Making his return to the UFC in front of his home crowd at Copenhagen, Nicolas Dalby earned a unanimous decision victory over welterweight veteran Alex Oliveira.
Both fighters scored takedowns in the first round, but Dalby picked up the pace in the second. His aggressive pace paid off as he landed a hard kick to Oliveira's head and then scored another successful takedown. The Brazilian made his way to his feet with about 90 seconds remaining, but continued pressure from Dalby and a wild exchange saw the fight go back to the mat. Dalby appeared to have the position advantage, but an illegal up kick from Oliveira caused the referee to step in. Rather than resetting them in position, both fighters continued from their feet - a mistake on the ref's part.
In round three, a desperate Oliveira got an important takedown but another questionable decision by the referee to restart the action equaled things out. The fight once again returned to the mat with Dalby raining down strikes on Oliveira to close out the fight.
The fight was scored 29-28 across the board for Dalby, who is now 18-3-1 with 1 no contest. It was Dalby's first win in the UFC since 2016, though he did have a successful stint in Cage Warriors, winning the Welterweight Championship. Alex Oliveira has now lost three straight fights and falls to 19-8-1 with 2 no contests.