Michael Chiesa

Chiesa closed his career in Seattle by taking Price down quickly, advancing to the back and forcing the tap little more than a minute into the fight. It was the cleanest possible version of the Chiesa game: early grappling control, fast positional progress and a rear-naked choke before the matchup could get messy.

Key moments

• Submitted Niko Price with a rear-naked choke at 1:03 of round one.
• The win pushed Chiesa's professional record to 20-7 before UFC listed him as retired.
• It followed three straight wins over Max Griffin, Court McGee and Tony Ferguson.

Chiesa handled McGee over three rounds in Atlanta and showed he could still win a measured veteran fight without needing a finish. The performance mattered because it confirmed the Ferguson and Griffin wins had turned into a real late-career revival rather than a short burst.

Key moments

• Beat Court McGee by unanimous decision after three rounds.
• Extended his winning streak to three fights.
• Stayed patient enough to control a veteran matchup without forcing the finish.

Chiesa had to work longer against Griffin, but the finish still came once he got the fight to the floor late in round three. Beating a durable welterweight with his trademark choke showed the old grappling edge was still available even after the rough 2021-23 stretch.

Key moments

• Submitted Max Griffin at 1:56 of the third round.
• The finish gave Chiesa back-to-back wins after the Tony Ferguson fight.
• It was his first appearance since the Kevin Holland loss in July 2023.

Chiesa's return in Abu Dhabi went exactly to script once he found Ferguson's back and locked up the choke in round one. The result snapped the slide that followed the Holland, Brady and Luque losses and restarted his run with the kind of grappling win his profile is built on.

Key moments

• Finished Tony Ferguson with a rear-naked choke at 3:44 of round one.
• Ended a three-fight losing streak with the submission win.
• Reasserted the back-taking game that has defined most of Chiesa's best performances.

Chiesa's attempt to restart at welterweight stalled fast when Holland caught him in a front-headlock sequence and finished the fight in the opening round. The loss was sharp because Chiesa barely had time to settle into the wrestling exchanges that normally give him control of the fight.

Key moments

• Lost by submission at 2:39 of round one against Kevin Holland.
• The official finish was recorded as a brabo choke.
• It became the third straight defeat before Chiesa's 2024 rebound.

Chiesa had moments on the feet against Brady, but Brady's repeated takedowns and back-control phases kept forcing him to fight uphill on the cards. The loss mattered because it followed the Luque submission and turned Chiesa's welterweight surge into a two-fight skid against the division's next wave.

Key moments

• Brady won a unanimous decision with three 29-28 scorecards in Las Vegas.
• He repeatedly turned Chiesa's entries and low kicks into takedowns and back control.
• Chiesa rallied late and finished the fight throwing from top position, but ran out of time to reverse the result.

Chiesa actually found some early success against Luque, including a takedown and back-control sequence, but the fight flipped fast once Luque reversed the scramble. Luque locked up a brabo choke and forced the first-round tap, which halted Chiesa's four-fight welterweight streak in a bout with real title-eliminator stakes.

Key moments

• Luque submitted Chiesa with a brabo choke at 3:25 of round one in Houston.
• Chiesa briefly took the back after hurting Luque with punches, but lost position during the submission transition.
• The matchup paired Chiesa's four-fight welterweight winning streak against Luque's three-fight run near the top of the division.

Chiesa's first UFC main event became one of the clearest examples of his welterweight formula working over twenty-five minutes. He repeatedly took Magny down, kept winning the positional battle on the mat and swept the scorecards 49-46, which pushed him firmly into the top of the division.

Key moments

• Chiesa beat Magny by unanimous decision with three 49-46 scorecards in Abu Dhabi.
• He controlled long stretches on the ground and repeatedly forced Magny to defend takedowns and backpack positions.
• The victory moved Chiesa to 16-4 and extended his welterweight winning streak to four.

Chiesa spoiled dos Anjos's return to welterweight by making the former champion fight off the back foot and from underneath far more often than he wanted. The upset mattered because Chiesa's grappling-heavy decision over a proven contender made his welterweight move look real rather than temporary.

Key moments

• Chiesa upset dos Anjos by unanimous decision in the Raleigh co-main event.
• He used his grappling to bank rounds against a former lightweight champion who entered as the betting favorite.
• The win lifted Chiesa from 14-4 to 15-4 and gave him a third straight victory at welterweight.

Chiesa's second welterweight outing was a methodical beatdown of an aging Diego Sanchez rather than a firefight. He used his size, clinch work and top control to smother Sanchez for three rounds, and the one-sided 30-26 sweep showed that the division change had given him a cleaner, more sustainable path than the brutal lightweight cuts ever did.

