Rafael dos Anjos (left) and Kevin Lee Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

UFC Fight Night 152 Results: The Real Winners and Losers

Scott Harris

UFC Fight Night 152 went down Saturday in Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. It was the 10th UFC card to air on ESPN's streaming service.

In the main event, welterweights Rafael dos Anjos and Kevin Lee squared off. Both have competed for a title in the fairly recent past. Both times, it didn't go too well. This was a bout to see who could hang around the top shelf of the 170-pound division.

The well-rounded Dos Anjos—who held the lightweight championship for the better part of 2015—tore through three elite opponents after moving up to welterweight but was mauled by Colby Covington in June with an interim belt on the line. Then Kamaru Usman did it to him again. Now, he's here.

Lee's championship boutalso for an interim strap, which seem to be multiplying like Tribbles these daysoccurred down at lightweight against Tony Ferguson in October 2017. He was 1-1 since.

Who righted the ship in the main event? And what about the rest of the action-packed 13-fight card? As always, the final stat lines don't reveal all. These are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 152.

For the literal-minded among us, full card results appear at the end.

Winner: Rafael dos Anjos

Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

The new Rafael dos Anjos looked like his old self again. 

The 34-year-old veteran notched his 18th win in the UFC by choking out Kevin Lee in the fourth round.

Lee was the aggressor early, outlanding Dos Anjos on the feet. He shot for takedowns, but Dos Anjos saw that they were neutralized. Rather, it was Lee's pressure—and some vicious body work—that probably swung the early rounds in his favor.

But as it all unfolded, a funny thing happened: The wily vet started hitting takedowns of his own. Still, Lee was doing more damage on the feet. 

In the decisive fourth round, a single beautiful sequence brought the bout to a perfect culmination. Lee caught a Dos Anjos kick and went for a takedown, only for Dos Anjos to slip away and take Lee's back. Lee tried to escape, but that just made it worse. Dos Anjos was waiting with an arm-triangle choke, and that was all she wrote.

"I knew he was coming strong in the first round, and he pushed through hard and I was just using my experience," Dos Anjos told broadcaster Paul Felder in the cage after the fight. "[Coach] Jason Parillo told me to make an adjustment in the fourth: use my jab, don't load up too much on punches, so I was able to use my takedowns."

No one could have said it any better. Meanwhile it's a win-win for the UFC. A former and fairly high-profile champ restores some shine to his name, while an up-and-comer in Lee—he's still only 26 years old—proved he can hang with the big dogs. 

Don't look now, but RDA is still No. 3 in the divisional rankings despite the recent slippage. Assuming Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson is ready to go by late summer as anticipated, that might be an interesting little scrap.

Loser: Megan Anderson

Felicia Spencer (top) grapples Megan Anderson. Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Felicia Spencer may not have been a household name coming in, at least not compared to Megan Anderson. Both have an Invicta featherweight belt in their past. Anderson, though, has gained juice for the long-legged frame that has earned her several highlight-reel knockouts, the likable social media presence and the hype she received as a potential foil to Cris Cybor.

Spencer, though, is an outstanding grappler who was 6-0 heading in to her UFC debut Saturday.

Anderson was only 1-1 in the UFC because of a very controversial eye-injury win over Cat Zingano. 

All to say, the reality of this matchup didn't hold up much beyond the cursory assumption. Spencer kept her distance early to stay clear of Anderson's lethal kicks, then got inside, got Anderson down and controlled the action from there. Anderson tapped to a rear-naked choke with about 90 seconds left in the opening round.

Spencer was impressive in her debut, and should be solid bench depth for a pretty thin 145-pound division at minimum.

Anderson is still looking for her first clean UFC win and a return on some of the hype after three bouts

Winner: Rochester's Finest

Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Many of the more regionally located UFC cards have at least one hometown favorite on the slate. Lightweight Desmond Green was just such a favorite Saturday night.

Green is not the most pyrotechnic of fighters as mainly a takedown-and-control competitor. But against a UFC newcomer in Charles Jourdain, everything was tailor-made for a win. It wasn't always the kind of stuff that glued one to the screen, but the fight was won and the story written.

"Fighting in Rochester drove me to go even harder," Green said in an official post-fight statement. "It was definitely challenging. The most challenging part was when I first stepped in the Octagon and heard the roar of the crowd. My heart started going a mile a minute. I had to bring it home and really calm myself down. That was the most challenging part. I was really overwhelmed."

The jitters were fairly evident, as a fighter who defaults to stylistic conservatism went even farther in that direction. But at the end of this one, all that mattered was the "W" after Green's name.

Winner: Entire Undercard

Michel Pereira Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Well done, undercarders. It's not always pretty down there, but the preliminarians showed up in force at Blue Cross Arena.

Seven bouts, five stoppage wins and a cracker of a featured bout, all of which lit up the Rochester crowd. 

Julio Arce got things started in the curtain-raiser with an electrifying head-kick knockout of Julian Erosa. Zak Cummings followed it up with a Hail Mary chokeout of Trevin Giles with just 59 seconds remaining in the contest.

And you have to give it up for Ed "Short Fuse" Herman. The last time the ginger sensation won a fight, it was 2016. This time, he caught the increasingly shot-looking Patrick Cummins with a knee off the clinch break that sent Cummins flailing and put Herman back in the win column.

But we weren't done yet. Grant Dawson choked out Michael Trizano in the second round. Then came arguably the performance of what was a spectacular undercard: Michel Pereira announced his presence in the welterweight division with style as well as substance.

In his UFC debut, the 25-year-old Brazilian landed a flush jumping knee on a solid veteran in Danny "Hot Chocolate" Roberts. Then he landed, paused, measured Roberts for a moment and hit a crushing straight right hand to finish the fight, not to mention one of the more spectacular combinations in recent memory.

Afterward, Pereira soaked up the energy from the crowd, enjoying every second. We have a new fighter to watch in one of the UFC's glamor divisions.

The aforementioned Green took care of business over Jourdain, and then the women took over. Bantamweights Sijara Eubanks and Aspen Ladd waged a good, old-fashioned slugfest over three rounds. There were back-and-forth shots and some pretty high-level wrestling to boot. Ladd got the unanimous-decision nod, but both women should feel good about waging one of the best fights on the card, prelims or otherwise.

UFC Fight Night 152 Full Card Results

Julio Arce (right) knocked out Julian Erosa. Michael Owens/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Main Card

Rafael dos Anjos def. Kevin Lee by submission (arm-triangle choke), 3:47, Rd. 4

Ian Heinisch def. Antonio Carlos Junior by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Felicia Spencer def. Megan Anderson by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:24, Rd. 1

Vicente Luque def. Derrick Krantz by TKO, 3:52, Rd. 1

Charles Oliveira def. Nik Lentz by TKO, 2:11, Rd. 2

Davi Ramos def. Austin Hubbard by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

                       

Preliminary Card

Aspen Ladd def. Sijara Eubanks by unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-28)

Desmond Green def. Charles Jourdain by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Michel Pereira def. Danny Roberts by KO, 1:04, Rd. 1

Grant Dawson def. Michael Trizano by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:27, Rd. 2

Ed Herman def. Patrick Cummins by TKO, 3:39, Rd. 1

Zak Cummings def. Trevin Giles by submission (guillotine choke), 4:01, Rd. 3

Julio Arce def. Julian Erosa by KO, 1:49, Rd. 3

             

Scott Harris covers MMA for Bleacher Report. 

   

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