Saturday night at the Meta APEX did what APEX cards do: it delivered chaos in a small room. Twelve bouts are in the books at UFC Fight Night 290, nine of them ended inside the distance, one ended in a draw — and the middleweight main event ended the way the division's most prolific submission hunter ends fights. Brendan Allen took Christian Leroy Duncan into deep water and held him there: a rear-naked choke at 2:46 of the fifth round, in a fight that was hanging in the balance until it wasn't. Everything below is final and verified. More fight coverage lives here.
The old man wins the co-main
Jai Herbert is 38 years old, has been in the UFC since 2020, and owns a 4-5-1 record in the promotion that reads like a guy who was supposed to be a prelim lifer. He was the underdog against Matheus Camilo, the 25-year-old Xtreme Couture prospect who had won two straight — most recently a first-round stoppage of Nazim Sadykhov in Baku — and was being groomed as the future. The future lost 29-28 on all three cards.
Herbert — "The Black Country Banger" out of Wolverhampton, England — did it the way he has always done it: tall, rangy, sharp straight punches from distance, muay thai kicks to the body and legs. This is the same man who once dropped Ilia Topuria with a head kick early in Topuria's UFC run, and the same man who rallied to finish Mandel Nallo in Winnipeg back in April. He has never been able to string consecutive wins together in his last nine UFC bouts, but he has also never been an easy night for anyone. Camilo, who came in 11-3 with real momentum, found out why the veterans keep getting booked: they know exactly who they are.
Two head kicks, 22 seconds apart (spiritually)
The main card opened with a finishing double that set the tone for the whole night. First, Andre Fili — the most experienced hand in the featherweight division, a loyal soldier and all-action staple for more than a decade — snapped a two-fight skid in spectacular fashion, starching Kai Kamaka III with a head kick 22 seconds into the second round. The Vegas-based veterans traded evenly through the first; in the second's first real exchange, Fili landed a punch flush, then went high and put Kamaka all the way out. It was Fili's 14th featherweight win, per UFC.com, and a reminder that the old warhorses still have nights like this in them.
Then Otari Tanzilovi did almost the same thing to Malcolm Wellmaker — a head kick at 2:39 of round two, followed by punches, and the Georgian's first UFC win after dropping his debut. Two second-round head-kick knockouts to open the main card. The APEX crowd barely had time to sit down between them.
The prelims were a finishing frenzy
Six stoppages and a draw on the prelims, and not a boring one in the bunch:
Julius Walker def. Gerald Meerschaert, TKO (punches), R2 3:35. Meerschaert is the division's beloved chaos merchant — the guy who has been in so many Fight of the Night-adjacent wars that his name is a verb for "survives everything." Walker didn't care. The light heavyweight put him away in the second, the biggest win of his young career. And it was the last fight of Meerschaert's career: per UFC.com, the veteran called it quits after his 60th professional appearance, walking away on his own terms in the APEX.
Francisco Prado def. Ismael Bonfim, TKO (punches), R1 4:32. This one came with an asterisk before it started: Bonfim missed the lightweight limit by 7.5 pounds — a massive miss — fought at a 163.5-pound catchweight, and forfeited 25 percent of his purse to Prado. Then Prado beat him up for most of a round and stopped him. The scale told the story before the cage did.
Niko Price def. Leon Shahbazyan, TKO (punch and knee), R1 1:58. Price, the welterweight veteran who has made a career out of violent endings, needed less than two minutes. One punch, one knee, done.
Brendson Ribeiro def. Felipe Franco, submission (guillotine choke), R1 1:49. Another weight-miss bout — Ribeiro came in 2.5 pounds over the light heavyweight limit, fought at a 208.5-pound catchweight, and gave up 20 percent of his purse. Then he wrapped up a guillotine in under two minutes. Expensive win, but a win.
Allen Frye Jr. def. RJ Harris, TKO (strikes), R1 2:59. Harris came in unbeaten and came out of the gates hot — low kicks, heavy shots, the whole unbeaten-fighter confidence package. Frye Jr., the North Carolina native, weathered it, caught Harris in an exchange, and rocked, dropped, and stopped him before the first five minutes expired. After losing his debut on the scorecards last December, that is a hell of a bounce-back, and his 100 percent finishing rate stays intact.
