A rematch for the UFC middleweight title will take place at this April’s UFC 287 as champion Alex Pereira defends against rival Israel Adesanya — a show that will also feature a co-main event with Jorge Masvidal.
Adesanya and Pereira first fought in the Octagon last November with Pereira defeating him via fifth round TKO to both win the title and end Adesanya’s UFC unbeaten streak at middleweight. The two had previously fought twice in kickboxing with Pereira picking up both wins as well.
This will be the first fight for both men since November.
The co-main event will see the return of fan favorite Jorge Masvidal as he takes on top welterweight contender Gilbert Burns.
This will be Masvidal’s first fight since his March 2022 loss to Colby Covington and subsequent alleged assault on Covington the same month outside a Miami restaurant.
Masvidal has lost three straight while Burns is coming off a first round submission win earlier this month over Neil Magny. He’s 2-2 in his last four after six straight UFC wins.
Israel Adesanya was briefly detained by the Port Authority Police department at JFK airport on Wednesday.
According to a report from TMZ, Adesanya was detained at 1:57 p.m Eastern time after allegedly going through airport security with brass knuckles. The arrest was made near the TSA screening area of the American Airlines terminal.
Adesanya’s manager, Tim Simpson, later stated, “Israel was handed a gift by a fan, which he put in his luggage. When flagged at the airport, Israel quickly disposed of the item, and cooperated with authorities. He has complied accordingly, with that the matter was dismissed and he is on his way home.”
Brass knuckles are illegal in the state of New York. They are prohibited to carry on your person or in a carry-on bag.
Adesanya dropped the UFC Middleweight Championship on Saturday at UFC 281 from Madison Square Garden. He was defeated by Alex Pereira via TKO in the fifth round. Prior to this, Adesanya had successfully defended the belt five times, second most in the division’s history behind only Anderson Silva (10).
In just his eighth MMA fight, former GLORY kickboxing champion Alex Pereira pulled off a major upset, knocking out rival Israel Adesanya in the fifth round at UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden to win the UFC middleweight title.
Pereira (7-1) got Adesanya up against the fence and caught him with a powerful punch that rocked the champion. He went for the kill, unloading more punches as Adesanya attempted to unsuccessfully evade. Adesanya protested the stoppage, but didn’t talk to Joe Rogan after the fight about why.
Going into the fifth, Adesanya was up 3-1 on all the judges’ scorecards. Adesanya nearly finished the fight in the first round, rocking his opponent as the round came to an end.
Pereira made his UFC debut last November and picked up three wins in the last year, but his past rivalry with Adesanya in the rings of GLORY helped fuel booking this fight. Pereira defeated him twice during that era, one of which was by knockout.
Winning the title in just his fourth UFC fight puts Pereira in company with former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar as fighters to win UFC gold with such little MMA experience. Anderson Silva won the middleweight title in his second UFC fight but already had a wealth of experience from PRIDE.
Adesanya (23-2) was looking for the sixth defense of the title he won in October 2019. Whether he seeks a rematch or moves up to light heavyweight remains to be seen.
The finish was the 11th on the show, tying the record set at UFC Fight Night 55 in November 2014.
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Weili Zhang reclaimed the UFC women’s strawweight title with a second round submission win over Carla Esparza in the night’s co-main event. Her strength was too much for Esparza, eventually ending things with a choke while ensnaring her in a crucifix.
After winning the title in August 2019, Zhang lost the title to Rose Namajunas in April 2021 and failed to regain it in a rematch. This was Esparza’s first title defense since defeating Namajunas in May.
Former interim UFC lightweight champion Dustin Poirier submitted former Bellator lightweight champion MIchael Chandler in the third round of their 2022 fight of the year candidate to add to an incredible night of action.
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Ahead of his eventual induction into the UFC Hall of Fame, former UFC lightweight champion and three-division fighter Frankie Edgar’s career came to an end Saturday via a vicious knockout.
Edgar, who had announced UFC 281 would be his final walk to the Octagon, was knocked out at 2:01 of the first round via a flush Chris Gutierrez knee straight up the pike.
The loss was Edgar’s second straight and his fourth straight defeat in which he was finished by T/KO (Gutierrez, Chito Vera, Cory Sandhagen, Korean Zombie).
Edgar became a fan favorite during his early UFC run, winning the lightweight title and competing against the likes of Gray Maynard three times, Benson Henderson twice and BJ Penn three times. He dropped down to featherweight and twice competed against Jose Aldo for both the undisputed and interim versions of the title.
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With the announcement earlier in the day of a champion vs. champion clash between lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at February’s UFC 284, they announced an interim featherweight title fight for the same show during Saturday’s broadcast: Yair Rodriguez vs. Josh Emmett.
Rodriguez is coming off a July win over Brian Ortega while Emmett has won five straight with his last coming via a June split decision over Calvin Kattar. Neither has held UFC gold before.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira, emanating from Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.
The Octagon is back in the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden in New York City, with arguably the card of the year taking place, highlighted by two title fights and one of the most exciting match-ups of the year.
UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya looks to remain at the top of the division as he defends against Alex Pereira in the main event. The two have a storied history as they fought twice while both were competing in kickboxing, with Pereira winning both fights and being the only man to ever knock Adesanya out. Adesanya will be making his sixth title defense while Pereira looks to shock the world and extend his six-fight win streak.
In the co-main event, UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza defends the title for the first time since winning it for the second time as former champion Zhang Weili looks to regain the championship gold. Esparza won the title from Rose Namajunas at UFC 274 in May, her sixth straight win. Weili lost the title to Namajunas in April 2021, and got herself another opportunity at gaining it back after scoring a second-round knockout of Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 275 in June.
Also on the main card is arguably the most exciting match-up of 2022 as perennial lightweight contenders Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler go to battle. Also on the main card is Frankie Edgar, who will be fighting for the final time of his Hall Of Fame career, as he takes on Chris Gutierrez, and a lightweight battle between Dan Hooker and Claudio Puelles kicks off the main card. A loaded slate of prelims also takes place, highlighted by a lightweight match-up between Brad Riddell and Renato Moicano, and a light heavyweight battle pitting Dominick Reyes against Ryan Spann.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
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> Light Heavyweights- Carlos Ulberg (6-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Nicolae Negumereanu (13-1, 4-1 UFC)
Negumereanu lands a leg kick. Ulberg with a leg kick. He lands a hard leg kick. Ulberg lands a hard jab. Ulberg with a hard leg kick. Ulberg ducks under a Negumereanu right hand. Negumereanu tried a knee but slipped to the mat as his lead leg is damaged from Ulberg’s leg kicks. Ulberg lands a right hand. Ulberg drops Negumereanu to his knees with a left hook and finishes it off with another shot on the ground. What a finish.
Official Result- Carlos Ulberg def. Nicolae Negumereanu by knockout (punches) at 3:44 of Round 1
> Bantamweights- Julio Arce (18-5, 5-3 UFC) vs. Montel Jackson (11-2, 5-2 UFC)
Jackson goes for a takedown and pushes it against the fence right away. Jackson trying to get it down. Jackson with some punches as he has Arce pushed against the fence. Jackson lands a knee but still working to get Arce to the mat. They are broken up by Marc Goddard. Arce lands a body kick. Jackson lands a left hand. Arce with a combo to the body. They trade jabs. Arce lands a left and both land in close range. Jackson with a leg kick. Arce grabs Jackson and pushes him against the fence but is able to complete the late takedown. 10-9 Arce.
They’re both looking to land in close range to start the second. Arce is pressuring. Jackson lands a leg kick but Arce still coming forward and lands some punches. Jackson lands a nice jab. Arce still pressing forward. Jackson lands a right hand. Jackson with a combo. They trade in close range. Jackson shoots for a takedown and presses it against the fence. Jackson has body control and lands some short shots at the end of the round. 10-9 Jackson, 19-19.
Jackson landing the jab. Jackson lands a jab that hurts Arce and Arce falls to the mat and Jackson gets on top and is landing punches. Arce throwing up his legs looking for a triangle choke. Jackson goes to his knees looking to get inside the guard of Arce. Arce almost got the triangle choke locked in. They get to their feet. Jackson lands a right hand. Arce lands a left hand. Jackson lands a nice jab. They clinch against the fence. The quickly break. Jackson with a combo and Arce just misses a left hand late. 10-9 Jackson, 29-28 Jackson.
Official Result- Montel Jackson def. Julio Arce by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
> Featherweights*- Michael Trizano (9-3, 3-3 UFC) vs. Seungwoo Choi (10-5, 3-4 UFC)
*Trizano missed weight by 1.6 pounds
We have a double knockdown to start things out. Crazy. They get up and are trading. Trizano with a right hand. Choi with a left hand and Trizano lands a left hand. Choi with a leg kick. Trizano drops Choi with a left hand and lands from the top but Choi gets up and lands some knees. Choi with a leg kick. Choi lands a left hand. Trizano lands the jab. He lands another and follows it with a combo. Choi rocks Trizano with a left hand and they are swinging for the fences looking to connect. They trade jabs. Choi lands a left hook. Trizano with a leg kick. Trizano lands a right hand. Trizano drops Choi with a left hand and finishes it off. What a finish by Trizano.
Official Result- Michael Trizano def. Seungwoo Choi by knockout (punches) at 4:51 of Round 1
Both throwing jabs to start off. Juarez misses a couple of right hands. Juarez lands a right hand and leg kicks and Kowalkiewicz gets a takedown. Kowalkiewicz grabs the back and gets the hooks in. Kowalkiewicz has the body triangle locked on. Juarez trying to escape but Kowalkiewicz maintains back control. Kowalkiewicz with some right hands from the back. Kowalkiewicz working for the rear-naked choke but lets go. Kowalkiewicz with more right hands from the back. They break on their feet. Kowalkiewicz with the jab. Juarez lands a combo. 10-9 Kowalkiewicz.
Kowalkiewicz lands a right hand. They’re both landing in close range. Juarez with a left hand. Juarez lands a right hand. Kowalkiewicz with a right hand. Juarez with the jab. Juarez lands a combo. Kowalkiewicz lands a right hand. Juarez lands a right hand. Kowalkiewicz lands the jab. They trade inside the pocket and Kowalkiewicz lands a knee while they briefly clinch. Juarez with a right hand. Close round. 10-9 Juarez, 19-19.
They’re trading to start the third and both are landing. Kowalkiewicz lands a right hand. Kowalkiewicz lands the jab. Juarez with a combo. Both are landing and Kowalkiewicz is landing the jab quite often. Juarez lands a right hand. Kowalkiewicz lands a couple of right hands. Juarez with a right hand. She lands another. They trade inside the pocket. Kowalkiewicz lands a nice knee to the body. Kowalkiewicz gets the takedown. She looks to get the back as Juarez gets to her feet but they battle for underhooks inside the clinch. They break. Kowalkiewicz with a combo and lands a few knees. Juarez with a combo. Good fight. 10-9 Kowalkiewicz, 29-28 Kowalkiewicz.
There were some weird things going on with the scorecards after the fight, including an official coming in and writing new scores on Bruce Buffer’s sheet and some general just confusion. Hopefully, we’ll find out what was going on.
Official Result- Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Silvana Gomez Juarez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Lightweights- Matt Frevola (9-3-1, 3-3-1 UFC) vs. Ottman Azaitar (13-0, 0-0 UFC)
Frevola lands a body kick after they feel each other out. Frevola lands some punches. Azaitar lands a left hand. Frevola with a right hand. Azaitar lands a left hook. Frevola with a stiff jab. Frevola drops Azaitar with a left hand as they trade inside the pocket and Azaitar is out cold.
Official Result- Matt Frevola def. Ottman Azaitar by knockout (punches) at 2:30 of Round 1
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> Middleweights- Andre Petroski (8-1, 3-0 UFC) vs. Wellington Turman (18-5, 3-3 UFC)
Turman lands a right hand and they trade inside the pocket. Turman with a leg kick. Petroski lands a leg kick. Turman with a body kick and they trade shots. Turman with a hard body kick. Petroski lands a right hand. Turman with a left hand. Turman with a leg kick. They trade inside the pocket. Petroski lands a left hand. Petroski shoots for the single leg and pushes it against the fence to complete the takedown. They get to their feet and Petroski has the back. They break. Petroski lands a left hand. They trade punches. Petroski lands a left hand. Turman with a body kick. They trade left hands. Petroski grabs the single leg and pushes it against the fence. Petroski gets it back down but Turman lands some elbows. 10-9 Turman.
Petroski lands a left hand. Petroski with a body kick. Turman lands a leg kick. Petroski looks to drop for a takedown but Turman has the neck and locks in a guillotine choke as they go to the mat but Petroski gets out and has the neck of Turman in side control. Petroski gets the back and looked for a choke but Turman squirmed out and Petroski now on top. They scramble and Turman ends up in the guard of Petroski. They get to their feet. Turman gets it down but they pop right up. Petroski gets it down and is in the mount. He moves to the half-guard. Petroski lands some elbows late. 10-9 Petroski, 19-19.
They trade leg kicks to start the third. Petroski shoots for the takedown against the fence and gets the back to complete it. Petroski grabs the neck and looks for the guillotine choke and mounts him but lets go. Petroski lands some right hands. Petroski gets on top and lands. Petroski gets into Turman’s guard and is looking to improve as Turman throws from the bottom. Petroski gets the back of Turman. They get to their feet and Petroski slams Turman back to the mat. They get up but Petroski ends up getting it back down as he has back control. Petroski ends the fight with back control. 10-9 Petroski, 29-28 Petroski.
Official Result- Andre Petroski def. Wellington Turman by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
They trade leg kicks. McCann lands a right hand. Blanchfield lands a right hand. Blanchfield with a leg kick then a right hand and scores a takedown. Blanchfield in side control. Blanchfield gets the crucifix position and is landing punches and elbows. McCann trying to fight out of it. Blanchfield with lots of left hands. Blanchfield now landing elbows. Blanchfield now looking for a kimura. She has it locked in. McCann gets out but Blanchfield retains the crucifix position. Blanchfield gets the kimura locked in and McCann taps. Just absolute domination from Blanchfield.
Official Result- Erin Blanchfield def. Molly McCann by submission (kimura) at 3:37 of Round 1
> Light Heavyweights*- #7 Dominick Reyes (12-3, 6-3 UFC) vs. #12 Ryan Spann (20-7, 6-2 UFC)
*Spann missed weight by .6 pounds
Reyes with a body kick. Spann clips Reyes with a right hand and then hurts Reyes again with a punch. Spann grabs the neck but lets go. Reyes with a body kick. Spann lands a combo. Spann drops Reyes with a jab and Reyes is out cold. What a brutal knockout by Spann.
Official Result- Ryan Spann def. Dominick Cruz by knockout (punch) at 1:20 of Round 1
Moicano pressing forward and Riddell lands a jab. Moicano lands a knee. Moicano lands a combo ending with a head kick and they trade in the pocket. Riddell with a leg kick. Moicano lands the jab. Riddell with a body kick after Moicano lands a jab. They trade jabs. They clinch and go to the mat and Moicano jumps on the back. Moicano looking for the rear-naked choke and has it locked in. Riddell taps! Big submission win for Moicano.
Official Result- Renato Moicano def. Brad Riddell by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:20 of Round 1
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> Lightweights- #12 Dan Hooker (21-12, 11-8 UFC) vs. Claudio Puelles (12-2, 5-1 UFC)
Hooker with a leg kick. He lands a couple more. Hooker continues to land leg kicks. Puelles goes for the Imanari roll and looks to lock in a kneebar. Hooker is defending and lands a right hand. Puelles now looking for a heel hook. Hooker lands some body shots as he gets his knee out of bad position. Hooker escapes and is on top but gets to his feet and Puelles is ordered up. Puelles tries to roll again but Hooker is aware to it. Hooker lands a right hand. 10-9 Hooker.
