UFC Fight Night 158: Cowboy vs. Gaethje | Event Profile, Full Results & Legacy
- Ariel Helwhiney
- May 21
- 7 min read
Table of Contents
Introduction
Vancouver — Gaethje’s Violent Streak Continues
Tristan Connelly’s presence on the card was itself a late-breaking story: he replaced Sergey Khandozhko, who had been unable to obtain his visa in time. Connelly — a 32-year-old Abbotsford, British Columbia welterweight — was a local Canadian fighter stepping into the card days before the event, fighting Michel Pereira, who had been a massive favourite after his debut PoN flying knee KO. The Vancouver crowd’s support for the hometown replacement fighter gave the co-main additional local energy.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, September 14, 2019 (ESPN+ 16; Rogers Arena Vancouver)
📍 Venue: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
👥 Attendance: 15,114
💰 Gate: $1,334,931.56
📺 Broadcast: ESPN+ 16 (ESPN+ streaming)
Main Event: Gaethje’s Leg Kick Demolition of Cerrone
Connelly’s $100k Upset, Cirkunov’s Peruvian Necktie & The Card
Tristan Connelly’s unanimous decision upset of Michel Pereira earned him the full $100,000 Fight of the Night bonus because Pereira had missed weight on Friday and was ineligible to receive bonus money. Pereira’s acrobatic style — jumping off the cage, spinning kicks, and various theatrical movements — did not produce the finishing quality that his Rochester debut flying knee had. Connelly’s takedowns, ground control, and steady output over three rounds earned the 29-28 and 29-27 margins from all three judges. The Vancouver crowd’s support for the late-replacement local fighter amplified the upset’s emotional resonance.
Full Results
Main Card (ESPN+)
Todd Duffee vs. Jeff Hughes — NO CONTEST (accidental eye poke) — R1, 4:03 — HW (Duffee RETURNED after 7+ years away from UFC; eye poke to Duffee stopped bout; tragic comeback marred by NC)
Tristan Connelly def. Michel Pereira — Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27) — WW (FotN $100k to Connelly ALONE; Pereira missed weight → ineligible; Connelly LAST-MINUTE REPLACEMENT huge upset of Rochester PoN favourite; Vancouver hometown crowd)
Uriah Hall def. Antonio Carlos Junior — Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) — MW
Misha Cirkunov def. Jimmy Crute — Submission (Peruvian necktie) — R1, 3:38 — LHW (PoN $50k; EXTREMELY RARE Peruvian necktie in UFC! Crute’s FIRST PRO LOSS from 10-0; front headlock body-weight rotational choke)
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Augusto Sakai def. Marcin Tybura — KO (punches) — R1, 0:59 — HW (59-second KO; Sakai HW career build continues)
Miles Johns def. Cole Smith — Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) — BW
Hunter Azure def. Brian Kelleher — Upset BW result (Azure building career)
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Tristan Connelly — $100,000 (SOLE RECIPIENT; Pereira missed weight + ineligible; Connelly hometown replacement upset)
🥇 Performance of the Night: Justin Gaethje + Misha Cirkunov — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• Peruvian necktie (Cirkunov vs. Crute) — one of the rarest individual submission techniques applied at UFC level.
• Connelly’s $100k sole FotN recipient — rare bonus structure when one fighter is weight-ineligible.
Legacy & Impact
Crute’s Vancouver Peruvian necktie loss was his first professional defeat after 10 consecutive wins; he rebuilt his LHW career with wins over Michal Oleksiejczuk and Johnny Walker. Sakai’s 59-second Vancouver prelim KO of Tybura was a continuation of his HW career build that produced additional wins and a UFC contract extension through multiple years of HW competition.
FAQ
What was Gaethje’s leg kick strategy?
Why did Connelly receive $100k instead of $50k?
When Michel Pereira missed weight on Friday before the event, he became ineligible to receive UFC bonus money under the terms that govern weight compliance. The Fight of the Night bonus is typically split between two fighters ($50k each). When one fighter is ineligible due to missing weight, the eligible fighter (Connelly) receives the full $100,000 bonus. Connelly was already a long-shot result having been added as a late replacement days before the event after Khandozhko’s visa issues; his upset of the favoured Pereira combined with the full $100k produced Vancouver’s most commercially unusual bonus outcome.
What is the Peruvian necktie?
The Peruvian necktie is a front headlock submission hold applied from a top position over the opponent’s head and neck, with the attacker’s leg hooked over the opponent’s back to apply a rotational cranking pressure. It requires positioning the body weight precisely to generate the compression and rotation that produces the tap. Its application in a UFC fight is rare because the positional requirements are specific and the opponent can sometimes defend by rolling through the rotation. Cirkunov’s application on Crute produced one of the technique’s cleanest individual UFC executions on record.
What was Todd Duffee’s return?
Duffee was a 33-year-old Dayton, Ohio HW who had last competed in the UFC in July 2012 — more than seven years before Vancouver. He had been cut from the UFC after consecutive losses, then signed with other promotions, then signed back with the UFC in 2019. His Vancouver return against Jeff Hughes was his first UFC appearance in seven-plus years. The eye poke accidental foul at 4:03 of round one that ended the bout as a no-contest was one of the most anticlimactic individual UFC return results in divisional history.
What was the Teixeira vs. Krylov result significance?
What was Cirkunov’s position after Vancouver?
Cirkunov was a 33-year-old Latvian-Canadian LHW training in Vancouver. His Peruvian necktie of the previously undefeated Crute was his most technically impressive individual UFC finish and his most commercially significant win against a fighter with legitimate upside. Crute was 24 years old and 10-0; his loss to Cirkunov’s rare technique was a competitive calibration rather than a career-defining defeat. Cirkunov’s subsequent LHW career produced a win over Shogun Rua before additional losses.
References
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