Introduction
UFC Fight Night 44: Swanson vs. Stephens took place on Saturday, June 28, 2014 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 to 702,000 average viewers, attended by 9,227 fans for a gate of $728,358. It was the first UFC event held in San Antonio (though Zuffa had staged WEC 43 there in 2009) and one of two UFC events held on the same day — the second being UFC Fight Night 43 in Auckland, New Zealand, which took place hours earlier. The two-event June 28 was the closest the UFC had run simultaneous international cards in its history.
The card produced two record-breaking performances on the prelims. Ray Borg’s submission of Shane Howell at an undisclosed stoppage time produced what was certified as the fastest submission in UFC flyweight history. Carlos Diego Ferreira’s guillotine of Colton Smith at 0:38 of round one was the fastest submission by a debuting UFC lightweight. In the main event, Cub Swanson outpointed Jeremy Stephens over five competitive rounds to extend his UFC winning streak to six.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, June 28, 2014 (same day as FN43 Auckland)
📍 Venue: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA (first UFC event in San Antonio)
👥 Attendance: 9,227
💰 Gate: $728,358
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 — 702,000 avg. viewers
🏆 Main Event: Cub Swanson vs. Jeremy Stephens — Featherweight (5 rounds)
✅ Result: Swanson def. Stephens via Unanimous Decision — 6th straight UFC win; 87 sig. strikes landed
Records Made on This Card
• Ray Borg’s submission of Shane Howell — fastest submission in UFC flyweight history.
• Carlos Diego Ferreira’s guillotine of Colton Smith at 0:38 of R1 — fastest submission by a debuting UFC lightweight.
• Cub Swanson’s 6th consecutive UFC win tied him with Jose Aldo and Dennis Bermudez for the longest active featherweight winning streak.
• Aleksei Oleinik’s UFC debut — the Russian submission specialist beginning his record-setting UFC heavyweight submission career.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Cub Swanson def. Jeremy Stephens — Unanimous Decision — R5 — Featherweight (FotN $50k each; 6th straight win; 87 sig. strikes)
Kelvin Gastelum def. Nico Musoke — Welterweight
Cezar Ferreira def. Andrew Craig — Middleweight
Ricardo Lamas def. Hacran Dias — Featherweight
Clint Hester def. Antônio Braga Neto — Middleweight
Preliminary Card
Joe Ellenberger def. James Moontasri — Welterweight
Carlos Diego Ferreira def. Colton Smith — Submission (guillotine) — R1, 0:38 — Lightweight (PoN $50k; fastest sub by debuting UFC LW)
Cody Gibson def. Johnny Bedford — Bantamweight
Marcelo Guimarães def. Andy Enz — Welterweight
Ray Borg def. Shane Howell — Submission — Flyweight (PoN $50k; FASTEST SUBMISSION IN UFC FLW HISTORY)
Aleksei Oleinik def. Anthony Hamilton — Heavyweight (UFC debut for Oleinik; future record holder for sub wins in HW)
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Cub Swanson + Jeremy Stephens — $50,000 each
🥇 Performance of the Night: Ray Borg + Carlos Diego Ferreira — $50,000 each
Legacy & Impact
Fight Night 44 is remembered as a record-breaking prelim card. Borg’s fastest FLW submission and Ferreira’s fastest debuting LW submission both stood for years. Aleksei Oleinik went on to become the UFC’s record holder for submission wins in the heavyweight division, eventually amassing over a dozen UFC sub victories before his release. Swanson’s run in 2013–2014 was one of the best sustained featherweight performances outside of Jose Aldo’s dominant championship tenure — six straight wins against top-fifteen opponents, all on Fight Night cards. He earned a UFC featherweight title shot against Aldo at UFC Fight Night 55 in October 2014, which he lost by unanimous decision.
FAQ
Why did the UFC run two Fight Night events on the same day?
The dual-event June 28 was a product of the UFC’s simultaneous expansion into multiple international markets. Fight Night 43 in Auckland served the New Zealand/Australia market at a time zone appropriate for New Zealand viewers; Fight Night 44 in San Antonio served the North American FS1 audience in primetime. The two events targeted completely different live audiences without cannibalising viewership. This model — running international Fight Pass events concurrently with US FS1 events — was part of the UFC’s distribution strategy for 2014, and June 28 was the most compressed single-day version of that strategy.
Who was Aleksei Oleinik and why does his debut matter?
Aleksei ‘The Boa Constrictor’ Oleinik is a Russian heavyweight and one of the most decorated submission practitioners in professional MMA history. He holds the record for the most submission victories in UFC heavyweight history and is among the all-time leaders in professional MMA submission wins, with the Ezekiel choke as his signature weapon. He was 37 years old at his UFC debut at Fight Night 44 and had been competing since 1996. His debut win over Anthony Hamilton in San Antonio was the first step in a UFC run that lasted into his 40s and included several spectacular submission finishes.