Thales Leites picked up a much-needed victory Friday night over Dean Lister in the main event at MFC 23. The former UFC middleweight title challenger controlled Lister for all three rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Leites (15-3), coming off back-to-back losses, showed new-found aggression and improved stand-up against Lister (11-7) in a fight in which he was never in danger. The two BJJ black belts matched each other move for move on the ground in an exciting exchange of submission attempts and battles for ground control.

“I had a feeling that our ground games would be very close,” said the 28-year-old Brazilian. “For that reason, I worked more on my stand-up for this fight and I really wanted to be more aggressive in this fight and I think it showed in the fight. I needed this win very badly. This had not been a good year for me up until now.”