Dione Barbosa walked away with a majority decision win over Melissa Gatto at UFC Vegas 115, but an illegal soccer kick in round 2 turned a strong performance into a highly contentious result.
The women’s flyweight prelims bout took place Sat., April 4, 2026, at Meta Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, live on Paramount+. Barbosa had been winning the fight and dominated the first round before the foul completely changed the tone of the matchup.
In the second round, as Gatto was getting up, Barbosa landed an illegal soccer kick to Gatto’s neck. The strike knocked Gatto onto her back and led to about five minutes of video review and recovery while officials decided how to proceed.
After the review, officials allowed the fight to continue but deducted one point from Barbosa for the illegal kick. When the final scorecards were read, Barbosa still emerged with the majority decision victory.
The foul quickly became the main talking point of the fight and raised questions about whether Barbosa should have been disqualified, leaving the result under a cloud despite her otherwise commanding performance.