Hooker lands to the body. They trade body kicks. Hooker lands a right hand and Puelles looks to grab the leg but Hooker slips away. Hooker lands a left hand. Hooker lands the jab and then a left hook. Puelles is able to grab the leg and pushes it against the fence. Hooker grabbed the neck and Puelles let go. Hooker with an inside leg kick. Puelles shoots for the takedown but Hooker gets away. Puelles looks for the takedown but Hooker sprawls and lands some punches to the body. Hooker with a body kick that hurts Puelles. Hooker lands a body kick and Puelles goes down and it is stopped. What a weird ending.
Official Result- Dan Hooker def. Claudio Puelles by TKO (kick) at 4:06 of Round 2
> Bantamweights- #12 Frankie Edgar (24-10-1, 18-10-1 UFC) vs. Chris Gutierrez (18-3-2, 6-1-1 UFC)
They trade leg kicks to start. Gutierrez lands a spinning back fist. Gutierrez with a leg kick followed by a jab. Edgar with a leg kick. Edgar with a body kick. Gutierrez lands a big knee that knocks Edgar out cold. Bittersweet end to the career of Edgar as Gutierrez gets the big knockout win.
Official Result- Chris Gutierrez def. Frankie Edgar by knockout (knee) at 2:01 of Round 1
> Lightweights- #2 Dustin Poirier (28-7 1 NC, 20-6 1 NC UFC) vs. #5 Michael Chandler (23-7, 2-2 UFC)
Chandler lands a right hand. Poirier lands a left hand. Chandler with some body kicks. Chandler with a leg kick but it got checked. Chandler with a body kick followed by a quick flurry. Chandler lands some right hands and is landing to the body against the fence. Poirier with a left hand. Chandler with the leg kick. Chandler lands a big left. Poirier lands a right hook. Chandler lands some right hands and is landing a flurry on Poirier against the fence. Chandler gets a takedown. Chandler gets the back but they stand. Chandler lands a German Suplex but they stand. Poirier lands a combo and Chandler lands a big right hand. Poirier lands a shot that drops Chandler to his knees and Chandler is backing up and Poirier landing a big flurry against the fence and has Chandler in trouble at the end. What a round. 10-9 Poirier.
Chandler with a combo and pushes Poirier against the fence and scores a takedown. Chandler bleeding onto Poirier as he’s landing. Poirier looking for a triangle choke but lands an elbow. Poirier loses it and Chandler gets the back. Chandler trying to find a choke. He’s still working for it but he has a bad position. Chandler now on top and Poirier lands short punches. Chandler lands some right hands from the top. Chandler with hammerfists but some are behind the back of the head. Chandler now landing big right hands and Poirier had a hand trapped. Poirier gives up full guard. Chandler ends the round on top. 10-9 Chandler, 19-19.
Poirier with a leg kick. Poirier with a high kick. Chandler looks for a takedown but Poirier backs up. Chandler grabs the single leg and picks Poirier up and gets him down and had the back but Poirier ends up on top and is landing. Poirier now takes the back of Chandler. Poirier gets the rear-naked choke locked in and Chandler taps! What a win for Poirier in an excellent fight.
Official Result- Dustin Poirier def. Michael Chandler by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:00 of Round 3
> UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship- C Carla Esparza (19-6, 10-4 UFC) vs. #2 Zhang Weili (22-3, 6-2 UFC)
Weili with a leg kick. Weili with the pressure. Weili landing more leg kicks early. Weili with a high kick. Weili with a right hand to the body. Weili with a leg kick. Weili with a right hand and then two body kicks. Esparza grabs the leg and gets the takedown but Weili has the back. Weili with some elbows and has the reverse crucifix but they scramble. Weili has the back and is looking for a choke. They scramble and Esparza ends up on top. Esparza with some elbows. Esparza stands and Weili gets up and lands a right hand. Weili with a body kick but Esparza grabs the leg and gets the brief takedown. Weili gets to side control. Weili with some right hands and elbows from the top. They stand at the end. 10-9 Weili.
Weili with a leg kick. Weili lands a right hand then a high kick. Esparza shoots and almost gets the takedown but Weili is able to get the back. Weili has the crucifix in and has neck control. Weili has the choke locked in and Esparza taps! Weili gets the title back with the submission win.
Official Result- Zhang Weili def. Carla Esparza by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:05 of Round 2 to win the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship
> UFC Middleweight Championship- C Israel Adesanya (23-1, 12-1 UFC) vs. #4 Alex Pereira (6-1, 3-0 UFC)
Pereira comes out with a flying kick that misses. Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands another. Pereira with a pair of leg kicks. They trade leg kicks. Pereira with some leg kicks. Adesanya lands a jab. They trade body kicks. Adesanya lands a right hand. Adesanya with a leg kick. Pereira with a body kick. Adesanya with an inside leg kick. Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya with a body kick. Pereira with a body kick and Adesanya returns fire with a leg kick. Pereira with a body kick followed by a left hand. They clinch and Pereira with some body shots and a knee. Adesanya rocked Pereira badly at the end of the first and Pereira may have been saved by the bell there. 10-9 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands another. Adesanya with a knee and Pereira with a left to the body. They trade jabs. Adesanya with an inside leg kick then a high kick. Pereira lands a jab. Pereira with a right to the body then a knee. Adesanya lands a big right hand. Pereira lands a left hand and lands a couple more. They clinch against the fence. They break away. Adesanya lands to the body. Pereira gets a late takedown. 10-9 Pereira, 19-19.
Adesanya with a couple of kicks. Adesanya with a leg kick and lands a right hand. Pereira with a leg kick. Pereira with a body kick but Adesanya gets a takedown and gets the back of Pereira. Adesanya landing punches from the back. He lands some more. Adesanya keeping back control. They get to their feet but Adesanya puts it back down again. Adesanya ends up in the guard of Pereira and lands some shots from the top. Adesanya stands and lands an axe kick to the body and a big right hand at the end. 10-9 Adesanya, 29-28 Adesanya.
They trade leg kicks. Adesanya with a leg kick after Pereira barely landed a left hook. Adesanya with a jab. Adesanya lands a right hand. Adesanya with a jab then a right hand then a leg kick. Adesanya with a body kick. Adesanya with a right hand then a leg kick. Pereira looks gassed out. Adesanya grabs the body lock against the fence. Pereira with some body shots. They break and Adesanya with a right hand. Pereira lands a right hand. They clinch and Pereira with a knee to the body. Adesanya looking for a takedown. They break. Pereira with a left hand. 10-9 Adesanya, 39-37 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a body kick. Pereira lands a left to the body. Pereira lands a right hand. Pereira lands a leg kick that Adesanya checks and it hurt Adesanya’s leg and Adesanya rolled back. Adesanya with a leg kick and a right hand. Pereira with a right hand and hurts Adesanya with a left and then a right and is landing a flurry as Adesanya slips down and Pereira continues to land big shots and it is stopped! Pereira pulls the win out of nowhere with a huge flurry at the end to get the standing stoppage.
Official Result- Alex Pereira def. Israel Adesanya by TKO (punches) at 2:01 of Round 5 to win the UFC Middleweight Championship
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Friday News Update
Garrett and I will be back tonight and we have a lot of stuff to talk about over the past few weeks since we last did a show. Bryan and I will be doing our weekend show on Sunday night.
Cain Velasquez pleaded not guilty earlier today on attempted murder, assault with a firearm, assault with a deadly weapon, carry a loaded firearm with intent to commit a felony and many other charges from the incident in February where he allegedly shot Paul Bender after believing his family member was molested by Harry Goularte, who was in the car with Bender as Velasquez gave chase.
Israel Adesanya defends the UFC middleweight title against Alex Pereira, who beat Adesanya twice in kickboxing, one via knockout, in the main event the 11/12 PPV show from Madison Square Garden.
Smackdown tonight in Greenville, SC, which had more than 6,100 tickets out as of today.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ludvig Kaiser – If Nakamura wins, he gets a shot at Walter’s IC title
Roman Reigns will be there to talk about his match with Drew McIntyre on 9/3 in Cardiff Wales
A gauntlet match for a shot at Liv Morgan’s Smackdown women’s title at the Clash at the Castle with Sonya Deville, Shotzi, Shayna Baszler, Xia Li, Raquel Rodriguez, Aliyah and Natalya.
For what it’s worth, when Vince was in charge, they were building Rodriguez to be with Morgan and Ronda Rousey as the key women in the division.
AEW tapes Rampage and Battle of the Belts tonight in Grand Rapids, MI at the Van Andel Arena. Almost 6,000 tickets are out for the show.
For tonight:
Jon Moxley vs. Mance Warner non-title
Madison Rayne vs. Leila Gray
Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. Tony Nese & Josh Woods for the tag titles in a street fight
For Battle of the Belts Saturday at 8 p.m.
Wardlow vs. Jay Lethal for TNT title
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Konosuke Takeshita for ROH title
Thunder Rosa vs. Jamie Hayter for women’s title
PW Insider reports Edge will be at Raw on Monday in Cleveland.
We will be doing polls on both G-1 shows in Osaka this weekend, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
We’re also looking for reports on these shows with results, finishes and highlights to [email protected]:
Smackdown tonight in Greenville, SC (dark matches only)
AEW tonight in Grand Rapids, MI (everything but the Rampage matches)
WWE Saturday in North Charleston, SC
WWE Sunday in Fayetteville, NC
G-1 continues at 4 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning from Edion Arena in Osaka
Yoshi-Hashi vs. El Phantasmo
Toru Yano vs. Lance Archer
Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Jay White vs. Great O’Khan
Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi
We didn’t get full details of Wednesday’s AEW ratings into the newsletter last night because of some delays in getting quarters and demos. Orange Cassidy vs. Jay Lethal had the most viewers and women because it usually starts that way. The quarter with the Lethal-Wardlow angle and Young Bucks turn peaked the 18-49 number. Christian vs. Matt Hardy did well and in several key demos the high point was the dumpster match. The male 18-34 audience was way up from usual but males 35-49, usually the show’s key audience, were very low. I sense the younger audience is getting into the newer characters like The Acclaimed that the older audience isn’t quite as familiar with. The show didn’t have the marquee match power at the level of most shows so I didn’t expect a big number. But this coming Wednesday with Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho, and Darby Allin in a coffin match, that show should do a bigger than normal number.
UFC weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s show in Las Vega which runs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. on ESPN
Main Card
Thiago Santos (206) vs. Jamahal Hill (205)
Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Geoff Neal (171)
Mohammed Usman (236.5) vs. Zac Pauga (239)
Brogan Walker (125.5) vs. Juliana Miller (125)
Augusto Sakai (260) vs. Serghei Spivac (249.5)
Ariane Lipski (128.5) vs. Priscila Cachoeira (125.5) – Lipski missed weight by 2.5 pounds. The bout will proceed with Lipski being fined 20 percent of her purse.
Sam Alvey (186) vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk (185.5)
Terrance McKinney (155.5) vs. Erick Gonzalez (155)
Bryan Battle (171) vs. Takashi Sato (170.5)
Jason Witt (170) vs. Josh Quinlan (169)
Cory McKenna (115.5) vs. Miranda Granger (115.5)
Mayra Bueno Silva (135.5) vs. Stephanie Egger (134.5)
Hasim Rahman Jr. did a weigh-in today I guess to prove he was going to make 205 pounds when his fight with Jake Paul scheduled for tomorrow night in MSG was called off. So he scheduled a big press weigh-in, and missed weight, coming in at 206.6. Rahman Jr. was supposed to make 200, asked to raise it to 205, and then when his team asked for 215, Paul’s side canceled the entire show, saying he wasn’t going to fulfill the contracted weight agreed upon.
A correction in the Observer. We had mistakenly reported Andrade as La Sombra lost his mask to Volador Jr. in the 2013 CMLL anniversary show. Of course it was Volador who lost his mask that night and Sombra lost to Atlantis in 2015, before going to WWE.
The PFL playoff semifinals are on ESPN at 7 p.m. tonight
Robert Wilkinson (205.8) vs. Delan Monte (205.2) in a light heavyweight tournament semifinal
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (155) vs. Alexander Martinez (156) in a lightweight tournament semifinal
Omari Akhmedov (204.6) vs. Josh Silveira (206) in a light heavyweight tournament semifinal
Anthony Pettis (155.6) vs. Stevie Ray (155.8) in a lightweight tournament semifinal
Silveira is the son of early MMA star Conan Silveira. The winners of the bouts go to the finals in December where each division champion gets $1 million.
AAW has signed a streaming deal with Highspots TV. They will be airing live on the service with the first show on 9/1. This will be the start of Highspots doing live streaming. There are already 150 AAW events which has streamed non-live events for years.
AAW will be running 9/1 at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago for those coming in early for All Out. Matches announced are Christi Jaynes vs. Billie Starkz for the women’s title, Jah-C & ACH vs. Alex Hammerstone & Ace Perry for the tag titles, Ace Austin vs. Davey Vega for th Heritage title and Silas Young vs. Brayden Lee. Josh Alexander, Mat Fichett, Masha Slamovich, Jake Something, Manders, Fred Yehi, Davey Richards, Gringo Loco, Mike Bennett, Laredo Kid, Rich Swann and Dante Leon are also scheduled
UFC
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Nikita Krylov have been added to UFC 280 on 10/22 in Abu Dhabi.
Sara McMann vs. Aspen Ladd, which was to take place this month, was moved to 9/12 because Ladd tested positive for COVID.
Ranked flyweights Matheus Nicolau vs. Matt Schnell has been added to a 12/3 show. Both are ranked in the top ten in the division .
Other Notes
Impact has moved its 9/23 and 9/24 tapings from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia to a new location of Skyway Studios in Nashville, where they did most of their taping during the pandemic.
Combate Global airs live on Paramount + tonight at 11 p.m. Eastern headlined by Cristian Perez (9-1) vs. Samuel Alvarez (7-5) and Claudia Diaz (18-11-1) vs. Andrea Amaro (2-2-2).
ISPW Wrestling will be doing wrestling events at the New Jersey State Fair at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta, NJ. Special guests are:
Tony Atlas tonight from 6-9 p.m.
Boogeyman tomorrow from 6-9 p.m.
Jim Ross Sunday from 4-7 p.m.
Real One (formerly Enzo Amore) on Monday 6-9 p.m.
Doink the Clown (Ray Apollo) on Tuesday 6-9 p.m.
Brutus Beefcake on Wednesday 6-9 p.m.
Greg Valentine on Thursday 6-9 pm.
Ted DiBiase next Friday 6-9 p.m.
Sean Waltman next Saturday 6-9 p.m.
MCW on 8/13 in Havre de Grace, MD at the Theater at Havre de Grace.
The LFA has announced live events on UFC Fight Pass on 9/9 in Vail, CLO at the Dobson Arena, 9/16 in Prior Lake, MN at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel and 9/30 in Recife, Brazil.
LFA tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on UFC Fight Pass headlined by Ary Farias (135.8) vs. Michinori Tanaka (135.4)
Battleground Championship Wrestling tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at the 2300 Arena
Atsushi Onita & Super Leather vs. Bully Ray & PCO
Ken Shamrock vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
Tony Nese & Buddy Matthews vs. Brian Cage & KC Navarro
Rich Swann vs. Willie Mack
Myka vs. Jazmin Allure
Dark STG & Beastman vs. Afa Jr. & ?
VSK vs. Brian Kendrick
The show will air live on FITE TV
There will also be an afternoon convention with these wrestlers plus Wardlow and Kurt Angle and many others.
