One week ahead of a much anticipated pay-per-view road trip to Boston, the UFC went all-in on home cooking with a 13-bout Fight Night card from its Apex facility in Las Vegas.

Brazilian countrymen and wannabe welterweight contenders Rafael dos Anjos and Vicente Luque squared off in a five-rounder to top off a six-fight main piece that also included high-profile veterans Cub Swanson and Chris Daukaus in separate bouts.

Luque won a methodical but deserved unanimous decision in the main event, while Swanson also won a decision, albeit a questionable one, over Hakeem Dawodu in the co-main event and Daukaus came up short when he fell in one round to Khalil Rountree Jr.

It was the seventh first-round finish of the night, tying a promotional record for a single show, and ninth overall inside the scheduled distance.

Dos Anjos, 38, won two of three bouts in 2022 after a 16-month absence, while Luque, ranked 10th at 170 pounds, lost two bouts last year after a four-fight win streak had carried him successfully across 2020 and 2021.

The B/R combat team took in all the action and compiled a definitive list of the jam-packed show's real-time winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.

Winner: Changing the Game

Vicente Luque had been in the UFC for eight years and won 14 of 18 bouts since debuting on The Ultimate Fighter in 2015.

So it's not as if he didn't know what success felt like.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old "Silent Assassin," coming off a brutal KO loss, decided a full-throated evolution was necessary to guarantee future accomplishments. And if that meant eschewing his typical all-action approach for a more methodical strategy, so be it.

"I'm a cold guy, but I can tell you I'm real emotional right now," Luque said, moments after securing a unanimous decision over ex-lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos in Saturday's five-round main event. "I never fear anything. But I feared never being in here again. Fighting a former champ and beating him at his game. It's a miracle that I did this."

Luque was a wide winner on one scorecard and a more narrow victor on the other two, getting a 49-46 nod that translates to 4-1 in rounds alongside a pair of 48-47 scores, which gave him three rounds to his opponent's two.

The UFC's 10th-ranked welterweight, Luque converted a career-high eight takedowns against the 38-year-old jiu-jitsu ace, who'd arrived with 21 victories since debuting in the Octagon at the UFC 91 event in 2008.

"The game plan was to do anything," Luque said. "I was ready for everything. Obviously I'm a striker. But in the first round I was afraid of getting hit. But after that I thought 'I'm fine, let's go.' It was a long journey. And that's what I needed to evolve to a higher level."

Loser: Getting It Right

Everyone in the building knew who won.

Even Cub Swanson, who'd just gone a grueling three rounds with young, strong featherweight prospect Hakeem Dawodu, began a respectful clap for his opponent as announcer Joe Martinez began reading the official decision.

Dawodu was clearly deserving. Until, at least according to three people, he wasn't.

Instead of the unanimous decision he seemed to have earned, a disgusted Dawodu found himself on the short end of a unanimous nod in which each judge scored it two rounds to one for Swanson.

In spite of Swanson being out-landed in terms of significant strikes in all three rounds. In spite of Swanson himself cringing when it was his name and not Dawodu's coming out of Martinez's mouth. In spite of Daniel Cormier, Paul Felder and Brendan Fitzgerald on the ESPN broadcast crew, each of whom forecast Dawodu as the winner prior to the announcement.

"That's got to be among the more questionable decisions we have seen in 2023," Fitzgerald said. "All respect to a (Fight Wing) Hall of Famer who's still going strong, but you've got to feel for Hakeem Dawodu. You hate to see it."

Judge Sal D'Amato gave Dawodu the first round before awarding Swanson the last two, while judges Ron McCarthy and Jacob Montalvo gave Swanson the first and third while seeing Dawodu as the better man in the second.

The B/R card had Dawodu up in the first and second before giving Swanson the third, meaning it was 29-28 in the Canadian's direction.

"No," Swanson said, when Cormier asked if he thought he'd won the fight. "I thought I took more shots. I thought I was gonna be able to attack his legs more effectively. But he made me miss and made me pay."

Loser: Losing (Weight) to Win

Chris Daukaus' face said it all.

The Philadelphia police officer dropped some poundage in moving from heavyweight to light heavyweight after three straight KO losses, and he'd hoped the change would yield a return to the sort of success that had briefly made him a top-10 contender.

But after opponent Khalil Rountree Jr. dropped him with a straight left hand and was awarded a TKO with three more quick ground strikes, the now-33-year-old wore a now-familiar look of frustration and discontent as he climbed to his feet.

All of a sudden, it's been 23 months since Daukaus' last victory, a second-round finish of Shamil Abdurakhimov that was the fifth of five in a row and 10th in an 11-fight climb that had stretched across four years and five promotions.

The official time of his latest demise was 2:40 of Round 1.

"I didn't plan to swing big or rush anything. I wanted to be patient," said Rountree, who's won four straight for the first time since arriving to the UFC in 2016. "I thought, 'Let me just try (the left hand),' and it was a good gamble."

The win moved Rountree to 13-5 as a pro, was his fifth Octagonal KO and prompted a respectful call for progress from a fighter who'd already climbed to No. 13 at 205 pounds.

"The next step for me is a main event. I'd like to go five," he said. "No matter who it is. Somebody who's ranked. But I'd like to go five."

Loser: Denying Youth

Polyana Viana turned pro when her opponent was 11 years old.

And she'd had more than four years in the UFC before her opponent arrived.

But it turns out her opponent, Iasmin Lucindo, didn't really care.

The fresh-faced 21-year-old Brazilian is the youngest woman on the promotion's roster but she doesn't fight like it, remaining noticeably calm and calculated on the way to a second-round finish of her veteran opponent in a memorable main-card opportunity.

