The UFC heads back to its home base of the Meta APEX this Saturday night following last weekend’s UFC 326 event. This week’s offering is headlined by a featherweight bout between Josh Emmett and Kevin Vallejos in a five-round non-title fight from Las Vegas to top a 14-fight card.
Emmett (19-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) turned 41 last October and has been competing under the UFC banner since 2016. Emmett told reporters this week he is the furthest from contemplating retirement, despite back-to-back losses to Youssef Zalal (18-5 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) and Lerone Murphy (17-0 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) on the backburner of a 16-month absence from the Octagon.
With a near-decade of experience in the UFC, Emmett’s goals remain lofty, but attainable. His biggest, though, is winning a UFC title.
Josh Emmett, Kevin Vallejos Take Different Paths Entering UFC Vegas 114
Oct 4, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, UNITED STATES; Josh Emmett (red gloves) before the fight against Youssef Zalal (blue gloves) during UFC 320 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
“I have the same mindset,” Emmett told reporters. “I still want to be a world champion. I’m going to be a world champion. But I just have to go out there, be me, get my hand raised, and then we’ll slowly work our way back to the top. I’m on a one-way trip to the top, and I don’t care who’s coming with me.”
Emmett’s self-belief is not a fear of desperation or timing potentially going to run its course on his professional career. It is much greater, he said.
Simply put, it is process-oriented.
“Kevin’s great – he’s a good fighter,” Emmett said. “He’s not going to show me anything I haven’t seen before. I just have to keep my chin down, hands up, move, take it minute-by-minute, round-by-round, and the finish will come.”
The 24-year-old Vallejos (17-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) said he respects Emmett’s abilities but isn’t taking him lightly. Nor does he want to rush a rise to the top of the UFC’s featherweight rankings.
“He got into the company a lot older, so he became a champion a lot older,” Vallejos said of Alexander Volkanovski in an interview with Hablemos MMA in Spanish. “I came in with 23 years, so I have the time to become champion at 27, 28 and be able to stay at the top for several years and then see what I do with my life. But I’d like to have a good amount of experience at 27, so I can be fighting for a title and stay at the top.”
A win over someone of Emmett’s caliber could certainly be the résumé booster he has been looking for.
But only time will tell.
UFC Vegas 114’s betting odds, bout order and start time are below courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
UFC Vegas 114 Full Card + Odds
Jeff Bottari-Zuffa LL
Main card (Start time 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT, P+)Main Event: Josh Emmett (+410) vs. Kevin Vallejos (-550), featherweight (five rounds, non-title)Co-Main Event: Amanda Lemos (+190) vs. Gillian Robertson (-230), strawweightIon Cutelaba (+225) vs. Oumar Sy (-278), light heavyweightAndre Fili (+340) vs. Jose Miguel Delgado (-440), featherweightMarwan Rahiki (-265) vs. Harry Hardwick (+215), featherweightCharles Johnson (-166) vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva (+140), flyweightPreliminary card (Start time 5 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. PT, P+)Featured Prelim: Chris Curtis (+275) vs. Myktybek Orolbai (-345), welterweightVitor Petrino (-230) vs. Steven Asplund (+190), heavyweightBrad Tavares (-108) vs. Eryk Anders (-112), middleweightBolaji Oki (+215) vs. Manoel Sousa (-265), lightweightLuan Lacerda (+200) vs. Hecher Sosa (-245), bantamweightBeatriz Mesquita (-700) vs. Montserrat Rendon (+500), bantamweightElijah Smith (-205) vs. Su Young You (+215), bantamweightPiera Rodriguez (-155) vs. Sam Hughes (+130), strawweight
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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