LAS VEGAS – Alex Oliveira went to great lengths to leave UFC 248 as a winner.
The Brazilian fighter had a back-and-forth war with Max Griffin to kick things off on the pay-per-view main card Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Oliveira (21-8-1 MMA, 10-6 UFC) defeated Griffin (15-8 MMA, 3-6 UFC) by split decision, notching 28-29, 29-28, 29-28 on the judges’ scorecards.
“Cowboy” pushed Griffin to his limits.
After getting rocked, taken down and controlled for the majority of the first round, Oliveira followed up with strong efforts in Rounds 2 and 3. Oliveira cut Griffin with a nasty uppercut in the early portion of Round 2, and the tide seemed to have turned from there. For the rest of the second round, Oliveira connected and backed up Griffin with his striking, thus wining the round.
Round 3 had a similar look, but Oliveira managed to get the fight to the ground and punish Griffin with pressure and ground-and-pound. Griffin did get a reversal and ended the fight on top, but it was a little too late for the 34-year-old.
With this result, Oliveira snapped a three-fight skid and got his first win since September 2018. Meanwhile, Griffin is now on a two-fight skid and 1-4 in his last five trips to the octagon.
The welterweight bout opened up the UFC 248 main card at T-Mobile Arena. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 248 results include:
- Alex Oliveira def. Max Griffin via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Sean O’Malley def. Jose Quinonez via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:02
- Mark Madsen def. Austin Hubbard via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Rodolfo Vieira def. Saparbek Safarov via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 1, 2:58
- Gerald Meerschaert def. Deron Winn via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:13
- Giga Chikadze def. Jamall Emmers via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Danaa Batgerel def. Guido Cannetti via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:01