Alice Pereira def. Daria Zhelezniakova, TKO (retirement), R1 5:00. The women's bantamweight bout ended between rounds — Zhelezniakova couldn't continue, and Pereira's night was done after five minutes of work.
The two that needed the judges (and one that confused them)
Loopy Godinez def. Ketlen Souza, unanimous decision (29-28 x3). The strawweight bout became a 117-pound catchweight when Souza missed by a pound at Friday's weigh-ins, costing her 20 percent of her purse. Godinez, the No. 6 strawweight, did the professional thing: won the fight, took the money, went home. The scorecards were closer than the favorite's backers wanted, but the result never felt in doubt.
Melissa Gatto vs. Ernesta Kareckaite: majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28). The women's flyweight opener had the night's only real controversy. Kareckaite was deducted a point in the first round for grabbing the fence, and that point was the difference between a draw and a win — one judge had it 29-27 for Gatto, the other two 28-28. Grab the fence, lose the point, lose the win. The rules are the rules.
Three misses on the scale
Friday's weigh-ins were a mess: three fighters missed, three catchweights, three fines. Ketlen Souza missed strawweight by a pound (20 percent to Godinez). Ismael Bonfim missed lightweight by 7.5 pounds (25 percent to Prado) — the kind of miss that ends camps and starts conversations. Brendson Ribeiro missed light heavyweight by 2.5 (20 percent to Franco). All three bouts went on, all three missers' opponents got paid extra, and two of the three missers lost anyway. The scale remains undefeated.
The main event: Allen takes Duncan into deep water
It was back-and-forth for twenty-two minutes, and then it was over in seconds. No. 5 Brendan Allen (now 28-7 MMA, 16-4 UFC) vs. No. 14 Christian Leroy Duncan (now 15-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC), five rounds for the top of the middleweight division — and the betting market had it a true pick'em all week: Allen -115, Duncan -105.
There was no feel-out process. The two got straight into stiff striking exchanges, and Duncan landed his signature spinning elbow early, per MMA Junkie's live coverage. Just as the action heated up in Round 2, an eye poke from Duncan paused the fight, and referee Marc Goddard deducted a point for the foul. Duncan responded by turning up his offensive volume, but soon found himself on the mat with Allen on top, working through submission attempts. In Round 3, a wild takedown sequence ended with Allen scrambling to top position in full guard; Duncan exploded out, reversed position, and got some offense off himself. Round 4 belonged to Allen's pressure: he stood and traded, marched forward, and never let Duncan get comfortable, even as the Brit circled off the fence and landed clean shots on the outside.
With the fight hanging on the final five minutes, Duncan came out aggressively with an array of strikes — and Allen answered with a level change. He dragged Duncan to the mat while working for back control, secured it in a blink, and slapped on the rear-naked choke. It went deep instantly. Duncan panicked, tried to escape, and tapped before going out: submission at 2:46 of Round 5, as MMA Junkie and the official UFC scorecards confirmed.
It is Allen's fourth straight win — the streak includes Marvin Vettori, Reinier de Ridder and Edmen Shahbazyan — and it ends Duncan's five-fight winning streak in the Brit's first UFC main event. Afterward, Allen made his case to Michael Bisping: a title shot, and if not that, former champion Dricus du Plessis. "I think we'll be rewarded next," Allen said. "Where's the champion? If not, where's 'Dickus'? He's been running for a while. If not, Mike, put your belt back up."
The tactical question was the whole fight: could Duncan keep it standing? His four-inch reach advantage, unpredictable striking and knockout power were real problems for twenty-two minutes — but only until Allen got his hands on him one decisive time and turned it into a grappling match. Eleven of MMA Junkie's staff picked this card's fights; seven took Allen, four took Duncan. The readers went Allen at 63 percent. The confident ones were right, and they got the exact script: pressure, hips, choke, championship rounds.