By Matt Wells

The UFC train stopped at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas to bring mixed martial arts action to the passionate fans of the Lone Star State. Saturday evening of July  20, 2019 was home to UFC on ESPN 4, an event featuring a top ten welterweight clash between Leon Edwards and Rafael dos Anjos in the main event.

Former UFC Lightweight Champion Dos Anjos made the move to welterweight in 2017 where he quickly found success by rattling off a three fight win streak over Tarec Saffiedine, Neil Magny, and Robbie Lawler. He would drop his next to, albeit to former Interim Welterweight Champion Colby Covington and the current Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman. Dos Anjos rebounded with a win over Kevin Lee in May and came to San Antonio looking to keep the winning ways alive against the streaking Edwards.

The Jamacaian-born Edwards has turned a lot of heads in the welterweight division by racking up win after win, seven in succession to be exact, coming into Saturday evening. Edwards started his 2019 with a split decision victory over Gunnar Nelson in March. An emphatic win over a former UFC Champion would help strengthen his case to earn a title shot in a division that is perhaps hotter than ever at the top. 

Over the course of five rounds, Leon Edwards would show the world why he’s deserving of being mentioned in the welterweight title picture. Already known for his crisp striking, Edwards would display superior timing while executing a great game plan against a former UFC Champion in Dos Anjos. 

The story of the fight was Edwards landing significant strikes while mixing punches and kicks, while keeping Dos Anjos off guard with well-timed takedown defense. The former champion didn’t make it easy, but Edwards took every round on one judge’s card while winning four of the five on the other two cards. 

Edwards extends his win streak to eight and made it very clear who he wants next by calling out the “little weasel” Jorge Masvidal considering their backstage altercation or his crack at the title with a rematch of Kamaru Usman. 

The co-main event pitted two heavyweight finishers - a submission specialist in the 42-years young Alexey Oleinik versus the ever-improving, heavy-handed Walt Harris. The two men were former training partners at American Top Team a few years back, but none of that would matter once the cage door closed. Harris wasted very little time putting his hands on Oleinik and dropped him almost immediately with a flying knee followed by a hard left hand. Oleinik was out cold in just eleven seconds. It was a scary finish that required a stretcher for Oleinik to make it to the locker room. 

Perhaps the most intriguing fight on the card was the heavyweight feature bout between the polarizing former NFL Superstar Greg Hardy and Juan Adams, a heavyweight peer who handed out "#F***GregHardy" t-shirts all fight week in the streets of downtown San Antonio. 

Once the action began, the two traded punches a couple of times before Adams shot in for a takedown. Hardy reversed the attempt and began raining down hard punches until the referee stopped the action. Hardy needed only forty-five seconds to claim his latest victory by way of knockout. His opponent was not happy about the stoppage as Adams was still holding on to the single-leg attempt when the action was halted. Adams then stormed out of the cage while yelling expletives towards Hardy.  

Fight Night Bonuses were earned by Dan Hooker for his KO of James Vick, Walt Harris for his KO of Oleinik, and Mario Bautista and Jinsoo Son for the Fight of the Night. 

The announced gate was $841,820.61 with an attendance of 9,255. 

Full UFC on ESPN 4: Dos Anjos vs. Edwards Results

Main Card

• Leon Edwards def. Rafael dos Anjos via Unanimous Decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46)

• Walt Harris def. Aleksei Oleinik via KO, Round 1 - 0:12

• Greg Hardy def. Juan Adams via TKO, Round 1 - 0:45

• Daniel Hooker def. James Vick via KO, Round 1 - 2:33

• Alexander Hernandez def. Francisco Trinaldo via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

• Andrei Arlovski def. Ben Rothwell via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) 

Prelims

• Alex Caceres def. Steven Peterson via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

• Raquel Pennington def. Irene Aldana via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

• Klidson Abreu def. Sam Alvey via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

• Jennifer Maia def. Roxanne Modafferi via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)  

• Ray Borg def. Gabriel Silva via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

• Mario Bautista def. Jin Soo Son via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

• Felipe Colares def. Domingo Pilarte via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)