Israel Adesanya says a move to WWE is something he will “try his hand at later on.”
The UFC Middleweight Champion spoke to BT Sport after his victory over Jared Cannonier at UFC 276. He discussed a potential future in wrestling during the discussion.
“Definitely that’s something I’ll try my hand at later on just for fun. Not saying it’s going to be a full-time job but I’m definitely going to jump in the WWE or something along that line just for the entertainment factor cause I grew up jumping off the couch, broke my arm doing shooting stars,” he said.
Adesanya’s walkout at UFC 276 mimicked the Undertaker’s ring entrance, complete with an urn and hat. WWE’s Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Pat McAfee, and Nick Khan were all in attendance.
“Tuesday was the day I came up with that with my friends,” Adesanya said about his Taker-inspired walkout. “I didn’t even realize the McMahons were in the house tonight, that was kind of cool. Triple H too.”
“I’m a kid who grew up during the Attitude Era. Wednesday nights during wrestling, I play those tracks like the Batista entrance, Stone Cold entrance, just to get the mood while we wrestle.”
Ariel Helwani asked the Undertaker what he thought of Adesanya’s walkout at UFC 276.
“I thought it was great!” Taker responded. “He’s not only a great fighter, he’s an awesome entertainer as well! Tyson Fury gets knocked down & sits up like the UT and Adesanya uses my walkout! Pretty damn cool!”
With WWE at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena for Saturday’s Money in the Bank, there was some crossover at UFC 276, also in Las Vegas Saturday, both in the main event and several noted attendees.
As part of his entrance at the T-Mobile Arena, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya channeled The Undertaker — complete with entrance music, hat, fog, and an urn. He even raised his arms to brighten the arena lights at the end.
Adesanya is a noted WWE fan and has talked about wanting to wrestle there in the past. Adesanya successfully defended his title, taking a unanimous decision over Jared Cannonier in the main event.
An even bigger WWE presence was shown on air during the pay-per-view as Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, and Pat McAfee were all shown at cageside (image above).
Vince, a noted friend of UFC president Dana White, is currently under investigation by a special committee of the WWE Board for misconduct. Stephanie is interim WWE CEO & Chairwoman after Vince voluntarily stepped down as the investigation takes place.
He still remains active as head of creative and has been notably more visible since news of the alleged misconduct broke last month.
McAfee was sporting a neck brace to sell his attack from Happy Corbin after Money in the Bank ended.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 276: Adesanya vs. Cannonier, emanating from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It is 2022 International Fight Week in Las Vegas, the home of combat sports and the UFC, with a week full of events capped off by UFC 276, which features an absolutely stacked card with two title fights and some big match-ups on the card.
In the main event, UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya makes his fifth title defense of the undisputed title as he defends against top contender Jared Cannonier. Both men last fought at UFC 271 in February as Adesanya successfully defended against Robert Whittaker in their rematch while Cannonier scored a brutal second-round knockout of Derek Brunson. Cannonier then called for a title shot after the fight, which he gets on the heels of two straight wins and wins in five of his last six.
In the co-main event, UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski defends against former champion Max Holloway in their trilogy bout. Volkanovski has won the first two fights, beating Holloway for the title at UFC 245 in December 2019, then defending against Holloway at UFC 251 in July 2020 in a fight that many scored for Holloway. Volkanovski is coming off a defense against Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 in April, while Holloway is coming off a win over Yair Rodriguez in November.
Also on the main card is a middleweight bout that could determine the next title challenger as Sean Strickland battles Alex Pereira, a welterweight fight between former UFC Welterweight Champion Robbie Lawler and Bryan Barberena, and the main card opens with an exciting bantamweight bout between Pedro Munhoz and rising contender and star Sean O’Malley.
The main prelims are stacked and will be the first MMA fight shown in prime time on ABC, capped off with a lightweight bout between Brad Riddell and Jalin Turner. The other ABC fights will see the all-time UFC wins leader will be decided between Jim Miller and Donald Cerrone in a welterweight clash, Ian Garry takes on Gabe Green in a welterweight bout, and a middleweight bout pitting Brad Tavares against Dricus Du Plessis.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6:30 p.m. eastern time with preliminary action all the way thru the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
> Women’s Bantamweights- Jessica-Rose Clark (11-7 1 NC, 4-3 UFC) vs. Julija Stoliarenko (9-6-1, 0-4 UFC)
Clark came out to Shawn Michaels’ WWE theme. Clark clips Stoliarenko with a right hand early and had her hurt. Clark lands a combo and Stoliarenko gets a takedown and passes to side control. Stoliarenko going right for the armbar and has it in and Clark taps! That was quick. Clark looked to dislocate her elbow as well. That was nasty.
Official Result- Julija Stoliarenko def. Jessica-Rose Clark by submission (armbar) at :42 of Round 1
They clinch up early with both landing. Barber with some knees as Eye was landing to the body and they go against the fence. Eye pushing Barber against the fence. Barber with an elbow after landing some punches. Eye with a knee and then Barber with an elbow, then a knee then another big elbow. They reverse and Barber with a knee. They break and Eye lands a right hand. They clinch back up as Barber lands some elbows. Barber with another elbow then another big one. Barber with some big punches against the fence. Barber with a knee. They remain clinched and Barber is landing some big shots. They trade knees. 10-9 Barber.
Barber lands a right hand. They clinch back up. Eye working for a takedown. Barber lands a knee as she defends. Barber lands a big elbow and a knee as they break. Eye shoots for a takedown but Barber defends as they tie up against the fence. Barber with an elbow and they break. Barber lands a head kick and Eye gets the takedown and steps over to the half-guard. Eye controlling from the top but there is not a lot of action going on. Eye gets to side control for a second but gets back to the half-guard. Eye lands with some punches late. 10-9 Barber, 20-18 Barber.
Barber with a head kick that Eye blocks. Barber with an elbow. Eye lands a right hand. Barber with a head kick and follows it with a right hand. Eye ducks under a punch and grabs the body lock and pushes it against the fence. They trade right hands and Barber lands a head kick as they break. They both land in the clinch before breaking. Eye lands a right hand. They trade punches. Barber lands a front kick then a right hand and a question mark kick. They trade punches. They trade in close range and Barber tries a head kick and Eye grabs the leg and pushes it against the fence. They break after Eye lands a right hand. Barber lands a right hand. Eye tries a takedown and has a leg and Barber lands some hammerfists as she defends and they get to their feet. Eye pushes it against the fence. Barber with a big elbow. Solid fight. 10-9 Barber, 30-27 Barber.
Official Result- Maycee Barber def. Jessica Eye by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
After the fight, Eye announced her retirement.
> Middleweights- #9 Uriah Hall (17-10, 10-8 UFC) vs. #13 Andre Muniz (22-4, 4-0 UFC)
Muniz with a body kick. Hall lands a quick jab as they’re feeling each other out. Muniz lands a body kick. Hall lands a combo with his back to the fence. Muniz with a leg kick. Hall lands a right hand and Muniz gets a takedown. Muniz gets to side control. Muniz lands from the top and is looking to find a submission and Hall is doing a good job of defending. Muniz gets the mount and went for a triangle choke but Hall slipped out to his feet. Muniz grabs the body and drags it down and has the back. Muniz looking to attack the arm. Muniz with some right hands from the back. 10-9 Muniz.
They trade kicks to start the second. Muniz lands a body kick then a right hand. Muniz tries a takedown but Hall slips away as he defends. Muniz gets a trip takedown next to the fence and Muniz is in Hall’s full guard. Muniz with some short punches from the top. Muniz gets to the mount. Muniz lands an elbow. Muniz lands from the top and looks for an arm. Hall gives up his back. Muniz with some punches from the back. Muniz tries to get the arm but Hall gets up and lands some big right hands at the end. 10-9 Muniz, 20-18 Muniz.
Muniz with a leg kick. Muniz lands a left hand. Muniz lands a right hand and drops for a takedown. Muniz gets the takedown. Hall gives up his back and Muniz is looking for a choke. Muniz is working hard from the back but Hall gets to his feet though Muniz is still on his back. Hall tries to slam himself down to break the grip but Muniz still has the back. Hall spins into the guard of Muniz and lands some punches at the end. 10-9 Muniz, 30-27 Muniz.
Official Result- Andre Muniz def. Uriah Hall by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
ABC PRELIMS | 8 PM ET/5 PM PT
> Middleweights- #12 Brad Tavares (19-6, 14-6 UFC) vs. Dricus Du Plessis (16-2, 2-0 UFC)
Du Plessis comes forward landing low kicks and with a combo. Tavares lands a right hand as Du Plessis was shooting for a takedown that hurt Du Plessis. Tavares keeps it on the feet. They’re clinched against the fence. Du Plessis tries a takedown but Tavares reverses and is in side control. Tavares now trying to get to the guard as he controls from the top and they get to their feet. Du Plessis looks for another takedown but Tavares defends. They break and Tavares with a head kick. Tavares hurts Du Plessis with a right hand and Du Plessis tries a takedown but Tavares defends. They’re clinched against the fence and Tavares with a knee. They trade knees. They break and Du Plessis with a spinning back fist. Tavares lands a front kick and a right hand. 10-9 Tavares.
They throw in close range and Du Plessis with a knee and Tavares with a right hand. Du Plessis lands a combo. Du Plessis with a right hand. Tavares has a cut open. Tavares with a big body kick. Du Plessis with a spinning back fist. Tavares with a leg kick. Du Plessis lands some hard punches. Tavares lands a jab as Du Plessis was pressing forward. Tavares is bleeding badly now. Du Plessis with a left hand. Du Plessis tries a takedown but Tavares defends and lands a knee to the body. They trade leg kicks. Du Plessis with a right hand. Du Plessis lands a knee. Tavares with a front kick to the body. They trade late and Du Plessis rocks Tavares late. 10-9 Du Plessis, 19-19.
Tavares lands a right hand. Du Plessis with a right hand and he lands another. Du Plessis with some kicks. Du Plessis with a left hand. Du Plessis landing more early in the third here. Tavares with a high kick then a body kick. They trade kicks. Du Plessis with a right hand and follows it with a left. Tavares with a leg kick. Du Plessis with a right hand. Tavares lands a jab and Du Plessis with a spinning back fist. Tavares with a jab. Du Plessis with a couple of nice right hands then a body kick. Tavares lands a couple of jabs. Du Plessis with a combo and Tavares is a bloody mess again. Du Plessis with a right hand then a spin kick. Du Plessis with a combo. Du Plessis with a massive right hand. They trade right hands. Du Plessis with a left hand. They trade late. Fun fight. 10-9 Du Plessis, 29-28 Du Plessis.
Official Result- Dricus Du Plessis def. Brad Tavares by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Welterweights- Ian Garry (9-0, 2-0 UFC) vs. Gabe Green (11-3, 2-1 UFC)
Green with some leg kicks as Garry lands a knee up the middle. Garry with a high kick. Garry lands a jab then a leg kick. Garry with a leg kick and they trade against the fence with Green landing a nice combo. Garry with a body kick. They trade punches and Garry pressing forward. Green lands a left hand to the body. Garry with a right hand. Green lands a right hand as Garry lands a knee. Garry with a combo then hurts Green with a right hand. Garry with a body kick. Garry with the jab. Garry with a knee and Green with a left hand. Garry with a big combination. 10-9 Garry.
Garry with a leg kick. They trade punches. Garry with a high kick. Garry with a nice combination. We have a timeout for an eye poke. Garry with a leg kick after they get back to action. Garry with a high kick and a right hand. They clinch against the fence. Garry gets a takedown and has the back and lands but they get to their feet and Green has back control and lands a knee. They break and Garry with a knee to the body then lands several combinations. Green with a left hand. They’re trading punches. Green lands a big left hand late. 10-9 Garry, 20-18 Garry.
Green lands some leg kicks then Garry drops Green with a right hand. Garry gets on top and looks for a choke but they get to their feet and are clinched against the fence. Green trying for the takedown but Garry defending. They remain clinched and Garry lands a knee as they break. They trade leg kicks. Garry landing more punches and lands an uppercut and leg kick. They trade at the end with Garry landing more. 10-9 Garry, 30-27 Garry.
Official Result- Ian Garry def. Gabe Green by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
> Welterweights- Jim Miller (34-16 1 NC, 23-15 1 NC UFC) vs. Donald Cerrone (36-16 2 NC, 23-13 1 NC UFC)
Cerrone with a leg kick after throwing a combo. Cerrone with a body kick. Miller with a calf kick. Miller lands a left hand. Miller with a left hand. They trade in close range. They trade body kicks. They trade in close range and Cerrone lands with more volume. Cerrone with a combo. Miller grabs a leg and gets a takedown and lands a left hand as doing so. Miller in the guard of Cerrone. Miller with an elbow from the top. Miller with more left hands from the top and he was landing then Cerrone swept to the top. Both landing on the ground and Miller tries for an armbar and they both try for leg locks at the end. 10-9 Miller.
They trade punches to start the second. They trade kicks as Cerrone landed a head kick as Miller landed a body kick and Cerrone slips to the mat and Miller grabbed the neck and locked in a guillotine choke and it is in tight. Cerrone taps! Jim Miller gets it done to become the all-time wins leader in UFC history.
Official Result- Jim Miller def. Donald Cerrone by submission (guillotine choke) at 1:32 of Round 2
After the fight, Cerrone announced his retirement.
Turner lands a right hand and Riddell goes for a takedown and Turner grabs the neck for a guillotine choke and has it locked in tight and Riddell taps! That was quick and an excellent finish by Turner.
Official Result- Jalin Turner def. Brad Riddell by submission (guillotine choke) at :45 of Round 1
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> Bantamweights- #9 Pedro Munhoz (19-7 1 NC, 9-7 1 NC) vs. #13 Sean O’Malley (15-1, 7-1 UFC)
They trade leg kicks to start. Munhoz with a leg kick. O’Malley with a couple of body kicks and Munhoz with a calf kick. He lands two more and O’Malley is checking them. O’Malley with a leg kick. O’Malley just misses a spin kick. Munhoz with a calf kick then another. O’Malley with a right hand. O’Malley lands a kick right on the cup and we have a timeout. They get back to action and O’Malley with a left hand and Munhoz with a leg kick. They trade leg kicks. Munhoz throws a high kick but O’Malley blocks. Munhoz with another leg kick and O’Malley with a body kick. O’Malley with a spin kick to the body. O’Malley with another spin kick to the body at the end. 10-9 Munhoz.
Munhoz throwing more kicks. O’Malley lands a right hand and just misses a wheel kick. O’Malley with a body kick. Munhoz with a leg kick. He lands another after O’Malley lands some body kicks. O’Malley with the jab. We have a timeout for an eye poke on Munhoz. Munhoz says he can’t see and the doctor tells the referee to wave off the fight and it is over. We’re going to a no contest.
Official Result- Pedro Munhoz vs. Sean O’Malley ends in a no contest (accidental foul) at 3:09 of Round 2
Barberena with a leg kick. Barberena with a leg kick. Lawler with a right hook to the body. Lawler lands a left hand then another to the body. They both land in close range. Barberena lands a nice right hand. Barberena with a left hand and Lawler lands big to the body and they exchange in close range. Lawler with a big uppercut then a big left hand. Lawler with a left hand. Barberena with some body shots. Barberena with a left hand. They both land left hands. Barberena with a combo. Barberena’s hands just don’t stop moving. Lawler lands to the body then head. Barberena with some body punches and an elbow. Barberena just keeps throwing. Lawler lands an uppercut. They both land in close. Lawler with a combo. Lawler with a left hand then a big knee. 10-9 Lawler.
