Ozzy Diaz Edges Djorden Santos in UFC 313 Opener
Ozzy Diaz opened UFC 313 with a hard-fought unanimous decision over Djorden Santos on March 8, 2025, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All three judges scored the middleweight bout 29-28 for Diaz after the fighters went the full 15 minutes. The back-and-forth opener set an energetic tone for the preliminary card and earned praise in the UFC’s event recap.
Three rounds of sustained exchanges
The fight began with both men taking time to establish range, but the pace quickly picked up. Diaz and Santos traded hard strikes and kept exchanging through all three rounds, producing a close contest that remained undecided until the judges’ announcement. The UFC described the matchup as an early Fight of the Night benchmark, noting how both competitors continued to press the action through the final horn.
Santos showed urgency and output, while Diaz answered with offense of his own and did enough in the eyes of all three judges to claim each official scorecard by one round. The result was unanimous, but the narrow margins illustrate that it was not a one-sided performance. Neither man was stopped, and the fight required the judges to determine which exchanges carried the greatest weight.
Diaz earns first UFC victory
Diaz’s win marked his first victory in the Octagon after his promotional debut in November 2024. It gave him a strong rebound and a competitive win over Santos, who was making his UFC debut after competing on Dana White’s Contender Series. For Santos, the loss was a difficult introduction to the promotion, but the closely scored fight showed he could trade with an experienced opponent over three rounds.
The official result was Ozzy Diaz def. Djorden Santos by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards. UFC’s scorecards confirm the totals, and the promotion’s preliminary recap describes the bout’s high-action exchanges.
A lively start to UFC 313
UFC 313 was headlined by Magomed Ankalaev’s light heavyweight championship victory over Alex Pereira, but the opening preliminary bout delivered immediate action. Diaz and Santos had the crowd engaged before the rest of the card unfolded, and the three-round contest offered a contrast to the night’s later finishes. The matchup ended with Diaz taking a narrow but unanimous verdict and both fighters having gone the distance.
What happened after UFC 313
Diaz later suffered knockout losses to Ateba Gautier at UFC 328 in May 2026 and Ryan Gandra at UFC 331 in September. Santos followed his UFC debut loss with a unanimous-decision win over Danny Barlow in October 2025, then lost by submission to Baisangur Susurkaev in May 2026 and by first-round TKO to Yousri Belgaroui in September. Diaz’s UFC profile and Santos’s UFC profile list those results.
Diaz spoke in the Octagon after the decision. Watch his post-fight interview below.
