Jean Matsumoto

Farid Basharat edged Matsumoto by split decision in a close UFC bout that showed how narrow the margins can be at bantamweight once the grappling exchanges are even.

Key moments

• Basharat won a split decision after three rounds.
• The fight marked Matsumoto's second UFC defeat.
• It followed the split-decision win over Miles Johns from the previous summer.
• Matsumoto answered it immediately with the unanimous decision over Almakhan.

Rather than needing a guillotine or front-headlock sequence, Matsumoto proved he could bank minutes and still find a close win.

Key moments

• Matsumoto won a split decision after 15 minutes.
• The Johns fight followed the split-decision loss to Rob Font earlier in 2025.
• The result set up the later Basharat booking as another step-up matchup.

Rob Font handed Matsumoto a split-decision loss in a fight that showed both how competitive the Brazilian already was and how thin the scoring margins become against veteran bantamweights.

Key moments

• Font won a split decision after three rounds.
• It was only Matsumoto's second professional loss at the time.
• The fight followed the unanimous decision over Brad Katona from late 2024.
• Matsumoto later rebounded by edging Miles Johns and then beating Almakhan in Baku.

Matsumoto's UFC debut turned into a late rescue act after Argueta's wrestling had kept him under pressure for much of the fight. With seconds left in round two, Matsumoto jumped on a guillotine, rolled through to finish it in mount, and forced both the tap and a brief blackout from Argueta.

Key moments

• Argueta landed repeated takedowns and may have been on his way to a decision if the bout reached round three.
• Matsumoto hurt Argueta with right hands as the wrestling pace began to create openings.
• When Argueta shot late, Matsumoto jumped guard on the guillotine and finished it at 4:59 of round two.

He consistently outworked Tanner with low kicks, punch combinations, and enough takedown defense to keep control of the fight's rhythm.

Key moments

• Matsumoto chopped Tanner's lead leg from the opening round and kept that weapon active all night.
• He mixed straight punches and kicks more cleanly than Tanner across most of the striking exchanges.
• Tanner found occasional late takedowns, but Matsumoto repeatedly scrambled up and denied long control stretches.
• The official verdict was a unanimous decision, 30-27 and 29-28 twice, after three rounds.

Matsumoto returned to one of his most reliable finishing weapons in the LFA cage by submitting Basilio with a second-round guillotine.

Key moments

• The fight reached round two, giving Matsumoto time to settle before forcing the grappling finish.
• He ended the bout with a guillotine choke rather than riding out a decision.
• The tap came at 3:00 of the second round.

Santos pushed Matsumoto through a full fifteen minutes, but Matsumoto still came away with a unanimous decision in another disciplined performance.

Key moments

• The bout showed his ability to manage pace over three complete rounds.
• All three judges scored it for Matsumoto by unanimous decision.
• The win set up the later LFA appearance against Marlon Basilio.

Matsumoto handled another five-round assignment against Wanderley Levandovski and took a unanimous decision after 25 minutes. The win underlined a pattern that would hold up for years: he did not need chaos to win, only a steady, disciplined pace.

Key moments

• The fight went all five rounds, another early proof of Matsumoto's championship-distance gas tank.
• He earned a unanimous decision rather than a narrow split or a late finish.
• The result came against an experienced regional opponent in a billed main-event setting.
• It built on the five-round title win he had already logged against Andre Amaral Azevedo.

Matsumoto kept stacking controlled minutes against Barbosa and earned another unanimous decision in 2019.

Key moments

• Matsumoto went the full three rounds and still won clearly on the cards.
• The victory came during a year where he mixed decisions and submissions in quick succession.
• It showed he could stay measured rather than forcing mistakes that were not there.
• The result helped bridge the gap between his early Batalha finishes and later five-round SFT wins.

Matsumoto needed less than three minutes to submit Marcelo Willian with a technical brabo choke.

Key moments

• The bout ended in the opening round at 2:47.
• Matsumoto earned the finish with a technical brabo choke.
• The win came only weeks after his third-round TKO over Fabio Perpetua.

The finish showed that his offense held up deep into the fight and was not limited to first-round submission bursts.

Key moments

• This was one of the few early bouts that pushed Matsumoto well into the third round.
• He closed the fight with punches at 4:09 of round three.
• It set the stage for the quick brabo-choke win over Marcelo Willian two weeks later.

Even this early, the pattern was clear: if a fight hit the mat and stayed there long enough, Matsumoto usually found a neck or arm to attack.

Key moments

• The submission came at 4:35 of round two, just before the bell.
• Matsumoto used an arm-triangle rather than one of his later-familiar guillotines.
• The fight reinforced how varied his grappling finishes already were in 2018.
• It preceded his third-round TKO win over Rodrigo Ayala later that same month.