Barberena coming forward and keeping his hands moving but not landing. Lawler with a big left hand. Lawler with the jab. He lands it again and it rocks Barberena. Lawler with a body kick then another jab. They trade wild punches in a wild exchange. Barberena lands some leg kicks. Lawler lands a big jab. Lawler with a combo. They both land left hands. Barberena hurting Lawler with some big shots inside the pocket. They both land nice shots. Barberena with a left hand. Lawler lands a left hand. They both land in close. Lawler with a left hand. Barberena with a big right hand and is teeing off on Lawler and it is stopped. Big finish by Barberena there.
Official Result- Bryan Barberena def. Robbie Lawler by TKO (punches) at 4:47 of Round 2
> Middleweights- #4 Sean Strickland (25-3, 12-3 UFC) vs. Alex Pereira (5-1, 2-0 UFC)
Pereira with a leg kick. He lands a body kick. Strickland pushing forward but eating leg kicks from Pereira. They trade jabs. Pereira with a right hand. Pereira with a leg kick. Strickland with the jab. Pereira lands a right hand and Strickland with a jab. Pereira with a leg kick. Pereira then lands a left hook that stumbles Strickland and follows it a right hand that drops Strickland and it is all over! What a knockout by Pereira.
Official Result- Alex Pereira def. Sean Strickland by knockout (punches) at 2:36 of Round 1
> UFC Featherweight Championship- C Alexander Volkanovski (24-1, 11-0 UFC) vs. #1 Max Holloway (23-6, 19-6 UFC)
They circle and feel each other out in the opening moments. Volkanovski lands a couple of leg kicks. Volkanovski lands a right hand. Volkanovski lands a combo. Volkanovski lands a right hand and Holloway with a body kick. Volkanovski lands a quick combo. Holloway with a knee as Volkanovski lands the right hand. Volkanovski with another right hand. Holloway lands a nice jab. Volkanovski lands a right hand after a brief clinch. Volkanovski lands a left hand and follows it with a right and then another left hand. They trade right hands. Volkanovski with the jab and Holloway fires back with a right hand. Holloway lands a right hand and they trade in the pocket. Holloway with a back elbow late. 10-9 Volkanovski.
They trade punches to start the second. Holloway with a leg kick. Holloway pressing forward. Volkanovski lands a jab. Volkanovski lands a big right hand. Volkanovski with a leg kick. They trade in close before clinching and Volkanovski lands a big elbow. Volkanovski gets the back against the fence then lands a big elbow before they break. Volkanovski with a big punch and Holloway has a big cut opened up. Holloway with a leg kick. Volkanovski lands a jab. Holloway is leaking. Holloway with a body kick. Holloway lands a combo. They both throw wild strikes. Volkanovski lands a combo and Holloway with a knee. Volkanovski with a combo. 10-9 Volkanovski, 20-18 Volkanovski.
Volkanovski with a body kick. Volkanovski lands a left hook. Holloway lands to the body. They trade kicks then trade punches inside the pocket. Holloway with a high kick. Volkanovski with a combo. Volkanovski with a quick combo. Holloway lands a nice left hand after Volkanovski landed a leg kick. Volkanovski with a big combination. They clinch against the fence. They break and Volkanovski landing the jab. Volkanovski with a right hand. Holloway lands a knee and follows it with a right hand. Volkanovski with a combination. Holloway with a right hand late. 10-9 Volkanovski, 30-27 Volkanovski.
They clinch and Volkanovski lands as they break before clinching back up. They break and Holloway lands a knee then a right hand. Holloway lands some good kicks. Volkanovski with a right hand. Holloway with a body kick. Volkanovski steps in and Holloway grabs the back and was looking for a takedown but Volkanovski defends and they break. Holloway with a nice combo and Volkanovski counters with an uppercut followed by a right hand. Holloway with a spin kick. Volkanovski with a right hand. They trade in close range. Volkanovski with the jab and Holloway lands a right hand. Holloway with a spin kick. 10-9 Volkanovski, 40-36 Volkanovski.
Volkanovski with a right hand. Holloway shoots for a takedown and pushes it against the fence but Volkanovski defends. They break and Volkanovski with a leg kick. Volkanovski with a head kick. Volkanovski with the double jab. Volkanovski with two hard leg kicks. Volkanovski with the jab and he ducks under Holloway throwing a head kick. Volkanovski with a body kick. Volkanovski with a combination. Holloway’s face is a mess. Volkanovski still landing the jab and avoiding Holloway’s punches. Volkanovski with the double jab and blocks a high kick. Volkanovski with a combo. What a showing from Volkanovski. 10-9 Volkanovski, 50-45 Volkanovski.
Official Result- Alexander Volkanovski def. Max Holloway by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to retain the UFC Featherweight Championship
> UFC Middleweight Championship- C Israel Adesanya (22-1, 11-1 UFC) vs. #2 Jared Cannonier (15-5, 8-5 UFC)
Adesanya came out to The Undertaker’s theme, full entrance with hat and urn and all. Adesanya landing leg kicks early. Cannonier with a right hand to the body. Adesanya with more leg kicks. Adesanya with a body kick. Cannonier lands some leg kicks. Adesanya with a calf kick. Adesanya landing more punches late. Adesanya with a right hand. Cannonier didn’t land a single strike to Adesanya’s head during the round. 10-9 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a head kick and then Cannonier lands a leg kick. They trade leg kicks. Cannonier with a body kick. Adesanya still landing leg kicks. Adesanya with short punches. Adesanya with a leg kick. Cannonier with a high kick. He lands a leg kick. Adesanya misses some punches and Cannonier lands a right hand. Cannonier with the jab. Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya lands to the body and a body kick. Adesanya with a nice combo. We have a timeout for an eye poke. They get back to action. They trade body kicks. Adesanya with the jab then a leg kick. Cannonier lands another. Adesanya with a body kick. 10-9 Adesanya, 20-18 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. Cannonier lands a left hand. Adesanya with the jab. Cannonier tries a takedown but Adesanya defends and Adesanya lands a stiff jab as they break. They both land punches and Cannonier pushes it against the fence. Adesanya defends a takedown and they break. Adesanya with the jab and a high kick. Adesanya with a combo. Cannonier lands a nice combo. Cannonier lands a right hand as Adesanya landed a body kick and they clinch against the fence. Cannonier landing some knees as Adesanya is landing ear slaps. They break at the end and Adesanya with a knee. 10-9 Cannonier, 29-28 Adesanya.
Adesanya with the jab and Cannonier’s head snaps back. Adesanya with a leg kick. They trade body kicks and Adesanya’s sounded harder then he followed it with the jab. Adesanya with the jab then a right hand. Cannonier with a quick combo. Adesanya with a leg kick. They clinch against the fence. They break. Cannonier with a leg kick but Adesanya landing with more volume. They clinch again. Cannonier with an elbow as Adesanya was landing ear slaps and short punches. Cannonier with a couple of knees but he’s just hanging on. Cannonier with an elbow before they break. Adesanya with a right hand. 10-9 Adesanya, 39-37 Adesanya.
Cannonier lands a right hand. Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya with some jabs. Cannonier with a body kick. Adesanya with a head kick. Adesanya with the jab. Adesanya with a body kick. They trade leg kicks. Adesanya still landing leg kicks and Cannonier clinches against the fence and is holding. Adesanya with short punches. Cannonier with some knees. Cannonier trying for a takedown but Adesanya defends and they break. Cannonier lands a jab and Adesanya stuns Cannonier with a jab. Cannonier lands a right and they clinch right back up. Adesanya lands a head kick as they break. Adesanya with a right hand. Adesanya with the jab. Adesanya with a right hand and leg kick. 10-9 Adesanya, 49-46 Adesanya.
Official Result- Israel Adesanya def. Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya successfully defended his title against Robert Whittaker at Saturday’s UFC 271 in a hard-fought unanimous decision.
Scorecards were 48-47 x 2 and 49-46 in favor of the champion who picked up his fourth defense of the title he won when he first faced then-champion Whittaker in October 2019.
Adesanya, then interim champion, unified the titles with a second round knockout.
The main card also gave Adesanya his likely next contender as Jared Cannonier knocked out Derek Brunson in the second round. The two have never fought before and Adesanya has said he would like some “fresh meat” to fight next.
Tai Tuivasa continued his white-hot streak with his fifth straight victory, all by knockout or TKO, as he dropped Derrick Lewis in the second round of their co-main event clash. Given his popularity, he could be in line for an interim title fight if Francis Ngannou doesn’t fight this year due to knee surgery and his current contract conflict with the UFC.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 271: Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2, emanating from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
The Octagon returns to Houston for the third time over the past nine months, with another title fight, this time being a rematch featuring one of the best fighters in the world and an opponent looking to regain the title from the man who took it from him.
UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya makes his fourth title defense as he defends against the former UFC Middleweight Champion, Robert Whittaker, in a rematch in the main event. Adesanya scored a second-round knockout of Whittaker at UFC 243 in October 2019 to become the undisputed champion, and has since had successful defenses against Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori. Whittaker has won three straight since that fight, scoring wins over Darren Till, Jared Cannonier and Kelvin Gastelum.
In the co-main event, it is a heavyweight bout that has excitement written all over it as Houston’s own Derrick Lewis goes for his second straight win against Tai Tuivasa, winner of four straight bouts. Also on the main card is a potential title eliminator bout in the middleweight division as Jared Cannonier battles Derek Brunson, a lightweight bout pitting Alexander Hernandez against Renato Moicano, and a lightweight bout between Bobby Green and Nasrat Haqparast.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
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> Heavyweights- William Knight (11-2, 3-1 UFC) vs. Maxim Grishin (31-9-2, 1-2 UFC)
This was made into a heavyweight bout after weigh-ins after Knight missed the light heavyweight limit by 12 pounds, but Grishin weighed in at 206 pounds so it could be made into a heavyweight fight. Grishin with a body kick. Knight with a hard body kick. Lots of inactivity going on as they trade leg kicks. Knight with a body kick. Grishin lands a right hand. Grishin with a leg kick. Grishin with a leg kick and a high kick as he’s the more active fighter. Grishin with a body kick. Knight with a body kick. Grishin with a leg kick. They trade leg kicks but this has been a rather uneventful round. They trade late. 10-9 Grishin.
Knight with a leg kick and misses a spin kick. Grishin with a body kick. Grishin coming forward but not a lot going on. Grishin with a leg kick. Grishin lands the jab. Grishin just misses a right hand and Knight tries for a takedown against the fence. Grishin defending well. Grishin tried to jump on the back of Knight but then they had a crazy scramble with Grishin ending up in the half-guard and he lands an elbow. They get to their feet and both land a few shots with Grishin landing some leg kicks. 10-9 Grishin, 20-18 Grishin.
Grishin with a teet kick to the body. Grishin with a leg kick and Knight kind of stumbles and lands a back fist off it as they clinch. Knight working for the takedown and they go to the mat for a moment. They remain tied up as they look for underhooks but break. Neither able to connect as they clinch back up again and Knight looking hard for a takedown. Knight is able to get the takedown but is just laying in the guard for now. They get to their feet and Grishin pushes it against the fence and lands some foot stomps. Grishin is just holding on and Knight lands a knee to the body and gets a brief takedown. Knight lands a couple of knees as they got up and Grishin with a knee to the body. They break and Grishin with a right hand and he lands some kicks. Grishin drops Knight near the end and finishes on top. 10-9 Grishin, 30-27 Grishin.
Official Result- Maxim Grishin def. William Knight by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Wells was running around the cage and tripped himself and Diamond landed a combo against the fence before they clinched. Wells is pushing and hold Diamond against the fence. Wells is trying hard for a takedown and is able to get it and has the back. Wells with a right hand from the back. He’s trying for a choke. Wells with some left hands from the back. Wells just smothering from the top as Diamond can’t get out from the bottom. Wells with some punches and has the neck as they almost got to the feet. Diamond is fighting the choke but he ends up going out! What a finish by Wells to get the win.
Official Result- Jeremiah Wells def. Blood Diamond by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:38 of Round 1
> Bantamweights- Douglas Silva de Andrade (27-4 1 NC, 5-4 UFC) vs. Sergey Morozov (17-4, 1-1 UFC)
Andrade with a body kick. Morozov lands the jab. Andrade with a leg kick. Morozov landing some shots and has Andrade hurt. Morozov drops Andrade with a left hand and gets on top and is landing as Andrade is trying to work his guard. Morozov with some left hands from the top and some sharp elbows. Morozov with some right hands from the top. They’re bloody as Andrade has a cut but they work their way up. They trade and Andrade with a leg kick. Morozov with a right hand. Andrade just barely misses a head kick. Andrade with a leg kick after landing a left hand. Morozov with a hard leg kick and gets a late slam takedown. He lands some punches from the top at the end. 10-9 Morozov.
Morozov lands a combo as they’re fighting in close range. Andrade with a right hand that has Morozov retreating. Andrade then drops Morozov with a punch but Morozov gets up and looks for a takedown but they break. They trade and Andrade with a body kick. Morozov with a leg kick. Andrade complains of an eye poke and we have a timeout. They get back to action and they’re all over the place as Andrade hurts Morozov with a punch again and they scramble all over the Octagon before clinching. They break and Andrade lands some big shots and Morozov is hurt badly. They get to the mat and Andrade has the back and is looking for a choke. He has the choke locked in and Morozov goes out cold! What a finish by Andrade.
Official Result- Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Sergey Morozov by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:34 of Round 2
> Middleweights- AJ Dobson (6-0 1 NC, 0-0 UFC) vs. Jacob Malkoun (5-1, 1-1 UFC)
Dobson landing a combo early as Malkoun lands a left hand. They trade again in close. Malkoun looks for a takedown but Dobson is defending. Malkoun picks Dobson up but Dobson stays upright. They break. Dobson with a right hand. Malkoun shoots again and pushes Dobson against the fence. They break. Dobson lands a knee to the body and some punches in a quick clinch. Dobson with a right hand and a leg kick. Malkoun lands a right hand. Dobson with a nice high kick. Dobson with a body kick. They trade right hands. Dobson with a right hand. Dobson with a short left hand. Malkoun still trying for a takedown and gets it for a brief moment at the end. 10-9 Dobson.
They trade in close range with Dobson getting the better of it. Malkoun drops down looking for the takedown but Dobson defends as they go to the fence. They break and Malkoun ends up getting a takedown. They scramble and Malkoun has the back as they stand against the fence. Malkoun gets it down again and is landing some left hands. He lands more punches as Dobson is covering up. Malkoun landing more left hands. He continues to land punches as Dobson can’t get out from the bottom but they aren’t hard shots. They continue to battle as they’re on their knees and feet. Malkoun with some hammerfists. They break. Dobson with a right hand. 10-9 Malkoun, 19-19.
They trade punches and Malkoun gets a takedown and has the back of Dobson. They scramble and Malkoun keeps it down on the mat as he still has the back. Dobson trying to scramble up but Malkoun is able to keep it down. Malkoun keeping Dobson down but not much is happening. Malkoun with some punches from the top. They’re both landing on the mat but Malkoun landing with more volume. Malkoun with more punches on the top. 10-9 Malkoun, 29-28 Malkoun.
Official Results- Jacob Malkoun def. AJ Dobson by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
> Bantamweights- Mana Martinez (9-2, 1-0 UFC) vs. Ronnie Lawrence (7-1, 1-0 UFC)
Lawrence with a high kick. Lawrence with a hard leg kick. Lawrence gets a big takedown and stands as he tries to pass the guard of Martinez. They get to their feet and Lawrence has the back as he tries to get it back down. They break. Both looking to land and Lawrence drops Martinez with a punch and then ends up getting the back on the mat. Lawrence with some punches from the back as he’s trying to finish. Martinez goes for a heel hook but Lawrence escapes to the guard. Lawrence with a right hand from the top then he lands some body shots. 10-9 Lawrence.
