Niko Price

Price's Seattle fight ended almost immediately once Chiesa secured top position and advanced to the back for the choke.

Key moments

• Lost by rear-naked choke at 1:03 of round one.
• The defeat was his fourth straight loss.
• It came in Seattle against a veteran grappler, and both fighters announced their retirement after the bout.

Veretennikov caught Price in another fast, violent welterweight fight and stopped him before the opening round was half over. The result was brutal but familiar: Price's willingness to exchange made the bout entertaining immediately, yet also gave the sharper finisher a short route to the stoppage.

Key moments

• Was knocked out at 1:42 of the first round.
• The official method was elbow and punches.
• It became Price's third consecutive loss entering the Chiesa fight.

Gorimbo took Price over three rounds and prevented him from turning the fight into the kind of brawl that usually opens finishing chances.

Key moments

• Lost a unanimous decision across three rounds.
• Could not convert his usual pace into a more chaotic fight.
• The defeat followed his June 2024 decision win over Alex Morono.

Price beat Morono over fifteen minutes in Newark and showed a calmer version of his game than the highlight-reel reputation suggests. The decision win mattered because it stopped the Robbie Lawler setback and proved he could still bank rounds without needing a stoppage.

Key moments

• Beat Alex Morono by unanimous decision at UFC 302.
• It was Price's first win since October 2021.
• The result snapped a three-fight skid before the later four-fight slide.

Price took Robbie Lawler's retirement fight knowing it would start fast, but he never got the chance to settle into the kind of brawl he usually thrives in.

Key moments

• The bout was Lawler's final walk after his Hall of Fame induction, so the atmosphere was built around a retirement sendoff from the start.
• Lawler only needed one opening, catching Price with a series of left hooks as the first exchange developed.
• A final left uppercut crumbled Price to the mat and Lawler walked away knowing the fight was done.
• The referee waved it off at 0:38 of round one as the Las Vegas crowd erupted for Lawler's farewell knockout.

Price snapped the skid against Alex Oliveira by staying stronger deeper into the fight than the Brazilian veteran.

Key moments

• The first round featured heavy punches on the feet before Price worked into top position and stayed responsible enough to avoid Oliveira's submission traps.
• Oliveira answered in round two with the cleaner counters and a scramble that left Price underneath him during a key exchange.
• Knowing the fight was close, Price came out for round three with a higher pace and started landing the better shots as Oliveira slowed.
• Price punctuated the finish with a late takedown and ground-and-pound, then swept all three cards 29-28 for his first win since 2019.

Price pressured hard late and made the final round competitive, but Pereira banked too much of the cleaner and more memorable work to lose the decision.

Key moments

• Price pushed Pereira to the fence early and kept trying to turn the fight into a grinding exchange, but he ate stiff jabs, knees and front kicks while doing it.
• The strangest sequence came in round two when Pereira shoved Price down, backflipped onto him, landed in mount and followed with heavy ground-and-pound plus arm-triangle attempts.
• Price defended the choke sequence, scrambled back to his feet and kept pressing even as Pereira mixed in more body and clinch offense.
• Price surged with pressure and hard punches in the third round, but Pereira still took a unanimous 29-28 decision on all three cards.

Price and Cerrone fought a genuinely close three-round war that was first ruled a majority draw before being overturned to a no-contest after Price's positive marijuana test.

Key moments

• Price jumped on Cerrone early with right hands, uppercuts and elbows, badly roughing him up in the opening round.
• That first round also included repeated eye pokes from Price, and he lost a point after the second infraction.
• Cerrone settled in over the final two rounds with cleaner jabs, body work, kicks and a late takedown plus back-take in round three.
• The bout was announced as a majority draw on scores of 29-27, 28-28 and 28-28 before later being overturned to a no-contest.

The Luque rematch was another savage brawl, but this time the damage got too ugly for Price to fight through to the end. He stayed dangerous and kept exchanging, yet Luque's left hook did the kind of facial damage that turned a live fight into a doctor's stoppage.

Key moments

• The rematch quickly turned into the kind of violent stand-up fight both men were expected to produce.
• Price kept firing back and forcing exchanges, but Luque steadily landed the cleaner counters over the course of the fight.
• A perfectly timed left hook from Luque in the third round dropped Price and badly damaged the area around his eye.
• Price made it back to his feet, but the cageside doctor stopped the fight at 3:37 of round three because the injury had become too severe.

A short scramble flipped the position, Vick rose to posture and strike, and Price turned the mistake into an instant highlight with a heel-to-face upkick.

Key moments

• The fight started with a few quick exchanges on the feet before the action spilled into a scramble on the mat.
• Price briefly worked on top, but another scramble let Vick reverse and settle above him.
• As soon as Vick lifted his knees and postured up, Price fired a crushing upkick that knocked him unconscious almost immediately.
• The finish came at 1:44 of round one and earned Price another performance bonus-level knockout.

Price and Geoff Neal had the kind of frantic two-round shootout that almost guaranteed somebody was going to break. Price had success in the opening chaos, but once Neal got top position in round two, the ground-and-pound piled up too quickly for him to survive.

