Ignacio Bahamondes Wins Welterweight Return by Decision at Noche UFC
Ignacio Bahamondes did not look like a man who had just finished three rounds. The Chilean put that on the record himself after a unanimous decision over Muslim Salikhov at Noche UFC.
All three judges scored the welterweight prelim for Bahamondes, 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. The bout closed a three-round assignment Saturday at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Bahamondes improved to 18-7 overall and 7-4 in the UFC. Salikhov fell to 22-7 and 9-6 inside the promotion.
The result snapped a two-fight skid for the 29-year-old. It also marked his return to 170 pounds after a long run at lightweight.
Referee Blake Grice raised the hand of the fighter in red shorts. Salikhov, in black, had lifted an arm before the scores were read and then dropped it when the Chilean was named.
Chilean flags filled a section of the stands as soon as the decision landed. Bahamondes dropped to his knees on the canvas and pressed his forehead to the mat in prayer.
Daniel Cormier met him in the center of the Octagon with the weight-class change already in the first question. The broadcast graphic listed Bahamondes at 18-7 with seven wins in his last 10 fights.
“Ignacio, UFC debut at welterweight, new weight class, same kind of performance,” Cormier said. “How good does it feel to get another win?”
Bahamondes smiled through a swollen face and went straight at the cut. He treated the easier scale as the story of the night.
“Do I look tired?” he said. “That’s all I wanted to say.”
He kept going. The move to welterweight, he said, changed the hardest part of fight week.
“We don’t have to cut so hard anymore,” Bahamondes said. “It’s much easier.”
That was the point he wanted made before anything else. Two straight losses at 155 pounds had sent him looking for a new home, and the first night at 170 felt lighter in more ways than one.
He had dropped decisions to Rafael Fiziev in June 2025 and Tofiq Musayev in March. Those were the last two stops of a lightweight run that once included a triangle-choke win over Jalin Turner at UFC 313.
Salikhov was a different kind of test. The 42-year-old Russian came in with a long finishing record and the kind of counter striking that has ended nights with one shot.
Bahamondes still took two scorecards by a full three points. The third judge saw a closer fight at 29-28.
Cormier turned the interview toward the building. Chilean supporters had been loud from the prelims forward, and the flags were still up behind them.
“How does it feel to fight in front of this crowd with this support?” Cormier asked.
Bahamondes did not make it about himself for long. He pointed the win upward before he pointed it at Chile.
“I just feel blessed, you know,” he said. “Everything is for my Lord and Savior Jesus.”
He said none of the night would have been possible without that faith. Then he told Cormier he had carried one verse through the entire camp.
“Isaiah 40,” Bahamondes said. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint, for I the Lord am with you.”
The quote fit the picture he had already given the arena. He had gone to his knees on the logo in the center of the cage before he ever took the microphone.
Noche UFC is built as a Latin American showcase, and Chile had a stake in this one. The flags kept waving while Cormier closed the interview and asked the crowd to recognize the winner.
Bahamondes, nicknamed La Jaula, was born Aug. 27, 1997, and fights out of Chile. He first reached the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020 and had spent most of his Octagon career at lightweight.
The welterweight shift was the clearest change on his card. He talked about it the way a fighter talks when the scale has been the enemy.
He did not call out a name. He did not ask for a ranking.
He asked whether he looked tired, credited Jesus, and let the 30-27s speak for the rest. For a man coming off back-to-back losses, that was the whole statement.
Salikhov remains a dangerous veteran at an age when most strikers have already slowed. Bahamondes made him chase a taller, fresher frame for 15 minutes and convinced two judges it was never in doubt.
The Chilean left the cage smiling, arm around the moment, with his country’s colors still in the seats. New weight class, same hand raised.
Noche UFC streamed on Paramount+ from Glendale. Bahamondes’ unanimous decision over Salikhov went in the books as a three-round welterweight win.