Cody Durden earned a unanimous decision victory at UFC Vegas 123. He came close to finishing the fight in the opening round before going the distance to take the win.
Cody Durden picked up a unanimous decision win at UFC Vegas 123, surviving a scare of his own making by nearly ending the fight in the first round before settling into a full three-round victory.
Durden, a 35-year-old southpaw from the United States who trains out of American Top Team Atlanta, now stands at 18-11-1 by the record that stood before this result. The win follows a difficult stretch. His most recent recorded fight, on July 11, 2026 at UFC 329, ended in a second-round submission loss to Alessandro Costa. Before that, he beat Jafel Filho by unanimous decision on April 25 and dropped a unanimous decision to Nyamjargal Tumendemberel on March 7. Those results show a fighter alternating between wins and losses, which makes a clean decision victory a useful way to reset.
The numbers help explain his approach. Durden lands 3.27 significant strikes per minute with 44 percent accuracy, but his calling card is wrestling. He averages 3.82 takedown attempts per 15 minutes, a high rate for a man who stands five-foot-seven with a 67-inch reach. He also averages 0.6 submission attempts per 15 minutes, which fits with the pressure he reportedly applied in the opening round, when he came close to a finish.
The fight itself followed a familiar pattern for Durden. A fast start brought him near a stoppage, and when it did not arrive, he continued to work through the remaining rounds and collected the judges' nod. Going the distance after a near-finish is also a notable contrast with his last recorded outing, where he was the one finished, in the second round.
Why it matters
- Durden ends a run in which his last recorded fight was a submission defeat, adding a win to a record that has swung between results.
- The decision is his second unanimous-decision win in his three most recent recorded fights, alongside the April result over Filho.
- At 35, with a takedown rate near four per 15 minutes, his grappling-heavy style remains his most reliable path to winning rounds.
The result adds another win to a career total that, on the earlier record, sat only a few victories above the .500 mark in the sport's deepest organization, where every decision counts toward his standing.