Key moments

• The first round included a wild exchange where both men were wobbled, and Price recovered a little faster before the grappling reversed again.
• Neal still ended the round strongly by scoring a takedown and advancing to mount before the horn.
• In round two Price threatened briefly with a guillotine, but Neal slipped free and settled on top where he could do real damage.
• Neal's left hands and elbows from top position forced Dan Miragliotta to stop the fight at 2:39 of the second round.

The Alhassan fight was a short, violent lesson in what happened when Price chose to trade too freely on the fence. He landed early enough to show the danger went both ways, but once Alhassan closed distance and uncorked combinations, Price's balance and defensive structure disappeared almost instantly.

Key moments

• Price started with a sharp counter right hand, but Alhassan kept marching him backward toward the fence.
• Both men landed in the opening exchanges, yet Price began throwing left kicks while Alhassan was already punching in close.
• That left Price off-balance, and Alhassan used the opening to crash in with another overhand and a flush follow-up left hook.
• Price crumpled to the mat and the fight was over at just 43 seconds of round one.

After a back-and-forth first round with grappling scrambles and Brown's knees causing problems, the second round scramble somehow ended with Price knocking Brown out from the bottom with hammerfists.

Key moments

• Round one swung through repeated grappling exchanges, with Price scoring offense on top before Brown clipped him with a big knee late.
• The second round scramble initially looked favorable for Brown as he settled above Price on the mat.
• Price trapped Brown's posture with his foot behind Brown's head and started whipping up hammerfists from underneath.
• By the third or fourth clean shot Brown was out cold, giving Price a 1:09 round-two finish from bottom position.

Price had to work through a rough middle stretch against George Sullivan before finding the back-take that ended it. Sullivan's pressure and top control gave him real chances to steal the fight, but once Price created a little space in the second round, he flipped the position immediately and finished the choke.

Key moments

• Sullivan pressed forward early behind his jab, body kicks and right hand, forcing Price to circle and counter.
• Price mixed in takedown attempts and completed one throw in the first round, but Sullivan stayed physical and made the exchanges competitive.
• In round two Sullivan landed a desperation takedown and spent several minutes on top, opening a cut with hammerfists and elbows from Price's guard.
• Price used an armbar threat to escape, jumped on Sullivan's back when the neck was exposed and forced the rear-naked choke tap at 4:21 of the second.

Price's first UFC defeat came in a frantic fight with Vicente Luque that swung through wild exchanges before Luque's grappling ended it. Price had moments in the pocket and kept dragging the fight into chaos, but Luque stayed composed enough to turn a scramble into the finishing choke late in round two.

Key moments

• Luque accepted the fight on short notice and immediately met Price in open exchanges instead of backing away from the brawl.
• Both welterweights landed clean through the first round, giving the fight the kind of pace that later earned year-end praise as one of 2017's better action bouts.
• Price kept firing as the second round wore on, but Luque used the scramble windows to improve position once the fight hit the mat.

Price needed less than two minutes to flatten Alan Jouban in Mexico City and turn his second UFC appearance into a statement win. The fight opened competitively, but once Price found his range with a right hand, he swarmed Jouban on the floor before the veteran could recover.

Key moments

• Price cracked Jouban with a hard right hand inside the opening two minutes and immediately forced him backward in trouble.
• Rather than chase recklessly, Price followed the knockdown to the mat and lined up his punches as Jouban tried to cover.
• The referee stepped in at 1:44 of round one after Price's ground-and-pound barrage produced another quick UFC finish.

The finish was later overturned to a no contest after Price tested positive for marijuana, but the bout itself still turned on his late surge and right hand at the horn.

Key moments

• Morono had success early by countering Price and making him reset rather than letting him walk forward cleanly.
• Price's pressure grew as the fight went on, with uppercuts and jumping-knee attempts starting to pin Morono near the fence.
• At the end of round two, Price unloaded along the fence and landed the right hand that dropped Morono right at the buzzer.

Price's UFC debut came on short notice, and he answered it by submitting Brandon Thatch in the first round. Thatch's size and early striking gave the newcomer something to solve, but once Price grounded him and survived the kimura threat, he advanced position quickly and closed the choke.

Key moments

• Thatch had the physical edge in the opening exchanges and looked dangerous when he could stand tall at range.
• Price changed the fight by scoring a takedown and forcing Thatch to work from his back instead of letting him strike freely.
• Thatch attacked a kimura from the bottom, but Price stayed patient, stepped over the position and kept improving his angle.
• That sequence led directly to the arm-triangle choke finish at 4:30 of round one in Price's promotional debut.

Price's pro debut was modestly placed on the undercard, but it still introduced the broad outline of his game: fast pressure and a quick finish.

Key moments

• Jorge Alonso officiated the bout.
• The fight was the second listed matchup on the card, near the start of the event rather than in a featured slot.
• Fight Time 8 was headlined by Jessica Aguilar vs. Patricia Vidonic, placing Price's debut on a card with a recognizable regional main event.