Tim Elliott Wins Unanimous Decision Over Edgar Chairez at Noche UFC
Tim Elliott earned a unanimous decision over Edgar Chairez on Saturday, closing the Noche UFC prelims with a 29-28 sweep on every scorecard. The 130-pound catchweight bout at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, sent the 39-year-old flyweight veteran back into the win column four months after a loss to Steve Erceg.
Elliott moved to 22-14-1 overall and 11-12 in the UFC. Chairez fell to 14-7 MMA and 4-3 inside the Octagon, his three-fight winning streak gone in the last fight of the preliminary card.
The matchup was part of the UFC’s fourth Mexican Independence Day event, streamed on Paramount+. Both men usually compete at 125 pounds, but they met at a 130-pound catchweight in Glendale.
Elliott, ranked No. 12 at flyweight, walked in as a betting underdog. Chairez had submitted Bruno Silva in June, taken a split decision over Felipe Bunes in February, and finished C.J. Vergara with a first-round rear-naked choke last year.
The Kansas City-area southpaw has been a regular in the flyweight mix for more than a decade, including a TUF 24 title fight against Demetrious Johnson. His previous win came in August 2025, when he guillotined Kai Asakura in the second round at UFC 319.
Chairez, nicknamed “Puro Chicali,” entered with a reach advantage and nine career submissions. He had never been stopped by strikes and was favored to make it four in a row against a veteran who turns 40 in December.
The first round nearly got away from Elliott. Chairez cracked him with a heavy right hand in the opening minute and kept landing clean boxing while the veteran tried to recover.
Elliott stayed in range anyway. He answered with left hands, opened damage around Chairez’s right eye, later wobbled him, and finished the round on top with elbows and hammerfists.
The middle round shifted to wrestling. After an early kick from Chairez and an eye poke that referee Jason Herzog did not call, Elliott changed levels and spent long stretches in top control.
The ground-and-pound added up from there. Chairez bled from the nose, hunted an armbar off his back, and could not keep the fight standing for long.
The last five minutes were the closest. Chairez ripped the lead leg, landed both hands upstairs, and briefly hurt Elliott in a scramble against the fence.
Elliott still took the minutes that decided it. He completed another takedown in the middle of the round, then shot again with about 20 seconds left and punched through the horn.
Herzog oversaw a fight that never settled into one man’s rhythm. Chairez had the sharper boxing and the early power, but he could not keep Elliott off his hips once the exchanges broke down.
That grappling gap produced the 29-28 scores. Elliott’s top control and late takedowns gave the judges a clear path, even as Chairez won stretches of the first and third rounds on the feet.
The loss ended Chairez’s best run in the promotion and handed him his first UFC setback since a 2024 decision defeat to Joshua Van. For a Mexican flyweight on a Noche card, it was a missed chance in front of a holiday crowd.
One win does not change the flyweight title picture. Joshua Van holds the championship, with Alexandre Pantoja, Manel Kape, and Brandon Royval sitting well ahead of Elliott’s No. 12 ranking.
What it does is keep a veteran in the conversation. Elliott has now won two of his last three, with the Asakura finish and Saturday’s decision sitting on either side of a May unanimous-decision loss to Erceg in Perth.
No next opponent has been announced for either man. Noche UFC continued Saturday with a main card headlined by Jean Silva and short-notice replacement Jose Delgado, while Elliott leaves Arizona with his 11th UFC victory and his place in the ranked flyweight mix intact.