They trade quick leg kicks. Both looking for openings and Lawrence lands a punch again that knocks Martinez to the ground. Lawrence quick to get on top in side control and lands an elbow. Lawrence postures up and land a right hand as Martinez gives up his back. They get to their feet and break. Lawrence drops Martinez again with a right hand and starts landing from the top. Martinez gives up his back. Lawrence looking for a rear-naked choke. Martinez is fighting it. Martinez escapes and they get to their feet but Lawrence immediately takes Martinez down. They work to their feet but Lawrence gets Martinez back down. 10-9 Lawrence, 20-18 Lawrence.
Martinez comes out firing to start the third. Lawrence tries a spinning wheel kick and just barely misses. Martinez with a body kick. Lawrence with a leg kick. Lawrence misses a high kick as Martinez lands a punch. Lawrence lands a nice right hand. Martinez lands a nice left hand and then drops Lawrence with some shots and is looking for the finish. Lawrence is able to survive and gets a takedown as Martinez had him in real trouble. Martinez is looking for an armbar and a triangle but Lawrence scrambles out of it and is now in the guard of Martinez. Lawrence stands and Martinez is still on the mat. They get up. Lawrence with a wheel kick. Lawrence gets a takedown at the end. 10-9 Martinez, 29-28 Lawrence.
Official Result- Ronnie Lawrence def. Mana Martinez by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
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> Light Heavyweights- Carlos Ulberg (3-1, 0-1 UFC) vs. Fabio Cherant (7-3, 0-2 UFC)
Ulberg with an inside leg kick and then another leg kick. Ulberg with a leg kick. Not a whole lot is happening inside the first two minutes. Cherant lands a left hand. They start to trade and Ulberg lands a groin strike and we have a brief timeout. They get back to action and Cherant lands two left hands and they clinch. Ulberg powers Cherant down to the mat. They get to their feet. Cherant tries a spin kick and ends up on the mat but gets up. They trade lefts. Ulberg with a spin kick to the head of Cherant. Ulberg with a right hand to the body. Cherant lands a left hand and Ulberg briefly goes down before the end of the round. 10-9 Ulberg.
They trade leg kicks and Ulberg almost lands a big punch. Both being patient in the second. Cherant with a leg kick. Ulberg with a body kick. Ulberg lands some hard left hands. Ulberg continues to land with more volume as there isn’t much pace to this fight. Ulberg pressing forward and lands a right hand. Cherant with a left hand. Slow round. 10-9 Ulberg, 20-18 Ulberg.
Ulberg with a body kick to start the third. Ulberg pushing the pace and landing slightly more but there isn’t much happening as the crowd is booing. They trade leg kicks. Ulberg with a leg kick then a combo to the body and then a high kick. Cherant trying to find openings but not a lot are there as Ulberg circles around and lands some shots. Ulberg gets a takedown. They end up getting to their feet and Ulberg with a high kick at the end. 10-9 Ulberg, 30-27 Ulberg.
Official Result- Carlos Ulberg def. Fabio Cherant by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
They’re slugging to start as both land leg kicks and punches. They continue to trade. Both land right hands in close and they clinch as Phillips pushes Rojo up against the fence. Phillips jumps on the back of Rojo as they go to the mat and Rojo rolls and Phillips is now in the half-guard. They work their way to the feet. Phillips lands a left hand but Rojo lands a combo. Phillips with a right hand and he shoots for a takedown against the fence. They break and Phillips with a right hand and a knee and then he just throws Rojo down to the mat. Rojo looks for an armbar late but Phillips escapes and lands an elbow. 10-9 Phillips.
They come out looking for openings to start the second. Rojo lands a jab while Phillips lands a body kick. Rojo with some leg kicks as Phillips lands a right hand and almost shoots for a takedown. Phillips landing the jab while mixing in the leg kicks. Phillips landing more kicks and punches as Rojo is slowing down. Rojo misses a left hand. Phillips with some leg kicks. Phillips gets a takedown but Rojo is quick to get to his feet and they exchange on the break. They clinch and Phillips with some knees as he’s applying pressure. 10-9 Phillips, 20-18 Phillips.
They trade punches and Phillips gets a takedown into side control. Phillips looking to set up a kimura but gets the mount and almost has a mounted triangle. Phillips landing punches and Rojo trying to get out. Phillips gets the armbar in and Rojo taps! What a finish by Phillips.
Official Result- Kyler Phillips def. Marcelo Rojo by submission (armbar) at 1:48 of Round 3
Both land some short shots to start the fight. O’Neill lands a right hand. O’Neill with a combo as Modafferi lands some short punches. O’Neill with a combination. Modafferi with a quick right hand. Modafferi lands a right hand and O’Neill lands a counter left. O’Neill with a body kick as they both just land in close range. O’Neill is landing significantly more during the round as she lands a right hand. O’Neill with a combo. They trade in close. 10-9 O’Neill.
They are both trading early in the second and O’Neill is landing with more volume as Modafferi is throwing a lot but not connecting. O’Neill lands a right hand. O’Neill lands a left hand. Modafferi with a leg kick but still eating punches from O’Neill. It’s still just all on the feet and there’s not a whole lot of action as O’Neill just continues to land with more volume. Modafferi gets a late takedown and ends the second on top. 10-9 O’Neill, 20-18 O’Neill.
Both come out swinging to start the third and Modafferi is looking to pour it onto O’Neill. They trade in close and Modafferi with a spin kick and then lands some knees as she got the clinch for a moment. They both land knees in a brief clinch. O’Neill with a left hand. Modafferi with a right but eats some hard punches from O’Neill then a high kick. O’Neill with a combo. O’Neill with some jabs. Modafferi shoots for a takedown but O’Neill sprawls. Modafferi gets the takedown. They get to their feet and Modafferi lands a couple of knees. Modafferi tries hard for a takedown at the end.
Official Result- Casey O’Neill def. Roxanne Modafferi by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
> Heavyweights- Andrei Arlovski (32-20 2 NC, 21-14 1 NC UFC) vs. Jared Vanderaa (12-6, 1-2 UFC)
Arlovski with a leg kick. Arlovski with a combo to the body. Arlovski with some right hands. Arlovski with a right hand to the body and a left to the head. Arlovski lands some right hands. Arlovski lands a big right hand as Vanderaa was pressuring him. They both land to the body before clinching up against the fence. They break. Arlovski lands a right hand. He lands another as Vanderaa has been unable to get much offense going outside of some leg kicks. Arlovski with a right hand and Vanderaa with a leg kick. 10-9 Arlovski.
Vanderaa lands some lefts before they clinch up to start the second. They break. Arlovski with a head kick and Vanderaa acts stunned for a second. They trade punches. We have a groin strike and a time out. They get back to action and Arlovski with a body kick. They both land in close. Arlovski circling as Vanderaa is pressing forward. Vanderaa grabs the body lock against the fence. They battle for underhooks and both land some knees before they break. They trade late. 10-9 Arlovski, 20-18 Arlovski.
Vanderaa with some leg kicks to start the third. Vanderaa lands a right hand. They tie up and battle for position along the fence. Vanderaa with some foot stomps as not much is happening until Arlovski pushes him away. Arlovski with a quick combo. Arlovski rushes in looking for the jab and eats a punch from Vanderaa. Vanderaa with a body kick. Arlovski counters with a body kick. Arlovski with a leg kick. Arlovski with a body kick then a right hand but eats a left from Vanderaa. Arlovski with a high kick. They both land in close. Vanderaa with a body kick. Vanderaa lands a left hand. Vanderaa with a hard leg kick as he eats a spinning back fist from Arlovski. 10-9 Vanderaa, 29-28 Arlovski.
Official Result- Andrei Arlovski def. Jared Vanderaa by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
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> Lightweights- Bobby Green (28-12-1, 9-7-1 UFC) vs. Nasrat Haqparast (13-4, 5-3 UFC)
Green with a leg kick. Green lands a left hand. We have a time out for an eye poke. They get back to action and trade before another eye poke on Green. They get back fighting and Green lands a couple of left hands. Green lands a quick combo and Haqparast fires back and lands. Haqparast lands a left hand. Green with the jab. Both land combos. Green lands two left hands and Haqparast lands a couple of lefts. They trade in close range. Green with a combo to the body and head. Haqparast with a leg kick. Green with a combo. 10-9 Green.
Green landing and circling. They trade quick combinations. Haqparast lands and misses a kick and Green taunts him. Green with a combo. Haqparast lands a left hand. Green with a combination. Haqparast with a body kick. Haqparast lands a nice combination. Green lands a right hand. Haqparast with a leg kick. Green lands a series of punches. Green lands a nice combination after Haqparast had landed some punches. They trade punches. Haqparast is landing some good shots but being outworked on volume by Green. Green lands a hard combination at the end of the second. 10-9 Green, 20-18 Green.
They both come out swinging early in the third. Haqparast lands some good punches but the volume of Green is very high. Green lands a right hand that hurt Haqparast. Green with a right hand to the body. Green with a solid combo. Haqparast misses on a few punches thrown. Green with a combo. Haqparast lands a left and Green points at his jaw asking him to land another. Green again with lots of heavy volume in this round though Haqparast is landing some solid punches when he’s able to connect. Green with a combo. Green with another hard combination. Green with a left hand. They trade with Green getting the better of it. Green with a hard combo at the end. 10-9 Green, 30-27 Green.
Official Result- Bobby Green def. Nasrat Haqparast by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
> Lightweights- Alexander Hernandez (13-4, 5-3 UFC) vs. Renato Moicano (15-4-1, 7-4 UFC)
They both land leg kicks early. Moicano with a right hand and Hernandez lands a leg kick in return. They trade and Moicano lands a nice left hook. Hernandez with a body kick. They clinch as Moicano is looking for the takedown and gets it. They get right back up. Moicano gets a big takedown and is working from the half-guard. Hernandez tries to scramble up but Moicano keeps him down. They get up and Hernandez lands an elbow as they break. Hernandez lands a combo. Hernandez with a high kick then a combo. Hernandez with a body kick. Hernandez with another body kick. Close round. 10-9 Hernandez.
Moicano with some leg kicks to start the second. Moicano lands to the body and lands a knee in the clinch. Hernandez with a body kick. Moicano lands a combo and a knee to the body and Hernandez tries a takedown. Moicano is on top and landing and gets the back and locks in a rear-naked choke and Hernandez taps! Great sequence for the finish from Moicano.
Official Result- Renato Moicano def. Alexander Hernandez by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:23 of Round 2
> Middleweights- #3 Jared Cannonier (14-5, 7-5 UFC) vs. #4 Derek Brunson (23-7, 14-5 UFC)
Cannonier with a leg kick. Brunson with a body kick. Cannonier lands a right hand. Cannonier with the jab. Brunson shoots for a takedown and they go to the mat for a second before they stand. Brunson still has a leg and ends up getting Cannonier down. They get up and break. Cannonier with a combo. Brunson shoots for a takedown and they clinch but ultimately break. Brunson lands a left hand and goes for the takedown but Cannonier defends. Brunson gets the body lock and scores the takedown. Brunson is in the half-guard. Cannonier works his way to the feet and pushes Brunson away. Cannonier with a leg kick. Brunson drops Cannonier with a right hand and gets the mount and Cannonier gives up his back. Brunson going for a rear-naked choke and has it locked in tight but Cannonier survives to the end of the round. 10-9 Brunson.
Brunson immediately goes for the takedown and gets it. Cannonier is able to scramble to his feet and they break. Cannonier just misses an uppercut. Brunson showing a little tiredness. Cannonier lands a knee and Brunson lands a left hand. Brunson’s punches are coming in slower now. Cannonier with a leg kick. Cannonier with a right hand. Cannonier lands another nice right hand. Cannonier with some punches and lands a right hand. Brunson goes for a takedown and they clinch. Cannonier lands a big elbow and a punch as they break. Cannonier teeing off on Brunson and has him hurt as he lands a head kick. Cannonier teeing off on the mat and lands some brutal elbows that knock Brunson out cold. What a brutal finish by Cannonier! Brunson’s corner also threw in the towel at the same time the fight was being stopped.
Official Result- Jared Cannonier def. Derek Brunson by TKO (elbows) at 4:29 of Round 2
> Heavyweights- #3 Derrick Lewis (26-8 1 NC, 17-6 UFC) vs. #11 Tai Tuivasa (14-3, 7-3 UFC)
Tuivasa with a leg kick. They clinch against the fence. Tuivasa with some short knees. They are broken up by Dan Miragliotta. Lewis with a high kick that Tuivasa blocks. Tuivasa with a leg kick. Lewis lands a right hand and they clinch. Lewis is trying for a takedown but Tuivasa defends. Tuivasa reverses position. Lewis gets a trip takedown. Lewis with big right hands and they get up and start swinging and both connect with big shots before they clinch. Lewis gets another takedown. They get up and Tuivasa with a knee. They end in a clinch. 10-9 Lewis.
Tuivasa with a leg kick and ducks under a Lewis right hand. Lewis rocks Tuivasa with some punches and he rushes in looking to land as they push against the fence. Lewis tries a takedown but they break and Lewis lands a knee and they start teeing off on each other. Tuivasa lands a big right hand. Lewis is hurt. Tuivasa landing some shots and he lands a big elbow and Lewis drops face first to the mat and is out cold! What a finish by Tuivasa as he does a ‘Shoey’ afterwards.
Official Result- Tai Tuivasa def. Derrick Lewis by knockout (elbow) at 1:40 of Round 2
> UFC Middleweight Championship- C Israel Adesanya (21-1, 10-1 UFC) vs. #1 Robert Whittaker (23-5, 14-3 UFC)
Both miss on early leg kick attempts. Adesanya with an inside leg kick. Whittaker with a leg kick. Adesanya with a high kick. Adesanya with a leg kick and Whittaker lands a short left hand. Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands two more. Adesanya with a leg kick after they both miss some shots. Adesanya just misses a head kick against the fence. Adesanya lands a left and Whittaker went down for a moment but got up. Whittaker shoots for a takedown but Adesanya defends. Adesanya with a leg kick. Whittaker tries again for the takedown but Adesanya stuffs it. Adesanya with a leg kick. 10-9 Adesanya.
They’re swinging and Adesanya lands a leg kick as Whittaker misses his punches. Whittaker lands a left hand right as Adesanya lands an uppercut. Whittaker lands a nice left hand. Adesanya with a leg kick. Whittaker gets the takedown and lands some right hands. They get to their feet. They break. Adesanya with an inside leg kick. Adesanya with a high kick then a leg kick. Whittaker with a leg kick. Adesanya with a head kick that Whittaker partially blocks. Close round. 10-9 Whittaker, 19-19.
Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya with a knee as Whittaker lands a punch. Adesanya lands a high kick. Adesanya with a combination. Whittaker tries for a takedown but Adesanya defends and lands a knee. Whittaker gets a takedown but Adesanya gets it back to the feet. Whittaker trying to make Adesanya drag him around as he has the back. They break. Adesanya with a hard leg kick and that one hurt Whittaker. They trade punches. Adesanya with a body kick. 10-9 Adesanya, 29-28 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a body kick. Adesanya with a leg kick. Whittaker gets a takedown and has the back of Adesanya as they stand and went for a choke but Adesanya shakes him off and they’re back at striking range. They exchange jabs and Adesanya misses a big right hand. Whittaker with a leg kick. Adesanya with a leg kick and Whittaker lands a left. Adesanya with a leg kick and a right hand. They trade in close. Adesanya lands a right hand. They clinch against the fence. They break. Whittaker lands a right as Adesanya lands a kick. Adesanya with a body kick. 10-9 Adesanya, 39-37 Adesanya.
