UFC Vegas 117 Power Rankings: Rating The Night’s Big Winners In Las Vegas

The UFC action returned to the Meta APEX in Las Vegas for the latest UFC Fight Night event in Sin City, where a pair of featherweight bouts took top billing on another packed night of fights.

Here are our power rankings for the main card winners at UFC Fight Night: Allen vs Costa.

UFC Vegas 117 Power Rankings

1. Arnold Allen

England’s Arnold Allen played a starring role in the main event as he successfully defended his ranking against the surging Melquizael Costa.

Allen delivered an all-action performance to dominate Costa en route to a landslide unanimous decision victory on the scorecards, and in doing so reminded everyone that he should still be considered among the division’s very best. 

He might not be the biggest talker in the division, and he might now have a string of highlight-reel finishes. But when it comes to going out there and beating people up, there are few in the world at 145 pounds more capable than Arnold Allen, and a big fight against top five opposition is surely in his future.

2. Dooho Choi

“The Korean Superboy” returned to action at Meta APEX and delivered another fan-friendly performance as he stopped in-form Daniel Santos in the co-main event.

Choi seems allergic to boring fights, and he got involved in another fun scrap this weekend as he weathered Santos’ early pressure before turning the tables on “Willycat”.

Choi eventually dropped his man, then finished him to claim the 22nd win of his career, and his 14th by knockout. 

It’s sad to realize that Choi has only fought four times since the end of 2019. The amount of thrilling fights he’d have given us over the last five years if he’d been active would have been remarkable. Hopefully he can stay a bit more active moving forward – there’s certainly no shortage of fun matchups available for him at featherweight.

3. Khaos Williams

There aren’t too many more powerful punchers, pound-for-pound, in MMA gloves than Khaos Williams, but the challenge for the Detroit native is that his opponents all know it.

It’s meant that “The Oxfighter” has had to refine his game and be a bit more cute when it comes to finding his openings before detonating that incredible punch power on his opponents.

Against Kazakhstan’s Nikolay Veretennikov, Williams showed that patience before unleashing his power as he bided his time before connecting with his heavy shots to claim a first-round TKO finish.

Williams is an edge-of-your-seat fighter, and after snapping his two-fight skid from 2025, he looks ready for a better year in 2026.

4. Juan Diaz

When Malcolm Wellmaker arrived in the UFC’s bantamweight division, there was a lot of hype around the young Contender Series graduate. But on Saturday night, it was another Contender Series fighter who stole the spotlight.

Juan Diaz was matched with Wellmaker for his UFC debut, and produced an outstanding performance as he handed Wellmaker only the second defeat of his career, thanks to a second-round rear-naked choke.

Diaz won seven in a row to earn his shot on the Contender Series, where he defeated South Korea’s Kwon Won Il to punch his ticket to the UFC. And on Saturday night, the Peruvian bantamweight delivered a big performance to get his career off to a flying start.

It seems like the bantamweight division is getting deeper and stronger by the month, and Diaz’s arrival is just the latest in a string of super-talented prospects joining the 135-pound class. He’s definitely one to watch.

5. Benardo Sopaj

Former Fight Club Rush champion Benardo Sopaj has bounced back brilliantly since his UFC debut defeat to Vinicius “Lok Dog” Oliveira back in 2024. Despite having a string of fights canceled, the Swedish bantamweight registered back-to-back wins on the big stage by submitting Timmy Cuamba in the second round.

Sopaj’s flying-knee defeat to Oliveira put him on every end-of-year highlight reel for 2024 for all the wrong reasons, but in January 2025 he returned and claimed a unanimous decision win over Ricky Turcios to claim his first UFC win.

Another year-long hiatus followed, but Sopaj returned in fine form as he locked up a rear-naked choke to finish Cuamba and improve his record to 13-3. He could well feature on a European card later in the year. And if he does, he’ll do so boosted by his back-to-back wins.

6. Modestas Bukauskas

Modestas Bukauskas has had to take the hard road during his career, and even now he’s back in the UFC for his second stint, things haven’t been plain sailing.

“The Baltic Gladiator” has gone 7-2 since returning to the UFC, with his most recent victory coming this weekend, but it was far from straightforward for him.

Bukauskas was all set to take on Rodolfo Bellato, but when the Brazilian was forced off the card at the start of fight week, the UFC moved quickly to draft in a replacement, with former Bellator light heavyweight contender Christian Edwards coming in for his UFC debut. It meant Bukauskas had to deal with a different opponent, with a very different fighting style, who was coming in with absolutely nothing to lose. In short, it was a nightmare assignment, but Bukauskas adjusted well and did enough to earn the split-decision verdict after three competitive rounds.

Hopefully Bukauskas will get a smoother path to his next fight, and the chance to really shine. He’s done remarkably well since his return, and the chance to register a big highlight-reel finish against a notable opponent would be perfect for him next.