Key moments

• All three judges scored it 30-26 for Chiesa at UFC 239.
• He repeatedly dragged Sanchez to the mat and controlled long stretches from top position.
• The win moved Chiesa to 14-4 and made him 2-0 since moving up to welterweight.

After the weight-cut issues that derailed his lightweight run, Chiesa's welterweight debut immediately looked healthier and more natural. He kept taking former interim champion Carlos Condit down, survived the trickier scrambles and armbar threats, then ripped a one-armed kimura early in round two to restart his UFC climb with a credible name on the ledger.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Condit with a kimura at 0:56 of round two in his welterweight debut.
• He repeatedly grounded Condit in round one and escaped multiple submission threats during the scrambles.
• The win snapped Chiesa's two-fight skid and gave him an immediate statement victory over a former interim welterweight champion.

Chiesa had useful moments with his pressure and grappling, but Pettis punished even a small opening once the fight swung back to space. A right hand hurt Chiesa at the start of round two, and Pettis jumped on the ensuing scramble to finish the triangle armbar, turning a competitive fight into another momentum-breaking loss for Chiesa's lightweight run.

Key moments

• Pettis submitted Chiesa with a triangle armbar at 0:52 of round two in Las Vegas.
• Chiesa had early top-control success before Pettis changed the fight with a clean right hand in the second round.
• The defeat dropped Chiesa to 12-4 and left him with losses in two of his previous three UFC appearances.

The Oklahoma City main event was supposed to push Chiesa toward the lightweight elite, but it ended in one of the promotion's messier stoppages of that era. Lee took the back with a body triangle and squeezed on a rear-naked choke, referee Mario Yamasaki waved it off before any clear tap and the controversy overshadowed a loss that abruptly halted Chiesa's momentum.

Key moments

• Lee was awarded a technical submission by rear-naked choke at 4:37 of round one in the main event.
• The finish was immediately disputed because Yamasaki stopped it without a visible tap from Chiesa.
• The loss snapped Chiesa's three-fight winning streak and stalled his climb at lightweight.

Chiesa's Tampa win over Dariush was the kind of result that finally pushed him from useful prospect to legitimate lightweight factor. He weathered a tougher opening stretch, found the grappling swings he needed in round two and became the first man to submit Dariush in pro MMA, which gave real weight to his push toward the top ten.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Dariush with a rear-naked choke at 1:20 of round two in Tampa.
• The finish earned him a Performance of the Night bonus at UFC on Fox 19.
• He became the first fighter to submit Dariush in a professional MMA bout.

Beating Jim Miller in the Las Vegas co-main mattered because it proved Chiesa could out-grapple one of the division's most seasoned submission threats. Miller had real success with a kneebar reversal and back control in round one, but Chiesa reset, dragged the fight back into his wheelhouse and forced the tap midway through the second round.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Miller with a rear-naked choke at 2:57 of round two in the co-main event.
• Miller threatened him with a kneebar and back control in round one before Chiesa turned the momentum back.
• The win put Chiesa into the lightweight top-15 conversation with back-to-back submission victories over established UFC veterans.

After the frustrating doctor-stoppage loss to Joe Lauzon, Chiesa needed a composed rebound more than a wild finish. That's what he got against Clarke: steady pressure, repeated back-taking scrambles and enough control across all three rounds to bank a clear decision without giving Clarke the grappling exchanges he needed to flip the fight.

Key moments

• Chiesa beat Clarke by unanimous decision over three rounds in Fairfax.
• He repeatedly jumped on Clarke's back during scrambles and used positional control to own long stretches of the fight.
• The win steadied Chiesa's UFC run after the cut-stoppage loss to Joe Lauzon in his previous appearance.

Chiesa's bout with Lauzon was chaotic and competitive until the cut over Chiesa's right eye became the whole story. Lauzon's offense opened him up during a frantic second round, the cageside doctor ruled the damage too severe to continue and Chiesa was left arguing a stoppage loss in a fight that still felt very live.

Key moments

• Lauzon won by doctor stoppage at 2:14 of round two after opening a severe cut over Chiesa's eye.
• The fight featured heavy scrambles and momentum swings before the stoppage interrupted it.
• Chiesa immediately protested the ending, but the result stood as his first UFC loss in nearly two years.

Chiesa's win over Trinaldo showed he could impose his game on a veteran bruiser instead of just surviving wild scrambles. He scored the takedowns early, spent long stretches in dominant top position and ground out fifteen hard minutes, which mattered because Trinaldo was the kind of experienced spoiler who could have derailed a rising lightweight if Chiesa's control cracked.

Key moments

• Chiesa beat Trinaldo by unanimous decision on the UFC 173 preliminary card.
• He scored an early takedown, worked from mount and top control, and won a round that some observers scored 10-8.
• The victory moved Chiesa to 11-1 and gave him a second straight UFC win.