They trade punches to start the fifth. Adesanya with a body kick. Adesanya with a right hand. Adesanya with a hard leg kick. Whittaker tries for a takedown but Adesanya defends. We have a timeout for an eye poke by Adesanya. They get right back going though. Whittaker gets a takedown but they get right back up. Whittaker trying for the takedown and Adesanya landed a jumping knee then they broke. Adesanya with the jab. Adesanya with an inside leg kick. Whittaker attempts another takedown but Adesanya defends. Whittaker holding Adesanya against the fence and lands some short knees. Adesanya with some short punches. Close fight all around. 10-9 Adesanya, 49-46 Adesanya.
Official Result- Israel Adesanya def. Robert Whittaker by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship
Coming off his first MMA loss to light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz earlier this year, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya returned to form in his home division, dispatching Marvin Vettori in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 263.
Adesanya took a unanimous decision 50-45 on all three judges’ scorecards.
Despite a few Vettori takedown attempts and a third round rear naked choke attempt, Adesanya was simply too quick and too evasive for Vettori, dodging his strikes and wearing him out early. He attacked Vettori’s lead leg throughout the fight and made it look easy in attacking the Italian challenger with both punches and kicks without an ounce of lost confidence.
This was Adesanya’s third title defense and a rematch from an April 2018 split decision Adesanya won. Adesanya’s next encounter is likely to be another rematch against former champion Robert Whittaker who Adesanya defeated to unify the undisputed and interim titles in October 2019.
In the night’s co-main event, Brandon Moreno pulled off a mild upset in defeating Deiveson Figueiredo for the UFC flyweight title, submitting him in the third round.
He was confident throughout the fight and got Figueiredo’s back in the third, working for a rear naked choke on two occasions before finally sinking it in for the tap. With the win, Moreno becomes the company’s first Mexican-born champion and the youngest champion in the company.
The two fought in December to a majority draw in one of the year’s best fights. The loss is Figueiredo’s first since March 2019 and his reign consisted of just one successful title defense while Moreno is unbeaten in his last seven.
Moreno capped the feel-good moment with a tremendous promo. He was cut from the UFC in late-2018 and brought back a year later.
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 263: Adesanya vs. Vettori 2, emanating from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The Octagon returns to Arizona for the first time since in over two years, bringing an absolutely stacked card to Glendale, with two title fights and three five-round bouts, including two of the biggest stars currently in the sport on the card.
UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya defends the title against Marvin Vettori in the main event. This is a rematch of an April 2018 bout won by Adesanya, which coincidentally took place in the same arena as this show. Adesanya is looking to rebound from his first career loss, as he dropped a decision to Jan Blachowicz in his attempt to become a two-division champion in March. Vettori comes into this fight riding a five-fight win streak.
In the co-main event, it is another rematch as UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo defends against Brandon Moreno for the second time. The two fought to a draw at UFC 256 in December in one of the best fights of 2020, and they look to settle the score here.
In another big fight on the card, Leon Edwards welcomes Nate Diaz back to the Octagon in the first-ever non-headline five-round bout in UFC history. Edwards is looking to secure a title shot, while Diaz fights for the first time since November 2019 and is looking to get back in the win column.
Also on the main card, Demian Maia takes on Belal Muhammad in a welterweight bout, and Paul Craig battles Jamahal Hill in a light heavyweight bout. The prelims have several great match-ups, capped off by a lightweight bout between Drew Dober and Brad Riddell, and a potential title eliminator bout in the women’s flyweight division as Lauren Murphy takes on Joanne Calderwood.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
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> Carlos Felipe (10-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Jake Collier (12-5, 4-4 UFC) Heavyweights
Collier with some early kicks. They trade right hands. Both are swinging hard. Collier with a combo ending with a right hand. Collier mixing his strikes. Felipe with a right hand. They trade in close. Collier with the jab. Collier with a leg kick. Collier throwing kicks high and low. Felipe with a left hook to the body and lands an overhand right. Felipe with a right hand to the body. Collier with a good combo. They trade in close range. They are throwing big punches in close as Felipe rips to the body. Felipe with a leg kick. They both land big punches in the pocket and the crowd is going wild. Entertaining round. 10-9 Collier.
Collier with a high kick then the jab to start the second. They trade in close range. Both landing some good shots. Felipe with the jab. Felipe with a combo. Collier with a leg kick. Collier landing the jab and Felipe with a hard right and then a leg kick. They are both landing and Felipe is telling Collier to hit him harder. Felipe with a right hand. Collier taking deep breaths. Felipe landing a little more towards the end of the round. Collier with a body kick. Felipe with a body kick. 10-9 Felipe, 19-19.
Collier with some leg kicks to start the third. They trade in close range. Collier with an inside leg kick. Felipe with a jab. They are starting to swing for the fences and Felipe lands some big punches. Collier shoots for a takedown but Felipe easily defends. Felipe landing more after a quick break in the action. Collier lands a nice jab. Collier tries a spinning back fist but Felipe blocks it. Felipe with the jab and Collier with a body kick. Collier with a leg kick and Felipe with a counter right hand. They are trading and Collier is landing more while Felipe is taunting. Felipe landing more as the round gets to the end. Collier with a late combo ending with a body kick. Close fight. 10-9 Collier, 29-28 Collier.
Official Result- Carlos Felipe def. Jake Collier by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
> Fares Ziam (11-3, 1-1 UFC) vs. Luigi Vendramini (8-1, 1-1 UFC) Lightweights
Ziam landing the jab at the start. Vendramini tried a body lock but Ziam was ready for it and shook him off. Ziam landing the jab and Vendramini’s face is already showing damage. Ziam with a leg kick. Vendramini lands a right hand. Ziam lands a nice left hook. Ziam lands a right hand and then a leg kick. Vendramini with a leg kick. Both missing on most of the strikes they’re throwing. 10-9 Ziam.
Ziam is landing the jab early in the second. Vendramini lands a nice combo and then a leg kick and tries a takedown against the fence but Ziam defends and they break. They trade left hands and Ziam back working the jab. Ziam still working the jab and mixing the left hand to the body. They trade in close range. Ziam with a body kick. Vendramini fights hard for a takedown and Ziam with fantastic defense as he pushes him off. Ziam with the jab. Ziam with a leg kick. 10-9 Ziam, 20-18 Ziam.
Vendramini lands some big shots to start the third and Ziamis retreating. Vendramini chasing him down and landing big shots as he’s trying for the finish. Ziam gets taken down by Vendramini and Vendramini lands big punches from the top and is now in the half-guard. Vendramini moves to side control and was looking to set something up but gets to the full mount and is landing. Vendramini looking for an arm-in guillotine but the positioning is wrong and he gives up on it. Vendramini in the half-guard and lands a big hammerfist. Vendramini lands some elbows. They get to the fence and Ziam works his way up. Vendramini with a combo against the fence. They clinch against the fence at the end. 10-9 Vendramini, 29-28 Ziam.
Official Result- Fares Ziam def. Luigi Vendramini by majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
> Chase Hooper (10-1-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Steven Peterson (18-9, 2-3 UFC) Featherweights* (Peterson missed weight by 2.5 pounds)
They trade in close range to start. They clinch and Hooper drags him down and Peterson lands from the top and then they get up. Hooper drags Peterson back to the mat and Peterson on top. They get up and are clinched against the fence. Hooper pulls guard and they scramble up and Hooper has the back standing. Peterson with a knee. Hooper pulls it to the ground and Peterson on top and lands some elbows. They stand. Peterson with a right hand. Peterson with a leg kick. Hooper with a left hand and gets a takedown. Hooper now trying for a heel hook. Peterson defending and lands a hammerfist. Hooper now looking for a calf slicer. Peterson with some hammerfists. Hooper stands and gets on top and now both are looking for the leg. Hooper lands some hammerfists. Hooper going for another leg lock. Hooper lands at the end. 10-9 Peterson.
Hooper with a high kick. Hooper lands some left hands. They trade in close range and Hooper with a head kick. Hooper shoots for a takedown but Peterson defends. They are clinched against the fence. Peterson with a right hand in the clinch. Peterson drops down looking for a guillotine but Hooper escapes. Hooper pulls guard. Hooper keeping Peterson in his guard and Peterson with some nice elbows from the top. Peterson landing big punches at the end of the second. 10-9 Peterson, 20-18 Peterson.
Peterson with a Superman punch and landing more as the third starts. Hooper lands some punches. Hooper lands a left hand and tries a takedown but Peterson defends. They’re clinched against the fence and Peterson with some shoulder strikes. They go to the mat and Peterson is on top and landing. Hooper with some soft punches from the bottom. Peterson looking for an arm-triangle but Hooper rolls out and they scramble to their feet and are clinched. Hooper gets it to the mat and takes the back. Hooper trying to find the neck but Peterson defending. They both land on the mat late. 10-9 Peterson, 30-27 Peterson.
Official Result- Steven Peterson def. Chase Hooper by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
> Matt Frevola (8-2-1, 2-2-1 UFC) vs. Terrance McKinney (10-3, 0-0 UFC) Lightweights
McKinney lands a combo right at the start that drops Frevola and then starts landing hammerfists and it is quickly stopped. One of the quickest stoppages ever. McKinney then celebrated and looked to blow out his knee as he was celebrating. What a crazy sequence of events.
Official Result- Terrance McKinney def. Matt Frevola by knockout (punches) at :07 of Round 1
> Pannie Kianzad (#11, 14-5, 3-2 UFC) vs. Alexis Davis (20-10, 7-5 UFC) Women’s Bantamweights
Kianzad lands a left hand right away. They trade in close range. Kianzad with a left hand. They clinch and Davis with some uppercuts. They continue to trade and Davis landing with slightly more volume. Kianzad with a left hook. Kianzad landing some good shots as Davis presses forward. Davis lands a leg kick and Kianzad counters with a right hand. Kianzad with the jab. They trade right hands. Kianzad lands a nice right hand. Davis with a leg kick. Davis with a nice right hand. Davis is landing more but Kianzad is doing more damage. Davis with a body kick. Kianzad with a left hook and then another. 10-9 Kianzad.
Kianzad with the left hook. Davis with a leg kick. Kianzad with a nice right hand. Kianzad with a combo. They clinch and Davis lands a right hand on the break. Kianzad with the right hand. They trade punches. Davis staying busy landing more but Kianzad doing more damage and lands a nice left hook and a nice right hand. Davis with a calf kick. Davis with a step-in knee but eats a right hand from Kianzad. Davis with another calf kick. Kianzad with a hard right hand. Davis with a combo then a leg kick. Davis with a combo and a body kick. They trade jabs. Kianzad with a right hand as Davis lands a calf kick. Davis with a calf kick and then trips Kianzad to the mat and lands some right hands at the end of the round. 10-9 Davis, 19-19.
They are trading to start the third and Davis continuing with the calf kick. Kianzad still landing punches as she’s working the jab more. They trade in close range. Davis with an uppercut and a knee to the body and she lands the jab as they break. Davis landing with more volume as the third wears on. Kianzad with a combo. Davis with the jab and Kianzad lands a nice counter right hand. Kianzad lands a right hand and Davis with a nice right hand in countering. They trade punches. They trade late. Close fight. 10-9 Davis, 29-28 Davis.
Official Result- Pannie Kianzad def. Alexis Davis by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Evloev lands a big right hand. They trade in close range. Evloev lands a right hand. They trade jabs and Evloev with a leg kick. Evloev grabs a single leg and gets a takedown but they quickly scrambled up. Evloev has the back and gets a big takedown and lands some left hands. They get to their feet and Evloev still has the back. They get back to the mat and Evloev looking for a choke. He’s got it in but not under the chin and lets go. Evloev still has back control and lands some punches. Evloev peppering the body and head with the left hand. They get to their feet and Evloev gets another brief takedown. 10-9 Evloev.
Dawodu with a body kick. Evloev gets a takedown and gets Dawodu’s back. They get to their feet and Evloev drags Dawodu back down. They scramble to their feet and Evloev still has a hold of Dawodu and takes him back down again. Evloev trying for the choke again but is always getting it across the face. Evloev landing left hands from the back. Dawodu unable to get out of the bad position. Evloev just peppering with punches. Evloev just dominant as he’s landing big shots from the back. 10-8 Evloev, 20-17 Evloev.
Dawodu trying to land the right hand but missing. Dawodu with a leg kick. They clinch for a second and both land before breaking. Dawodu lands a left hand. Dawodu with a leg kick. Evloev lands an uppercut. Dawodu with the double jab. Evloev goes for a takedown but Dawodu sprawls out of it. Dawodu lands a right hand. They trade the jab. They trade in close range and Dawodu lands to the body and then a left hook to the jaw of Evloev. They trade leg kicks. Dawodu lands a left hand and Evloev is rocked. Dawodu lands another that hurts Evloev more. Dawodu lands a right hand. Evloev gets a takedown and has the back. Evloev lands some left hands as they stand. Evloev gets another takedown and has the back as the fight ends. 10-9 Dawodu, 29-27 Evloev.
Official Result- Movsar Evloev def. Hakeem Dawodu by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)
Murphy lands an early combo. Calderwood with a side kick and lands a spinning back fist. Calderwood with a body kick. Murphy with a left hand. They clinch and Murphy with short uppercuts. They trade knees in the clinch. Calderwood lands a body kick as they break. Calderwood with some leg kicks. Murphy with a combo. They trade and Calderwood with some leg kicks. Calderwood with a right hand. Calderwood landing more as the round wears on. Murphy with a right hand and lands a knee and Calderwood lands some elbows. Murphy with an uppercut. They trade late. 10-9 Calderwood.
They are trading before they clinch and Murphy gets a takedown and is landing punches from the top. Murphy still landing as she moves to the top and is looking for an arm-triangle. Murphy in the half-guard and is still landing left hands from the top. Murphy looking for a kimura late in the second as she lands elbows to the body. A clear round for Murphy. 10-9 Murphy, 19-19.
They trade to start the third. Calderwood with the jab. They trade in close range and Murphy lands a right hand. Calderwood with a combo. Calderwood lands a right hand. Calderwood with some body kicks. Murphy landing the jab. Murphy still landing it as she rushes in. Murphy tries a takedown Calderwood defends and they both land knees and punches in the clinch. They clinch and trade knees and Murphy lands an uppercut. Murphy lands the jab and then follows with some right hands. They trade and both land. Calderwood with a right hand and then a left hook. They trade and Calderwood with a body kick. Close fight. 10-9 Calderwood, 29-28 Calderwood.
Official Result- Lauren Murphy def. Joanne Calderwood by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
> Eryk Anders (13-5 1 NC, 5-5 1 NC UFC) vs. Darren Stewart (12-6 2 NC, 5-5 2 NC UFC) Light Heavyweights
Stewart with a leg kick and Anders lands a counter left hand. Stewart with a leg kick. They clinch against the fence. They trade knees. They are battling for positioning against the fence. Anders with a knee. Stewart gets a takedown and is landing in the half-guard. He ends the round on top. 10-9 Stewart.
Stewart with a leg kick and Anders with a left hand. They clinch against the fence and Stewart with a knee. Stewart lands a nice knee and a shoulder strike. They are broken up by Jason Herzog. Stewart with a leg kick. Anders shoots for a takedown but Stewart defends and they are clinched again. They break and Anders lands a left on the break. Anders lands a left hand and they were both throwing before clinching. They are battling for underhooks but break. They both land and Anders shoots for a takedown but Stewart defends. They break and trade late. 10-9 Anders, 19-19.
