Derek Brunson had six takedowns and dominated control of his middleweight fight against Kevin Holland with an unanimous decision victory at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.
Brunson, now on a four-fight winning streak, claimed the Saturday night bout 49-45, 49-46, 49-46 and improved his record to 22-7 while Holland, the 10th-ranked middleweight coming in, fell to 21-6.
Brunson landed 226 total strikes to Holland's 190 but was in control of the Octagon for nearly 17 minutes - and in his post-fight interview - asked UFC boss Dana White for a bigger fight next time around.
- Latest MMA videos
- 'Conor McGregor will feature in WWE'
- Dana White: Khabib has '100 per cent officially retired'
"I wanted to knock him out," Brunson said. "Everyone can't be pretty. Dana White, Mick Maynard, Sean Shelby, I've been putting in mad work in this division for so long. I wasn't really too excited about this matchup.
"I wanted a top five. They probably didn't like my performance too much so give me a top five and let's see what happens."
Earlier, Max Griffin defeated Song Kenan in their welterweight bout via TKO by punch in Round 1.
Griffin landed 11 shots to the head in 2:20, and told reporters after the fight: "I got the call this morning to be moved to the co-main event. I started crying. I started showing my emotions. The world is going to see that I'm a star."
In other bouts, Montserrat Conejo won with an unanimous decision over Cheyanne Buys in their women's strawweight fight.
Meanwhile, Adrian Yanez won by TKO (punch) 27 seconds into Round 3 over Gustavo Lopez, and Tai Tuivasa earned a TKO by punches over Harry Hunsucker 49 seconds into their heavyweight bout.