New Era of UFC with Paramount Plus, First UFC Fight Night of 2026 was Mario Bautista vs Vinicius Oliviera. Great headliner as me personally genuinely love the smaller weight classes. Thought the first fight night headliner of the year was going to be closer maybe Vinicius winning the early rounds and Mario coming strong at the end but wow I was completely wrong.
Mario Bautista spoiled the breakout party. Bautista victory proved that while Oliviera has flash, Mario has the elite level grappling and superior strength. Excellent performance for Mario beginning to end.
Give all credit to Mario Bautista for the win as he deal with tough loss to Umar Nurmagomedov. Nice confident booster of a win especially in the way he performed. Watching his cry or get emotional post win as meant a lot to him you can tell he trained hard for it.
Kudos to the great training camp at the MMA Lab under legendary Head Coach, John Crouch before the Oliviera fight was considered boring as a grappling decision machine especially with the undeserved hatred for the Jose Aldo loss.
Game plan changed to aggressive grappling gameplan and it was the best performance of his life.
“All those transitions. Going from the takedowns, passing, getting into that crucifix, him giving up an arm, me going for the kimura, him kind of bailing out, jumping on his back, throwing on that rear-naked [choke]. Just kind of having all these sequences and flow in my game. It got me the finish.” Mario Bautista https://www.mmafighting.com/ufc/470983/it-seems-like-you-want-to-kiss-me-mario-bautista-reveals-words-exchanged-with-vinicius-oliveira-in-faceoff-before-ufc-vegas-113
What’s Next for Mario Bautista?
Successfully defended his #9th spot looking to his next fight as consistently fights twice a year. Deserves a rematch against Cory Sandhagen calling him out post fight love the story as there’s a story there.
Depending on what Cory seeks this year Cory can accept this fight or maybe deny it, Another options are Deiveson Figueiredo, Song Yadong both fighters coming off losses. Song Yadong coming off decision loss to Sean O’Malley. Feel like the Song Yadong fight would be very interesting fight.
Bautista said. “I want to get back in the top five, and I think the next person – Cory Sandhagen. Give me that rematch.” https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/story/sports/ufc/2026/02/07/ufc-fight-night-266-mario-bautista-dominates-vinicius-oliveira-submission-cory-sandhagen-callout/88569714007/
Conclusion: The Bantamweight Shark Tank
Bautista is no longer just a “tough out”; he is a finishing threat at the top of the division. The 135-lb division is the most dangerous in the UFC, and Mario Bautista just reminded everyone he’s one of the apex predators.
Ground Zero Spotlight 
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