. Santiago looked old and slow, whereas Rodriguez looked old and tired. Generally, Santiago looked to be the better fighter and was definitely in superior shape, Unfortunately, any time the two really exchanged and Rodriguez wasn’t sucking wind, Ponzinibbio got hurt.

Despite the somewhat washed nature of the combatants, it was still fun. The two old dogs fought hard and went for the kill. I have nothing but respect for their grit. Just … what does it say about the state of MMA when two of the best fights of the evening were put on by fighters approaching 40?

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

The Brawl That Was Promised

Jeremy Stephens vs. Mason Jones was awesome.

There’s only one reason “Lil Heathen” was brought back to the UFC roster at 38 years of age while riding a lengthy MMA losing streak. He’s a ringer, brought in to commit acts of violence in front of his local Midwest crowd. Jones was a willing dance partner, excited to trade big swings with the infamous power puncher.

For large swaths of the fight, Jones was teeing off on Stephens and breaking him down with kicks. It was always fun though, precisely because Jones was also willing to step into the pocket and trade shots. Stephens still has a fast, powerful right hand and excels at timing it over the jab, meaning Jones’ face was battered by round three despite being ahead on the cards. There were some great exchanges throughout the fight where both men were standing their ground, slipping shots, and firing back right away — something we don’t see enough of in MMA!

The action slowed in the third when Jones opted to finally play it smart, easily wrestling his foe to the floor and dominating from top position. He secured the win and landed some slick spinning shots in the process, so it’s a welcome return for the Welsh talent.

As for Stephens, the man is still a dog, and his scraps will always be worth watching.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

An Impressive Top 10 Breakthrough

Gillian Robertson has really come a long way. The Canadian grappler began her UFC career at just 3-2 way back in 2017 up at 125-pounds. She immediately proved herself a talented submission fighter, but she also suffered some tough losses along the way and never built too long of a win streak.

In 2023, Robertson dropped down to 115-pounds right as she approached the prime of her career — she’s still just 29 despite holding multiple UFC records! The results have been strong: five wins in six appearances, including three finishes.

Last night’s victory over Marina Rodriguez was easily the best work yet of her career. Rodriguez entered as No. 8 in the world, but Robertson had little difficult timing her takedowns and gaining top position. Once on top, Robertson controlled the scrambles and advanced position masterfully, working her way to a checkmate position in the second to force a TKO finish. It was textbook stuff from “The Savage,” who seems primed to attack her new division’s Top Five.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

Additional Thoughts

• Azamat Bekoev defeats Ryan Loder via first-round knockout (highlights): Few Russian killers get the opportunity to join the UFC roster, but Bekoev — an ACA, ACB, and LFA veteran — made the most of his opportunity here. He stormed out of the gate in his promotional debut, flooring Loder early with a huge right hand. The D-1 All-American returned to his feet and fired back, but he couldn’t escape the brawl, and Bekoev floored him a second time about a minute later to seal the deal. At 29 years of age, “Iron” looks like a potential problem for the 185-pound class!
• Quang Le defeats Gaston Bolanos via second-round rear naked choke: Le approached this fight wisely given he was facing a decorated Muay Thai striker. He went to his wrestling early on, chaining takedowns together to force Bolanos to the canvas. He took Bolanos’ back in the first but couldn’t do much with it. After getting cracked early in the second, he returned to the clinch and took the back yet again. This time, he was able to sneak the arm under the chin, putting Bolanos to sleep to earn the first UFC win of his career.

For complete UFC Des Moines results and play-by-play, click here.