Anders with a body kick. Stewart gets a big takedown and was in side control but Anders is able to reverse to the top. Anders gets to side control. Anders landing left hands from the top. Anders is looking to get the mount as he’s looking for an arm-triangle. He lets go and lands some nice left hands. Anders now looking for a rear-naked choke. He lets go and is working from the top. Anders with some left hands from the top. Anders landing left hands as they get to their feet. Several punches from Anders and now the fans aren’t booing. Strong final round for Anders. 10-9 Anders, 29-28 Anders.
Official Result- Eryk Anders def. Darren Stewart by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
> Drew Dober (#13, 23-9 1 NC, 9-5 1 NC UFC) vs. Brad Riddell (9-1, 3-0 UFC) Lightweights
They both land left hands at the start. They’re swinging early. Dober with a leg kick. Riddell with a body kick. Dober with a leg kick followed by a left hand. Dober rocks Riddell with a left hand. Riddell tries for a takedown but Dober defends and is landing left hands to defend. Riddell gets Dober down but they get to their feet. Riddell with an elbow as they break. Dober with a high kick. They trade hard shots. They trade again. Riddell with a combo to the body. Dober with a combo and then a leg kick. Riddell has a cut open. They both land in close. Riddell with a right hand. Dober with a body kick and Riddell counters with a massive right hand. They both land hard shots. Dober with a head kick. Riddell with a hard right hand. Riddell lands some more hard punches at the end. Fun round. 10-9 Dober.
They trade to start the second. Dober lands a left hand. Riddell with a combo and they have a wild exchange in close range. Dober with a high body kick. Riddell lands a hard right hand. Dober gets a takedown. They get to their feet. Riddell trying to get Dober down. Dober lands an elbow and they are on their feet. They break to the center as Riddell lands an elbow. Dober lands a combo and Riddell gets a takedown. They scramble to their feet. They both land wild bombs in close range. Dober with a body kick. Riddell with a right hand to the body. Riddell lands a nice left hook. Dober with a spin kick. 10-9 Riddell, 19-19.
Riddell lands a right hand to start the third. Riddell with a leg kick. Riddell lands another right hand. Dober shoots for the takedown. Riddell with the body kick. They trade in close range and Riddell lands a right hand and is circling around. Dober goes for a takedown but Riddell defends and Dober lands an elbow. Riddell lands a leg kick and some punches. Riddell with a right hand to the body. Dober lands a nice left hand. Riddell lands a big right hand and Dober is hurt. Dober backing up and Riddell after him. Dober goes for a takedown and Riddell landing punches to defend. Riddell sweeps to the top and is landing big shots as the fight ends. Great, great fight. 10-9 Riddell, 29-28 Riddell.
Official Result- Brad Riddell def. Drew Dober by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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> Paul Craig (#14, 14-4-1, 6-4-1 UFC) vs. Jamahal Hill (#15, 8-0 1 NC, 2-0 1 NC UFC) Light Heavyweights
Hill with a leg kick. Craig with a body kick. They trade body kicks. Craig gets the body lock and pulls guard. Craig trying to extend the arm and has Hill in a little trouble. Craig goes for the armbar and has it locked in and it looked like he tapped. Craig gets the triangle choke locked in and is landing big punches and Hill’s arm is flopping around as it’s clearly broken. It is finally stopped by the referee. Horrible job by the referee but Craig gets the first-round finish in a big way.
Official Result- Paul Craig def. Jamahal Hill by TKO (strikes) at 1:59 of Round 1
> Demian Maia (#9, 28-10, 22-10 UFC) vs. Belal Muhammad (#12, 18-3 1 NC, 9-3 1 NC UFC) Welterweights
Muhammad lands a right hand. Maia shoots for a takedown but Muhammad too far away. Maia lands a left hand. Muhammad with a right hand. Maia grabs a single-leg and Muhammad lands some punches as he gets to the fence. Maia still working hard for the takedown. Maia gets Muhammad briefly down. They break. Muhammad lands a right hand. Maia lands a left hand. Muhammad lands a right hand and then another. Maia gets a leg and is looking for a takedown. Maia working hard for the takedown but Muhammad defending well. They break at the end. 10-9 Muhammad.
Neither landing inside the first minute of the second round. Maia finally lands a left hand. Maia tries a takedown but Muhammad defends. Muhammad with a leg kick and then a right hand. Maia lands a couple of punches. Maia attempts another takedown but Muhammad defends. Muhammad landing the right hand more and more. Muhammad with a leg kick. Muhammad continues to land as Maia tries for a takedown but Muhammad is defending against the fence. Muhammad lands some elbows and punches at the end of the round. 10-9 Muhammad, 20-18 Muhammad.
Maia ducks under a punch and tries a takedown but Muhammad slips away. Muhammad with a high kick and then lands a jab. Muhammad lands a right hand. Maia lands a left hand. Muhammad lands a left hand. Maia tries again for a takedown but Muhammad defends. Muhammad with a combo. Maia lands a nice left hand and Muhammad lands a solid counter right. Muhammad with a head kick. Maia trying again for the takedown but Muhammad defends again. They trade punches. Maia trying again for the takedown but Muhammad defending. They end the fight there. 10-9 Muhammad, 30-27 Muhammad.
Official Result- Belal Muhammad def. Demian Maia by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
> Leon Edwards (#3, 18-3 1 NC, 10-2 1 NC UFC) vs. Nate Diaz (20-12, 15-10 UFC) Welterweights
Diaz playing possum and lands a flurry. Edwards with a leg kick. Edwards lands in close. Diaz with a leg kick and then another. Edwards lands a left hand. Edwards with a hard leg kick. Diaz with a body punch and then a jab. Diaz lands a combo. They clinch against the fence. Edwards gets a takedown and has the back of Diaz. Diaz landing left hands. Edwards just holding on but has one hook in. They scramble on the mat. Edwards lands some left hands. They get up. Edwards with a leg kick. 10-9 Edwards.
Edwards with a leg kick. They both land punches. Diaz doing more of the possum playing and then throwing as they both land. Edwards with a leg kick. They trade. Diaz with a leg kick and Edwards returns with a hard leg kick. They trade in close before clinching. Edwards gets a takedown. Diaz grabs a leg and Herb Dean warns Edwards about grabbing the fence. Edwards escapes and they get to their feet. Edwards with a hard leg kick. Edwards lands a hard left hand. They trade in close. Edwards with a leg kick. Diaz lands a left hand and they clinch. Edwards with a back elbow. 10-9 Edwards, 20-18 Edwards.
Edwards lands a big elbow after a clinch to start the third. Diaz with a body kick and Edwards lands a left hand. Edwards with a calf kick. They clinch against the fence. Diaz lands a left hand. They clinch against the fence and Diaz lands some short punches. Edwards gets Diaz down. Edwards lands from the top. Diaz is cut open. They get to their feet and Diaz lands. Edwards with a leg kick. They clinch and Edwards has body control. They go to the ground and Diaz goes for the leg and Edwards has the back. They get to their feet. Edwards with a spinning elbow. 10-9 Edwards, 30-27 Edwards.
Edwards with a body kick. Diaz lands a left hand. Diaz lands another. Edwards with a leg kick. Edwards lands a big left hand. Diaz with a kick up the middle. Edwards trips Diaz to the mat but Diaz gets up and tells him good job. Edwards with a left hand. They trade in close. Edwards with a leg kick. Diaz lands a combo and they clinch. They break. Edwards with a left hand. Edwards lands again. 10-9 Edwards, 40-36 Edwards.
Edwards trips Diaz down but Diaz gets up. They clinch. Diaz lands a right hand as they break. Edwards with a left hand. Both are throwing in close but neither landing. Edwards with a right hand. Diaz lands a left hand. Diaz pressing forward and lands another left hand as they clinch. They break. Edwards with a leg kick. They trade in close range. Edwards with a combo ending with a hard left hand. Diaz is bleeding badly. Diaz rocks Edwards with a left hand and Edwards is wobbly. Diaz with a flurry late and is trying to finish but he doesn’t have enough time as Edwards is able to make it to the end. 10-9 Diaz, 49-46 Edwards.
Official Result- Leon Edwards def. Nate Diaz by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)
Moreno with a leg kick. Moreno lands the jab. Moreno with a leg kick. Moreno with a combo. Moreno with a left hook. Figueiredo not doing much early. Moreno with a big combo. Figueiredo with a left hook to the body. Moreno with a leg kick. He lands another. Figueiredo lands a right hand. They trade elbows. Moreno with a combo then lands a jab. Moreno drops Figueiredo with a punch and gets on top. Figueiredo sweeps and they scramble up and break. Moreno with a body kick. 10-9 Moreno.
They trade to start the second. Moreno landing the jab at will and Figueiredo gets a takedown. Figueiredo passes over half-guard and is looking to lock his arm around the neck of Moreno. Figueiredo landing body punches. There isn’t much going on here. Moreno escapes and they get to their feet. Moreno has the back against the fence and is landing knees. Moreno gets a takedown and Figueiredo was clearly grabbing the fence. Moreno tried for a choke but Figueiredo spun out and Moreno got into the guard of Figueiredo. Moreno with short left hands. Moreno still working from the top and lands some elbows to the body. 10-9 Moreno, 20-18 Moreno.
They trade to start the third. They trade left hands. Moreno with a leg kick. Figueiredo lands a left hook. Moreno gets a takedown and has the back and has the hooks in. Moreno trying for a choke. Figueiredo is defending but in trouble. Moreno lets go. Moreno landing left hands. He has the choke locked in. It is in deep and Figueiredo taps! Moreno has submitted Figueiredo to become the new UFC Flyweight Champion. What an unreal performance.
Official Result- Brandon Moreno def. Deiveson Figueiredo by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:26 of Round 3 to win the UFC Flyweight Championship
> Israel Adesanya (C, 20-1, 9-1 UFC) vs. Marvin Vettori (#3, 17-4-1, 7-2-1 UFC) UFC Middleweight Championship
Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands a body kick and then another leg kick. He lands a couple more. Vettori gets a takedown in the guard of Adesanya. They get to their feet. Vettori trying to get it back down and Adesanya lands an elbow and they break. Adesanya with another leg kick. Vettori missing on his punches but is pressuring. Vettori lands one against the fence. Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya with a combo ending with a leg kick. Adesanya with a head kick. Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya lands an uppercut and just misses a head kick. Vettori lands a leg kick. 10-9 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands another. Adesanya with a head kick. Adesanya landing with a combo as Vettori was coming in. Adesanya with his back against the fence and dodging Vettori’s punches as he’s landing lots of leg kicks. Vettori shoots for the takedown but Adesanya defending against the fence and landing hard elbows. They break. Adesanya with a high kick. Adesanya still landing the leg kicks as he’s avoiding the punches of Vettori. Vettori drops down for the takedown but Adesanya is landing big elbows as he defends. They break. Adesanya with a high kick. Adesanya with a late head kick. 10-9 Adesanya, 20-18 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. Vettori gets a takedown against the fence. Vettori landing and takes the back and had a choke almost locked in but Adesanya reverses out and is now in the guard of Vettori. They scramble up and Adesanya accidentally pokes Vettori in the eye and notices it and they take a break. Adesanya lands a right hand and then a leg kick. Adesanya just misses a high question mark kick. Vettori with the jab. Adesanya with another leg kick. Vettori lands a right hand. Adesanya still landing hard leg kicks. Adesanya lands a leg kick and Vettori goes to the mat and Adesanya lands a couple of punches then Vettori gets up. Adesanya then lands a kick to the groin and we have a timeout before the end of the round. 10-9 Adesanya, 30-27 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. Vettori trying a takedown but Adesanya easily defends and lands a punch on the break. Adesanya with a high kick. Adesanya with a combo and then a leg kick. Vettori goes for a takedown and Adesanya landing elbows and punches. Vettori gets Adesanya down but Adesanya reverses to the top and stands and Vettori is ordered up. Adesanya with a leg kick. Vettori lands a right hand. Adesanya with some body kicks. Vettori lands a leg kick. They trade punches. Adesanya with a leg kick. Vettori trying to land but Adesanya slipping away. Adesanya with a head kick that just misses landing completely flush. Vettori tries for a late takedown but is just holding on. Vettori did nothing with it. 10-9 Adesanya, 40-36 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. Vettori going for a takedown against the fence but Adesanya defending. They end up clinched and Adesanya landing ear shots. They break and Adesanya with an uppercut on the break. Adesanya with a head kick. Vettori with a leg kick. Adesanya lands a combo. Adesanya with a high kick but Vettori blocks it. Adesanya with a combo ending with a leg kick. Vettori shoots for the takedown but can’t complete it. They’re clinched against the fence. With not much happening, they are broken up by Marc Goddard. Adesanya with a high kick. Vettori tried for a takedown with seven seconds to go, don’t think that will get the finish. 10-9 Adesanya, 50-45 Adesanya.
Official Result- Israel Adesanya def. Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to retain the UFC Middleweight Championship
The story of Jim Crockett Jr., and the rise and fall of Jim Crockett Promotions is the lead story in the current double-sized issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We look at the death of Crockett, the Crockett’s family original involvement in wrestling, how Jim took over the moves he made in building a small market territory into one of the big three companies in the U.S., original plans and why they changed, the rise of Ric Flair, where Jm was a Hall of Fame promoter, the fight with Vince McMahon from 1984-88, getting the TBS deal, what led to JCP selling to Turner, the framework of the NWA in the 70s and 80s, the rise of the super show concept, mistakes made at the end, what happened when TBS took over, attempts to get back in wrestling and life after wrestling.
Also in this issue:
NXT to Tuesday, why, what should be expected for the unopposed shows, WrestleMania plans, Takeover plans and how this affects the industry as a whole.
We also look at the next four PPV shows in pro wrestling with current plans and what happened this week to change plans.
A court case that has major ramifications on major wrestling companies.
A new documentary from a WWE star away from WWE.
Raw conflicting with college basketball, how other sports do on TV against AEW or WWE, Canadian rating updated, where wrestling stands with mother major sports programming, WWE losing a time slot to AEW, WWE injury dates, Ric Flair talks his angle being dropped, WWE market value and the most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
New Japan Cup and company plans going forward, Castle Attack shows, injury update, business notes and stadium shows.
Stardom’s biggest show in its history at Budokan Hall.
Life and times of Dean Higuchi, or Dean Ho, one of the major babyface stars of the 70s and his debut in Hawaii, his notoriety prior to wrestling, and his biggest career runs in WWWF and for Roy Shire.
Saturday’s UFC show.
The life of Art Michalik, who was responsible for a major change in pro football, his NFL career, getting into pro wrestling, headlining in Japan and life outside of wrestling.
The life of Johnny DeFazio, one of the most famous local stars in Pittsburgh, the heyday of Studio Wrestling and his life outside of wrestling including being a union head and for decades later a councilman.
The career of Don Serrano, who spent decades in wrestling and certain firsts he was involved in.
The life of Ann Casey, a noteworthy woman wrestling star of the 60s and 70s.
More into detail on the ratings than any other source, we have how every segment on NXT and AEW did as well as how it did with different age groups, genders and more, plus a look at all other wrestling shows of the past week.
Results of the major pro wrestling events of the past week.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight covering AEW Revolution, the Adam Birch lawsuit against ROH, open scoring and other subjects. You can send questions to the show to [email protected]
AEW Revolution takes place today starting at 7 p.m. Eastern time with the pre-show with the main card scheduled from 8 pm.. until 11:30 p.m. to midnight Eastern. The only thing we’ve been told officially is that it will end after 11 p.m. The pre-show match is Riho & Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker & Rebel (there is an angle where Rebel doesn’t want to be in the match due to an injury), the PPV opener is Young Bucks vs. Chris Jericho & MJF. The main event is Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley in an explosive barbed wire match. Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks is a pre-taped cinematic match. A sellout crowd of 1,300, the second largest crowd for an American pro wrestling show since the pandemic, will be there.
