Yahoo Sports gave UFC Vegas 122 a crown grade of F before anyone stepped on a scale. Its preview called the lineup a regional U.K. show “brilliantly disguised as a UFC Fight Night.” That’s brutal, and about the top of the bill it’s mostly fair. It also points straight at my thesis. If you sat down at 8 p.m. ET for Brendan Allen vs. Christian Leroy Duncan, you showed up three hours late to the actual event.
UFC.com has the official scorecards posted for anyone who wants the arithmetic. I care more about how this card was built, because the build tells you where the UFC keeps its fun on these Apex nights. It’s on the undercard, every time, while the headliner gets booked like a spreadsheet entry.
The headliner everybody respects
Allen vs. Duncan makes sense on paper. Allen came in ranked No. 4 at 185 pounds, 27-7, a -125 favorite. Duncan was No. 10, 15-2, sitting at +105 with five straight wins. Yahoo’s preview described the fight as solid and perfectly logical, then said that doesn’t make it a good main event. I agree with every word of that.
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Look at the résumés. Allen’s seven-fight streak ended against Nassourdine Imavov in late 2024. He then lost a decision to Anthony Hernandez in Seattle and rebuilt by beating Marvin Vettori, Reinier de Ridder on short notice, and Edmen Shahbazyan. That’s a respectable run. Duncan’s five-fight streak came against Eryk Anders, Roman Dolidze, Jared Cannonier, Marco Tulio and Andrey Pulyaev, and Yahoo argued the first three are well past their best. The preview praised Allen as excellent at everything, then admitted he doesn’t blow your hair back. That’s a contender you rank highly and forget by Tuesday.
The sharpest online take on the headliner came from Jed Meshew, who wrote on X that this was the “First UFC fight in history with FIVE first names.” When the best line about your main event is a joke about names, you’ve booked a footnote.
The best counterargument is that this fight carried real stakes, and a win puts either man one step closer to a title shot. Sure. Champion Sean Strickland, though, has spent the lead-up to this card ranting on social media about how unhappy he is with the UFC, so the line for his belt looks less like a queue and more like a hostage negotiation. Title stakes give you a reason to check the rankings Sunday morning. They don’t give you a reason to cancel dinner on Saturday.
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Where the card actually lived
Andre Fili vs. Kai Kamaka III is the kind of fight I’d rearrange a weekend for. Fili (25-14, 1 NC) was making his 28th walk to the Octagon. He’s always up for a slugfest, and Yahoo noted he hasn’t put wins together since 2019. Kamaka (18-8-1, out of Kapolei, Hawaii) carries the strangest record on the roster. Before his TKO loss to Luke Riley, his previous four defeats were all split decisions. Four coin flips that fell the wrong way, and a durable guy who never stopped coming forward. Pairing those two at featherweight is a prelim booking that wandered up to the main card.
Then there’s Jai Herbert. He’s 38, from Wolverhampton, 14-6-1, with 10 UFC fights against names like Ilia Topuria, Renato Moicano, Francisco Trinaldo and Fares Ziam. He’s never won back-to-back in nine tries, and his last fight was a one-round war with Mandel Nallo that he finished by knockout. Herbert is a regional grinder with a big punch who has spent six years getting handed the toughest draw available. Against Matheus Camilo (11-3, 25 years old, a -200 favorite chasing his second UFC knockout), he was the veteran cast as the prospect’s stepping stone. I’ll take that fight over a ranked middleweight chess match every single time.
Malcolm Wellmaker vs. Otari Tanzilovi is in that same bucket. Both came in 10-2, and Wellmaker came off the first two losses of his pro career. Tanzilovi, out of Tbilisi, is the wild, scrambling striker Yahoo described as chasing finishes the second he senses weakness. Hand speed and power against reckless pressure is matchmaking with a pulse.
The 5 p.m. crowd had it right
The prelims kept piling up reasons to tune in early. Alice Pereira, the youngest fighter on the current UFC roster according to UFC.com, faced Darya Zheleznyakova. Francisco Prado vs. Ismael Bonfim was priced at -120 and +100, which is about as close to a coin toss as the betting market gets. Gerald Meerschaert was a +240 underdog against Julius Walker, and veterans at those odds have a habit of making the favorite earn every minute.
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I’ll be honest about the one I hated. Niko Price came back after his “dual retirement” fight with Michael Chiesa in Seattle in March. He’s lost six of his last seven, five by finish, and he drew Leon Shahbazyan. That booking was a mistake. Still, give me a sad, messy prelim with real human stakes over 25 minutes of two ranked guys respecting each other’s range.
The UFC tells you what it values by when it puts fights on. On October 10, the prelims went live on Paramount+ at 5 p.m. ET and the main card started at 8. Next Apex card, set your alarm for 5.
