The headliner was a light heavyweight bout between Volkan Oezdemir and Anthony Smith, with Michael Johnson taking on Artem Lobov on short notice in the co-main.
South African Don Madge put on a performance of the night against highly-touted debutant Te Edwards, winning by a vicious head kick shortly into the second round.
Calvin Kattar returned following his first UFC loss against Renato Moicano to take on former Cage Warriors champion Chris Fishgold.
Liverpool's Fishgold went after Kattar for the first part of the opening round, before the American's jab started to wear on the UFC debutant and in turn leading to a first round stoppage.
Lightweight prospect Nasrat Haqparast took on Frenchman Thibault Gouti in the fight of the night, with Haqparast dominant against the tough Gouti.
Light heavyweight contender Misha Cirkunov got back into the win column with an impressive first round submission win over Patrick Cummins.
Anthony Smith
Smith was handed his second consecutive main event following his move up to light heavyweight and two finishes over former champions Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua.
A step up to face #2 Oezdemir, the Swiss coming off a losing title shot back in January, beckoned as he continued his rapid ascent in the light heavyweight rankings.
It was a matchup between two relatively untested contenders, purely in terms of fight time.
'No Time' picked up a decision win over Ovince Saint Preux in his UFC debut, before his next two bouts lasted a combined 70 seconds in knockout wins over Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa.
He was then suddenly in the title picture and took on Daniel Cormier for the belt at UFC 220, but was generally outclassed before being finished in the second round.
Similarly, since his move up to light heavyweight, Smith took a total of 142 seconds to see of Evans and Rua before his matchup with Oezdemir.
In Moncton, Oezdemir started strongly and was likely two rounds up, with leg kicks looking to be having an impact on Smith.
However, midway through the third round Oezdemir looked to have tired and Smith took advantage by easily taking the Swiss down, before working to an eventual rear naked choke to chalk up his third finish in three fights at light heavyweight.
So what is next for Smith?
Many, including himself, have called for a title shot against the winner of Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson for a few reasons.
One, he was just submitted the number 2 ranked fighter in the division and consistent finishes are always a good route to a title shot.
Two, Smith is a proven finisher even in the UFC and is 7-2 in the promotion and 14-2 in his last 16.
He is also a very well-spoken guy and he has cut strong promos in his last two post-fight interviews.
Personally, despite all that, I feel he needs at least one more win before a title shot.
Admittedly he has just beaten the #2 Oezdemir, but there are other options in the title picture.
#3 Jan Blachowicz is on an impressive four fight winning streak, with his last two wins over Nikita Krylov and Manuwa particularly impressive.
#6 Dominick Reyes is also on a four fight win streak in the UFC and is 10-0, but the argument could be made that his last win, a decision over OSP, was his first top win.
Two top contenders, #4 Ilir Latifi and #7 Corey Anderson, are matched up for UFC 232 and are both on two fight winning streaks.
A title eliminator of sorts should probably be next for Smith, against one of Blachowicz, Reyes or winner of Latifi-Anderson.
A strong win over Manuwa for Thiago Santos could also set up a rematch between the Brazilian and 'Lionheart'.
Volkan Oezdemir
Following a breakout year in 2017, No Time has not had a good time in 2018 thus far.
He has lost both his bouts this year, a title fight against Cormier and now against Smith.
My rankings prediction would be that Smith would rise to #4 and Oezdemir drop to #5.
Manuwa has previously suggested that he is keen to rematch the Swiss striker, and the winner of the Englishman versus Santos could make for a viable next outing.
Reyes is another name who would match up well with Oezdemir and taking the 0 from Reyes' record would be a good way for the 29-year-old to get back on track.
Given that he is now on a two fight losing streak, a lower ranked opponent could also be next, like Manuwa has had to contend with in Santos.
Another man who would like to avenge his swift defeat at the hands of No Time is Cirkunov and now that the Canada-based 31-year-old is back in the win column, a rematch with Oezdemir is more likely.
Michael Johnson
A rough start to his featherweight career saw the Menace suffer a second round defeat to Darren Elkins in St Louis at the start of the year.
He returned to winning ways with a decision win over Andre Fili just two months previously and repeated that result against Lobov on Saturday.
Despite his record, Johnson is top tier fighter as evidenced by his run at lightweight and is now looking to make a similar splash down at featherweight.
In his post-fight interview, the 32-year-old said he was not bothered about a full camp and instead wanted a quick turnaround, targeting the Adelaide card at the start of December as his next destination.
One man who that may be of interest to is Aussie Alex Volkanovski, currently ranked #11 in the division, who is currently not booked.
Volkanovski has gone 5-0 in the UFC so far and made his rankings debut off the back of a decision win over Elkins back in July.
This is a perfect matchup, with Volkanovski getting another top test in his home country and Johnson getting a chance to break into the rankings and into contention with a win over a man on a 15 fight win streak.
Given that Johnson explicitly called for a spot on the Adelaide card and is essentially now looking for a ranked opponent, it would be somewhat of a surprise and a definite disappointment if this fight is not made.
Calvin Kattar
Kattar mentioned in his post-fight interview that his fight with Fishgold was the last on his contract, so a next bout isn't guaranteed.
But it definitely should be.
The 30-year-old is a pleasure to watch and has put on some strong performances in his four UFC outings thus far, only dropping a decision to #4 Moicano.
He went into the bout with the Brazilian ranked #13 but has since slipped out of the top 15 following that defeat.
Therefore, a ranked opponent would be deserved and would make sense for Kattar's next outing.
In terms of the current rankings and those without a fight booked, #14 Zabit Magomedsharipov is closest to Kattar and is in need of a step up in competition.
Jeremy Stephens and Cub Swanson, currently ranked at #6 and #7 respectively, could be too highly ranked for Kattar's next fight but could easily be potential matchups for Kattar if he picks up another win.
Finally, the upcoming matchup between #12 Ricardo Lamas and #13 Darren Elkins could well yield Kattar's next opponent, depending on the result and respective turnarounds.
