A “Prelims” clash between women’s flyweights Dione Barbosa and Melissa Gatto nearly ended in disaster earlier tonight (Sat., April 4, 2026) at UFC Vegas 115 LIVE on Paramount+ from inside Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, after a nasty illegal soccer kick in the second round left one fighter staring up at the stars.
Barbosa had won the first round pretty convincingly and looked like she could be on her way to a dominant win. Round 2 featured more early dominance from Barbosa, but her momentum was completely
halted in a matter of seconds. That’s because Barbosa accidentally launched an illegal soccer kick as Gatto was getting back to her feet. The kick connected right on Gatto’s neck and left her knocked out on her back. It was a pretty scary moment, but apparently not brutal enough to stop the fight.
Check out the wild moment below:
After five total minutes of video review and recovery for Gatto, cageside officials decided to let the fight keep going and deducted one point from Barbosa. It was a gutsy decision by Gatto considering she was losing the fight and just ate a massive illegal kick to the head/neck. Surprisingly, Gatto was able to regain her composure and ended up gaining top position on the ground to end the round.
Gatto went on to lose a majority decision win, but the biggest storyline is the illegal kick in Round 2. A strong argument could be made that officials should not have allowed Gatto to continue fighting, and instead of taking a point from Barbosa she should have been disqualified.
What’s your take on this controversial kick?
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