Mark Magsayo Upsets Andres Cortes in Unanimous Decision

Mark Magsayo walks out of T-Mobile Arena with his hand raised and a major upset on his record, but the story of his unanimous decision win over hometown favorite Andres Cortes is anything but straightforward.

All three judges scored it 97-93 for Magsayo. On another night, with another set of eyes, this could easily have gone the other way.

A Wild, Awkward, Absorbing Ten Rounds

From the opening bell, Cortes did what was expected of him in Las Vegas: he took the center of the ring, pressed forward, and tried to drown Magsayo under pressure and volume.

He started fast. A sharp left hook and a clean right hand set the tone in Round 1, as he walked Magsayo down and ripped to the body on the ropes. The jab was crisp, the tempo his. Early on, it looked like a classic “house fighter” performance: front-foot aggression, steady work rate, no drama.

Magsayo refused to play the victim.

He answered in Round 2 with fast counters and clever movement, darting around Cortes’ jab and digging to the body when the Las Vegas native swung high. The Filipino’s hands were quick, his timing better, and he landed a big counter right that reminded Cortes he wasn’t just here to survive.

The fight then lurched into something stranger.

The Knockdowns That Weren’t

In the third, Cortes appeared to seize control. He controlled the geography of the ring, shortened his shots, and found a home for a hard, short right hand. Magsayo briefly backed him up, but Cortes met fire with fire and clipped him with another compact punch that sent Magsayo to a knee.

It was ruled a knockdown in real time.

On replay, it didn’t look like Magsayo was actually hurt. His balance, his posture, the way he dipped into Cortes’ body — it all suggested more awkwardness than damage. Still, those moments can swing a fight on the cards and in momentum.

Round 4 brought even more confusion. Cortes drove in with a right, worked inside, and again Magsayo ended up on a knee. The referee initially treated it as another knockdown. Moments later, that call — like the one in the previous round — was effectively wiped away. What remained was a messy, chippy fight with one man pressing and the other constantly dipping low, tangling feet and bodies.

The referee repeatedly warned Magsayo about ducking too low into Cortes’ torso. Each time Magsayo went down awkwardly, frustration built in the Cortes corner. It was ugly, but it was also undeniably compelling.

Cortes Takes Control… Then Lets It Slip

Through the middle rounds, Cortes looked like the more composed professional.

His right hand was money. Each time Magsayo’s head dipped in, Cortes tagged him. He stepped around with smart footwork, circled out of danger, and punished Magsayo in close-range exchanges. On a round-by-round read, the pressure fighter seemed to be cruising.

Magsayo, though, never stopped trying to punch his way back.

He fired to the body, chased uppercuts, and tried to break Cortes’ rhythm. But every time he surged, Cortes met him with combinations and that same short right. The body language didn’t help Magsayo either — the repeated drops to a knee, even when not ruled knockdowns, made him look like the fighter under duress.

Then the tide flickered.

In Round 8, Magsayo finally stitched together the kind of sustained offense he’d been searching for all night. He found a home for his uppercut and let his hands go in combinations. Cortes still landed, still flicked the jab, but the momentum felt different. The visitor was now fighting like a man who knew he needed rounds, and he started taking them.

Round 9 was even better for him. Magsayo’s movement became trickier, his angles sharper. He went to the body, then up with the uppercut, and a left hook appeared to bother Cortes. Suddenly, the previously comfortable hometown fighter looked less certain, less secure.

Magsayo, the man who had been squatting to the canvas in bizarre fashion earlier, was now the one marching forward and landing the more eye-catching shots.

A Close Finish, A Clear Verdict

The final round opened with Cortes landing a right hand, but Magsayo kept coming. He pressed, traded, and worked the body. Cortes stayed disciplined behind the jab and chipped away with inside shots, but the furious late charge some expected from the Las Vegas fighter never truly materialized.

On MMA Fighting’s unofficial card, Cortes did enough to edge the 10th and take it 97-93 overall.

The judges at ringside saw it very differently.

All three scored it 97-93 for Mark Magsayo, handing the Filipino a significant win on the road and dealing Cortes a painful setback in his hometown.

For Cortes, this will sting. He had long stretches of control, landed the cleaner work in several middle rounds, and watched two apparent knockdowns get erased from the narrative. For Magsayo, the record will show what matters most in this business: a unanimous decision, a marquee scalp, and a night where awkwardness, resilience, and late-round urgency combined to flip a script few in Las Vegas expected to see torn up.