Respected veterans Ricky Simon and Raoni Barcelos went toe-to-toe in a spirited 15-minute bantamweight scrap on the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas, with Barcelos extending his winning streak to four in a row thanks to a unanimous decision victory.

Barcelos dropped the first round to Simon on all three judges’ scorecards before using his boxing and solid takedown defence to give him the edge in each of the final two rounds. The 38-year-old from Brazil was coming off consecutive wins over Cristian Quinonez, Payton Talbott and former 135-pound champion Cody Garbrandt prior to snapping Simon’s two-fight streak.

Touted heavyweight prospect Josh Hokit was successful in his official UFC debut, picking up a 56-second knockout over fellow newcomer Max Gimenis.

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