The Colton Smith fight was messy and competitive enough to matter, because Chiesa did not get an easy front-running version of a fellow TUF winner. Smith forced clinches and made him work, but Chiesa eventually created the scramble he needed in round two, took the back and locked up the rear-naked choke to reassert the submission game that had carried him into the UFC.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Smith with a rear-naked choke at 1:41 of round two at Fight for the Troops 3.
• Smith made him work through clinch exchanges before Chiesa hit a big throw and found the back-take that ended the fight.
• The win lifted Chiesa to 9-1 and put him back on track after his first career loss.

Fighting in Seattle, Chiesa had the crowd and some early moments, but Masvidal was the first veteran to punish his mistakes at the UFC level. After surviving the shakier first round, Masvidal took over the second and snatched a brabo choke with one second left, handing Chiesa the first loss of his pro career and a clearer picture of the gap between prospect momentum and proven lightweight craft.

Key moments

• Masvidal submitted Chiesa with a brabo choke at 4:59 of round two in Seattle.
• Chiesa entered the bout undefeated at 7-0 before suffering the first loss of his professional career.
• Masvidal stabilized after early danger and seized control late in the second round to finish the fight.

Chiesa's first post-TUF win was less about star power than about proving the show momentum would hold up against a seasoned UFC opponent. Kuivanen made him fight for entries and fence control, but once Chiesa scrambled onto the back in round two and locked the body triangle, the finish came quickly and confirmed that his grappling translated beyond the reality-show bracket.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Kuivanen with a rear-naked choke at 2:29 of round two in Anaheim.
• He took Kuivanen's back during a fence scramble, secured a body triangle and finished the choke from full back control.
• The win kept Chiesa unbeaten and gave him a successful first UFC appearance after winning The Ultimate Fighter 15.

This was the win that changed Chiesa from a promising regional prospect into a UFC contract winner with real momentum. He upset the favored Iaquinta in the TUF 15 final, locked up the first-round rear-naked choke and turned an emotionally heavy season into the defining early moment of his career.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Iaquinta at 2:47 of round one to win The Ultimate Fighter 15 lightweight tournament.
• The finish earned Chiesa a Submission of the Night bonus at the finale.
• He entered as the underdog and left with the six-figure UFC contract that came with winning the season.

By the time Chiesa met Fenner in Tacoma, his regional run was already starting to look repeatable rather than lucky. He wasted almost no time in that fight, jumped on the opening and finished in forty-five seconds, reinforcing the pattern that his back-taking game was a real problem even before the UFC and TUF spotlight arrived.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Fenner by rear-naked choke just 0:45 into the opening round.
• The bout took place on the CageSport 16 main card in Tacoma.
• The quick finish moved Chiesa to 5-0 as his pre-TUF regional streak kept building.

Coble was another Washington-area test that helped establish Chiesa's identity early: long, scrambly and dangerous once he found the back. He finished the fight in the first round and kept extending the run of submission wins that made him more than just another local prospect on small Northwest cards.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Coble with a rear-naked choke at 2:13 of round one.
• The finish came on the LOTC 13: Battle At The Bay card in Manson, Washington.
• It gave Chiesa a fourth straight professional victory, all before he reached The Ultimate Fighter.

The Rodriguez bout was another fast regional finish that showed Chiesa's offense was traveling with him from card to card. He needed barely more than a minute to get the rear-naked choke, and that kind of early control was already defining what his fights looked like long before he reached national television.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted Rodriguez with a rear-naked choke at 1:03 of the first round.
• The bout was part of LOTC 11: Conquest Of The Cage in Airway Heights, Washington.
• The result pushed Chiesa to 3-0 with all three wins coming by finish.

Chiesa's first lightweight bout ended quickly and cleanly, which mattered because it showed his submission game was not tied to one weight class. Against Darcy James in British Columbia, he found the brabo choke inside a minute and announced himself as a dangerous finisher almost immediately after his pro debut.

Key moments

• Chiesa submitted James with a brabo choke at 0:53 of round one at BFL 7: Invasion.
• The bout marked Chiesa's lightweight debut after opening his pro career at welterweight.
• It improved his record to 2-0 with back-to-back professional wins.

Before the long UFC run and the welterweight resurgence, Chiesa's pro career started with a straightforward regional decision over Andy Paves. It was not glamorous, but it gave him a clean first win, showed he could bank rounds over a full three-round fight and set the base for the run of finishes that followed.

Key moments

• Chiesa beat Paves by unanimous decision over three rounds at Rumble on the Ridge 14.
• The fight served as Chiesa's professional debut and a welterweight start to his career.
• It gave him a 1-0 foundation before the string of submission wins that carried him toward The Ultimate Fighter.