Topuria on top: Dominant win over Josh Emmett highlights UFC ...

Antwerp. Bogota. Abu Dhabi. Las Vegas. London. Now, Jacksonville.

Ilia Topuria added to his list of winning cities Saturday -- and the First Coast is his next stop toward the top.

The fearsome featherweight continued his rocket rise up the ranks, defeating Josh Emmett by unanimous decision in Saturday's main event to highlight UFC Fight Night inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

The global mixed martial arts circuit's sixth stop in Northeast Florida, this one televised on ABC, showcased the rise of a fighter with major potential and major results.

Topuria (14-0) inflicted cuts on Emmett's face in the first round, and nearly finished him entirely in the second and fourth rounds. Somehow, Emmett fought on, and even managed to unleash a couple of hard shots in the fifth.

Emmett's effort wasn't enough to tip the balance on the one-sided scorecards, but he did win the admiration of the victor.

"The guy's really, really tough," Topuria said.

So was Topuria. Born in Germany to parents from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and fighting out of Spain, he showed his mastery from the start with celebrities like Spanish World Cup soccer champion Sergio Ramos looking on from the side of the octagon.

For the 26-year-old Topuria (14-0), the ninth-ranked contender in the division coming in, victory on the First Coast further cements his status as a fighter on course for a future championship challenge.

"I showed it tonight. No one can match my level of skill inside the cage… I know that I can finish anyone in this division," Topuria said.

Packing a punch:Chepe Mariscal win highlights UFC Fight Night prelims in Jacksonville

Fighting fewer than 20 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, Maycee Barber took some inspiration from the sea's most notorious predator.

"I'm like a shark, and I'm going to come for that blood," she said.

Smelling blood in the water, and fighting through a gaping cut around her own nose, Barber put away women's flyweight contender Amanda Ribas midway through the second round.

Barber had already opened up cuts on the face of Ribas in the opening round, in by far the bloodiest event of the night.

As "U-S-A!" chants echoed through the arena, Barber delivered a crushing left leg to the face of Ribas, then followed up with a combination of punches that downed her rival and finished off with a barrage of punches until referee Keith Peterson halted the bout at 3:42 of the second.

For 11th-ranked women's flyweight challenger Barber, called "The Future" after entering UFC at the age of 20, a fifth consecutive victory breathed fresh momentum into a career that hit choppy waters with consecutive losses in 2020 and 2021.

"I'm not backing down," she said, "and I'm coming to finish these girls again."

'That's where I belong':Former Jaguar Austen Lane eager for UFC debut in Jacksonville

The long-awaited UFC debut for former Jacksonville Jaguars lineman Austen Lane ended in disappointment amid bizarre circumstances against fellow heavyweight Justin Tafa.

Only 29 seconds into the fight, as Lane attempted a strike toward Tafa and his opposite hand poked the opponent in the right eye. Referee Dan Miragliotta called a timeout, and after doctors examined Tafa for more than three minutes, officials declared the fight a first-round no-contest.

The abrupt ending brought visible disappointment for Lane, who lined up as a pass rusher from 2010 to 2012 less than a mile to the east at the home of the Jaguars and became the first Jacksonville resident to fight in a home UFC event.

Lane apologized to Tafa on social media after the fight, saying the poke was "on me." To Jacksonville fans, he said, "The energy you gave me as I was walking out will be something I'll remember the rest of my life. I'm sorry I couldn't give you show."

Another fighter with North Florida ties also missed out on his goal, in more conventional fashion. Phil Rowe, born in Brooklyn but a graduate of Matanzas High School in Flagler County, fell short in his quest to go 2-for-2 in Jacksonville, losing to No. 11 welterweight contender Neil Magny in a slow-paced split-decision fight that drew boos from the crowd. Rowe had earned his first professional MMA victory eight years ago at the since-demolished Jacksonville Landing.

While the Lane-Tafa ending proved anticlimactic, David Onama's finish against Brazil's Gabriel Santos was anything but. After absorbing several hard punches in the early going, the Ugandan featherweight turned the tables finished off the fight with a punishing combination for a knockout at 4:13 of the second round.

Louisiana native Brendan Allen did earn his second win in Jacksonville after beating Bruno Silva of Brazil. Allen absorbed several venomous shots to the head but downed Silva with a solid punch, then finished him off in the corner by submission via rear-naked choke at 4:39 of the opening round. Allen, ranked 13th among middleweight contenders, earlier won in Jacksonville at UFC 261.

Also earning a second Jacksonville victory was Randy Brown, who scored a unanimous decision over Brazilian welterweight Wellington Turman.

During the later preliminaries, Mateusz Rebecki stretched his winning streak to 15 fights, unleashing a barrage of kicks for a second-round stoppage of lightweight Loik Radzhabov, and Brazil's Tabatha Ricci earned a unanimous decision against Gillian Robertson of Canada in a women's strawweight bout.

In all, 14,101 fans -- slightly below the arena's peak crowd of 15,269 for UFC 261 in 2021 -- attended the 13-fight event, which began shortly before noon and stretched into the early evening.