Lucindo lost by decision to Yazmin Jauregui in her Octagonal debut as a 20-year-old, but she's now run together two straight victories, including Saturday's that came via an arm triangle that prompted a tap from Viana for just the second time in his career.

The fighters split ground control time in the first round but Lucindo quickly took advantage when the combat when horizontal in Round 2. She kept Viana in place from a top-mount position, then expertly shifted to her opponent's right side and a three-quarter mount while locking down on the arm triangle for her third career submission.

The official time was 3:42 of the second.

"I came complete," Lucindo said. "I came with my jiu-jitsu. I'm not just a striker. I'm an MMA athlete. I needed to be very calm and very patient (working toward the arm triangle). That's my favorite position. I felt very comfortable there."

Winner: One-Hit Wonder

The champ-champ knows what he's watching.

So when Daniel Cormier saw JP Buys lurch awkwardly and crumble to his knees after taking a hard right hand from Marcus McGhee, it was clear what was happening.

"When dudes fall forward," he said, "that's a wrap."

He was right.

Buys was launching his own straight right hand at the time, but McGhee dipped to his left as he delivered his own shot and it was his that landed first, leaving Buys defenseless and ending their fight and the card's prelim portion after less than half a round.

Referee Jason Herzog stopped the fight as Buys wobbled to his feet and immediately pitched forward face-first into the fence.

It was an eighth finish and seventh KO in eight wins for McGhee, who'd debuted with the promotion with a second-round submission in April and has won four in a row since a lone loss 13 months ago in the Legacy Fighting Alliance promotion.

"This guy's having a tremendous start to his UFC career," ESPN studio analyst Alan Jouban said. "He was obviously feeling his confidence."

Winner: First-Time Featherweight

As UFC debuts go, it's a hard one to top.

Kansas-based featherweight Isaac Dulgarian had won five straight fights by first-round finish in a regional promotion but he certainly seems ready for the big time these days.

The 27-year-old headed to the Nevada desert for his UFC debut and came out of it with yet another quick victory, spending 4:48 in the Octagon and delivering a series of heavy top-mount elbows that led to a TKO victory over eight-fight veteran Francis Marshall.

Labeled "The Midwest Choppa," Dulgarian got his 24-year-old opponent to the floor early in the round and sustained a level of punishment while gradually working into more decisive positions. He eventually drew blood with the consistent strikes and ratcheted up the intensity before finally getting the stoppage from referee Jason Herzog.

The loss was the second in a row for Marshall, who was 5-0 before a win on Dana White's Contender Series and earned his first official UFC win last December before a first loss, by split decision to William Gomis, on a Fight Night show in April.

Winner: Maintaining Momentum

If momentum matters, Martin Buday has surely got it.

The Slovakian heavyweight earned his 12th consecutive victory overall and fourth straight in the UFC when he forced Josh Parisian to submit at 4:11 of the opening round.

The end came via kimura for the 31-year-old, who used the tactic for the second time in his career while recording his ninth finish in 13 victories.

He's not lost since a three-round decision in 2017, his second professional fight.

Buday battered Parisian from a stand-up position early in the round, then flung him to the mat as his foe lurched forward. He then seized Parisian's right arm, twisted it behind the American's back and wrenched it upward until drawing a verbal surrender.

It was Parisian's fourth loss in six fights since a second win on Dana White's Contender Series in 2020, which had been preceded by 12 wins in his first 15 professional appearances across multiple promotions.

"I was 100 percent confident when we ended up on the ground," Buday said. "I had a 100 percent chance of finishing."

Winner: Making Prelim History

Maybe Da'Mon Blackshear will become a household name. Maybe he won't.

But he'll go down in UFC history regardless.

The North Carolina-based bantamweight became just the third fighter in the promotion's 30-year history to end a fight with a "Twister" submission, finishing off Dana White's Contender Series alumnus Jose Johnson just 3:47 into their scheduled three-round prelim bout.

Blackshear had gone just 1-1-1 in his first three Octagonal appearances but he quickly got Johnson to the mat and seized position on the 28-year-old Dominican's back.

He locked in the decisive maneuver when he isolated Johnson's left leg with his own legs, while simultaneously wrapping his arms around his foe's head and twisting Johnson's upper body in the opposite direction to prompt a helpless tap.

Only "Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung (2011) and Bryce Mitchell (2019) had won UFC fights via the same submission sequence.

"I felt like a more complete martial artist than him," Blackshear said. "I've been working that (submission) my whole career and I'd seen the opportunity on him in his previous fight."

Full Card Results

Main Card

Vicente Luque def. Rafael Dos Anjos by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)

Cub Swanson def. Hakeem Dawodu by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Khalil Rountree Jr. def. Chris Daukaus by TKO (punches), 2:40, Round 1

Iasmin Lucindo def. Polyana Viana by submission (arm triangle), 3:42, Round 2

AJ Dobson def. Tafon Nchukwi by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Josh Fremd def. Jamie Pickett by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

Marcus McGhee def. JP Buys by KO (punch), 2:19, Round 1

Terrance McKinney def. Mike Breeden by TKO (punches), 1:25, Round 1

Isaac Dulgarian def. Francis Marshall by TKO (elbows), 4:48, Round 1

Martin Buday def. Josh Parisian by submission (kimura), 4:11, Round 1

Jaqueline Amorim def. Montserrat Conejo by TKO (punches), 3:41, Round 3

Da'Mon Blackshear def. Jose Johnson by submission (twister), 3:47, Round 1

Luana Santos def. Juliana Miller by TKO (strikes), 3:41, Round 1