Riho & Rosa vs. Baker & Rebel
Young Bucks vs. Jericho & MJF for the tag titles. This should be more of a brawling style of match than usual given the storyline of Jericho & MJF beating up Papa Buck.
Miro & Kip Sabian vs. Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor – They seem to be grooming Miro to be in the world title picture, so him beating Charles could be the result
Casino tag team Battle Royal for a shot at the tag team titles
Hikaru Shida vs. Ryo Mizunami for the women’s title. This match could be a surprise. Mizunami, who doesn’t have a lot of exposure, was put over in the tournament for the specific reason of having a great PPV match with Shida.
Matt Hardy vs. Adam Page in the big money match
Sting & Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks in the cinematic street fight match
Ladder match for a TNT title shot on Wednesday with Cody Rhodes, Scorpio Sky, Penta El Zero M, Max Caster, Lance Archer and a mystery sixth man
Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW title in an explosive barbed wire match Omega would be the favorite to retain although I’ve seen no actual odds listed for this show.
On last night’s show that Bryan and I did, we discussed the two surprises.
We are doing polls on four shows this week. Today is the last day for our polls on the Stardom show Wednesday and the New Japan anniversary show on Thursday from Budokan Hall. We also have a poll up for UFC 259 last night and AEW tonight. For each show, you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Regarding last night’s UFC main event, Judge Derek Cleary gave rounds one, two, four and five to Jan Blachowicz as well as a 10-8 fifth. Judge Sal D’Amato gave one, two, four and five to Blachowicz. Judge Junichiro Kamiyo gave one, three, four and five to Blachowicz and a 10-8 fifth round. Dana White after the show said it was nuts, saying in no way did Blachowicz win four rounds and that the final round shouldn’t have been a 10-8. Based on tons of different fan scores, the general feeling was Blachowicz 48-47, winning rounds two, four and five. To me, rounds one and two could have gone either way. Most had Israel Adesanya in round one and Blachowicz in two, but either way was fine. Round three was Adesanya, but not a blow out. Four and five were Blachowicz. Ten point must sucks because you could have easily scored it 48-47 for Adesanya while thinking Blachowicz really won the fight. For me using current scoring I had 48-47 Adesanya, but if it was half point scoring I’d have had I’d have had it 48.5 to 47.5 for Blachowicz.
Even though all three judges gave Blachowicz four rounds, of 28 media scores, only one gave him four and not one of 28 gave the last round 10-8. Of the scores we’ve seen it was 76-24% in favor of Blachowicz.
Adesanya last night said that there should be open scoring. It will never happen because we will never learn from foreign countries. I’ve been to shows with open scoring in Japan. It’s better for the fans and much better for the fighters. It makes it more exciting. But it doesn’t matter, commissions take forever to change and those in power don’t watch Japan or other places to learn, so they don’t learn and just go into the idea of what would happen (fighters ahead will stall knowing they are ahead) even though their idea really doesn’t happen often, and no more then when fighters already assume they are ahead.
We’ve been told today’s Dragon Gate main event with Shun Skywalker vs. Kaito Ishida was super.
In the New Japan Cup, there is no show tonight/early tomorrow. There is a Tuesday show from Okayama that starts at 4:30 a.m. with Yuji Nagata vs. Yota Tsuji and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada. Matches set up for the second round are Evil vs. Jeff Cobb and Great O’Khan vs. Toru Yano on 3/11, Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo Takagi and KENTA sv. Minoru Suzuki on 3/13 and Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. on 3/14.
The next ROH PPV show on 3 /26 will be headlined by Rush vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH title.
WWE
WWE’s first non-pro wrestling documentary, “Heaven” about a girl wrestler in North Carolina who beat all the boys to win the state title at 106 pounds, is up on the network right now.
The Denver Post has a story today about Bobby Lashley winning the WWE title. Lashley is from Denver. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk and Barry Werner)
UFC
SportsBetting.ag has these odds for matches coming out of last night.
Petr Yan -250 vs. Aljamain Sterling +210
Jan Blachowicz -155 vs Glover Teixeira +135
Dana White said he wants to rematch Yan vs. Sterling as soon as possible. The issue is Sterling was knocked out and you can’t rush that rematch.
It’s a big day for Tony Khan since Fulham won 1-0 at Liverpool, which is only the second time that has happened since 1875.
OTHER NEWS
Kazushi Sakuraba’s first pro wrestling title reign ended earlier today, as Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya won the GHC tag titles from Sakuraba & Takashi Sugiura at the Yokohama Budokan.
With the death of Jim Crockett Jr., the Raleigh News-Observer ran a story on the era when the tapings of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Wide Wrestling were done at the WRAL-TV studios. (thanks to Jeff Hamlin)
Stardom ran Korakuen Hall today with the fallout from Wednesday. Giulia, after losing the main event and getting her head shaved, said she wanted to be in the opener. She was not bald but had short hair: Giulia b Gokigen Death, Konami b Lady C, Momo Watanabe & AZM & Saya Kamitani won a three-way for a trios title shot over Himeka & Maika & Natsupoi and Natsuko Tora & Saki Kashima & Ruaka, Bea Priestley won a three-way over Utami Hayashishita and Syuri by pinning Hayashishita to set up their 4/4 title match, Tam Nakano & Mina Shirakawa & Unagi Sayaka b Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid & Saya Iida to keep the trios titles.
Nakano & Shirakawa & Sayaka defend against Watanabe & AZM & Kamitani on 3/26 at Korakuen Hall. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Tomi Yamada)
Women’s Pro Wrestling Assemble from Ueno Park in Tokyo yesterday: Mikoto Shinda b Ai Houzan, Chihiro Hashimoto & Maami b Dash Chisako & Kanon, Chikayo Nagashima & Makoto & Asuka (Veny inAEW) b Yumiko Hotta & Tsubasa Kuragaki & Riho Kawahata, Hanako Nakamori & Akari b Leon & Rydeen Hagne, Arisa Nakajima & Riko Kaiju b Nanae Takahashi & Honori Hana, Mei Hoshizuki & Maria b Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura, Mayu Iwatani & Starlight Kid b Momo Watanabe & AZM, Nargisa Nozaki won a four-way over Sakura Hirota, Yumi Ohka and Yuki Miyazaki (thanks to Shannon Walsh and WrestlingwithDemons.com)
Daneille Moinet, formerly known as Summer Rae, is the new co-host of “Always Be Racing” on ABR Live.
Tokyo Joshi Pro from yesterday in Tokyo: Sasikama & Mei Saint-Mchel (Mei Suruga) b Hikaru Noa & Sena Shiri, Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita b Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao, Marka Kobashi & Mahiro Kiryu & Raku & Nao Kakuta b Mirai Maiumi & Suzume & Moka Miyamoto & Arisu Endo, Yiku Kamifuku won three-way over Mizuki and Haruna Neko to keep the International Princess title, Yuka Sakazaki & Yuki Aino & Nodoka Tenma b Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe & Pom Harajuku,Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel won the tag team tournament over Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and Wrestlingwithdemoncom)
MLW on Wednesday night has Alex Hammerstone vs. L.A. Park for the National title, ACH vs. Kevin Ku plus the top five middleweight rankings.
SHWA from last night in Western Australia: Cal Collins & Zenith won three-way over Ryan Allen, Dizzy Videl & Michael Morleone b Casey Johns & James Hartness, James Draker & Julian Ward won three-way over Jordan Bishop, Dave Marshall b Great George, Jules Canan & Ryan Rivera b Chris Target & Blake Walker, Taylor King b Seth Kincaid-DQ, Del Cano b Chadwick Johnson-DQ, Chadwick Johnson b Del Cano to win Pride title
Deathmatch Downunder from last night in Melbourne, Australia: Mad Dog b Fox, Anti-Death match, Party b Raw Beef, Kid Valiant & Zane Zodiac b Toast of the Upper Crust, Caveman Ugg b Gore, Robbie Eagles b Mark Davis, Callen Butcher & Viksin b Gweedo & York, JXT b Ritchie Taylor, Royce Chambers b Murdoch, Charli Evans b Joel Bateman in a death match. They announced a doubleheader on 5/21 and 5/2 in Melbourne.
EPW on 3/20 in Perth with a school show and 4/17 with a bigger show. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC 259: Blachowicz vs. Adesanya, emanating from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A stacked card with three title fights headlines the first of two pay-per-view events for the UFC in the month of March, with this show capped off by an undefeated fighter looking to become a two-division champion.
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz defends the title against UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya in the main event. Blachowicz became the champion at UFC 253 when he defeated Dominick Reyes for the vacant title, and, later in that night, Adesanya defeated Paulo Costa to retain his middleweight title and remain with a perfect record for his career at 20-0.
In the co-main event, UFC Women’s Featherweight and Bantamweight Champion Amanda Nunes makes her second defense of the featherweight title as she welcomes the challenge of Megan Anderson. Nunes was last in action in June, making a successful featherweight title defense against Felicia Spencer. Anderson hasn’t fought since last February, when she beat Norma Dumont.
In the third title fight on the card, UFC Bantamweight Champion Petr Yan defends the title for the first time against top contender Aljamain Sterling. Yan won the vacant title at UFC 251 in July, finishing Jose Aldo in the fifth round in a dominant showing. Sterling gets the title shot riding a five-fight win streak, capped off by a quick submission win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 in June.
Also on the main card, lightweights on impressive win streaks battle as Islam Makhachev puts his six-fight win streak on the line against Drew Dober and his three-fight win streak, and light heavyweight sluggers Thiago Santos and Aleksandar Rakic kick off the main card.
In a stacked preliminary card, former UFC & WEC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz returns to action against Casey Kenney, Song Yadong looks to remain unbeaten in the UFC against Kyler Phillips, former flyweight title challenger Joseph Benavidez battles Askar Askarov, and notable fighters such as Livinha Souza, Tim Elliott, Jake Matthews and Kai Kara-France are also in action.
Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 5:15 p.m. Eastern time with preliminary action all the way through the main card.
We are looking for your thoughts on tonight’s event, so send a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle along with a best fight and a worst fight to Dave at [email protected].
ESPN2 & ESPN+ PRELIMS | 5:15 PM ET/2:15 PM PT
> Mario Bautista (8-1, 2-1 UFC) vs. Trevin Jones (12-6 1 NC, 0-0 1 NC UFC) Bantamweights
Jones with a quick leg kick. Bautista landed a body kick and Jones landed a couple more leg kicks. Bautista came forward with a combo and they clinch against the fence and trade knees. Jones has the body lock looking for a takedown but Bautista defending with some punches. Jones landing some knees to the thigh. They continue to battle for position against the fence. They break as Jones lands a knee. Jones with a couple of leg kicks. Bautista lands a right hand and Jones lands an inside leg kick. Jones has been active with the leg kicks in the first. They trade nice punches. Jones with a couple more leg kicks. Jones lands a left hand and shoots for a takedown but time runs out. 10-9 Jones.
Bautista misses a high kick to start the second. They trade kicks. Bautista with a nice flurry. Jones drops Bautista with a right hand and then starts landing hammerfists until it is stopped. Great finish by Jones.
Official Result- Trevin Jones def. Mario Bautista by TKO (punches) at :40 of Round 2
Medic landing a lot of punches and kicks early. Medic has Cruz in trouble early with big punches. Cruz stumbling around after being rocked and Medic drops him with a flying knee and is pounding away on Cruz. Cruz taking a lot of punishment and moving around enough to keep the referee from stopping it but it’s going on too long. Medic landing more and Mark Smith finally stops it. What an impressive showing by Medic and a terrible job of officiating by Smith.
Official Result- Uros Medic def. Aalon Cruz by TKO (punches) at 1:40 of Round 1
They circle around in the first thirty seconds and Lemos misses a head kick. Lemos lands a couple of jabs. Souza with a leg kick and Lemos backs her up with a combo then lands a leg kick. Lemos with a head kick. Lemos then drops Souza with a right hand and is pounding away with punches from the top. She looks for a guillotine but lets go and lands more punches and then looks for a guillotine again. Lemos lands an elbow and stands and Souza looks for a leg lock. Lemos being warned to not grab the fence. Lemos lands an elbow and some punches and they stand and break. Lemos with a leg kick. Lemos then drops Souza again with a punch and a couple more punches ends it. Fantastic showing by Lemos.
Official Result- Amanda Lemos def. Livinha Souza by TKO (punches) at 3:39 of Round 1
> Sean Brady (13-0, 3-0 UFC) vs. Jake Matthews (16-4, 10-4 UFC) Welterweights
Matthews lands a quick combo. Brady with a left hook. Brady with a leg kick. Matthews with a jab and then a right hand to the body. They trade punches. Brady with a combo but eats a left hook from Matthews. Matthews with a left hand to the body. They trade and Matthews lands a right hand and Brady goes down and Matthews jumps down for a guillotine and Brady reverses to the top in side control. Brady trying to work from the top but is just looking for the neck. Brady with some elbows and short punches from the top. Brady grabs the chin again and looks for a guillotine. Brady ends the fight landing from the top. 10-9 Brady.
Matthews with a front kick to the body. They trade punches. Matthews with a right hand. Both looking to land and Brady gets a takedown and is in the guard. Brady moves it next to the fence as he switches to the half-guard. Brady lands some punches as he looks to take the back but then moves back to the top and lands punches as he looks for the neck. Brady with continuing smothering from the top as he has the neck of Matthews and is landing punches. Brady with continued pressure from the top as the round ends. 10-9 Brady, 20-18 Brady.
Brady with an inside leg kick. Matthews throwing punches and kicks but not landing much. Brady with a leg kick. Brady rocks Matthews with a left hook. Brady gets a takedown and is working from the top. Matthews grabs a leg and gives up his back and Brady landing with heavy punches from the back. Brady with more punches from the back as he has control. Brady gets on top and is looking for an arm-triangle, and he has it locked in and Matthews taps! What an impressive showing by Brady, who looked absolutely outstanding.
Official Result- Sean Brady def. Jake Matthews by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:28 of Round 3
> Kennedy Nzechukwu (7-1, 1-1 UFC) vs. Carlos Ulberg (3-0, 0-0 UFC) Light Heavyweights
Ulberg lands some early kicks. Ulberg with a front kick up the middle. Ulberg with a combo and then a lands a head kick that rocks Nzechukwu. Ulberg clinches up against the fence and lands a knee followed by some punches as Nzechukwu is in trouble. Ulberg with a knee then an elbow as they move back to the center. Ulberg with a high kick. Ulberg with a body kick then lands a right hand. Nzechukwu with a left hand. Nzechukwu lands a combo. Ulberg with a leg kick. Ulberg with a body kick then lands a right hand. Nzechukwu with a left hand. Nzechukwu with a hard right hand. Nzechukwu with another big left hand. Ulberg is slowing down. Ulberg with a front kick to the body. Ulberg with some big punches to the body and goes to the head and then lands a knee and back to the body shots. Ulberg with more punches. Nzechukwu lands a couple of left hands. Nzechukwu with a combo. Ulberg with a short uppercut and a leg kick. Nzechukwu with a high kick and then a body kick. What a round. 10-9 Ulberg.
Ulberg lands a left hook. Ulberg with a front kick to the body. Ulberg with a combo. Ulberg with a spinning back fist. Nzechukwu lands a combo. Nzechukwu with another combo as Ulberg is showing no head movement. Ulberg lands some hard body kicks and Nzechukwu is claiming that he was poked in the eye but Herb Dean didn’t see it but then Ulberg does actually poke him in the eye and we have a brief timeout. They get back to action and Ulberg with an inisde leg kick. Nzechukwu lands a left hand. Ulberg with a combo and head kick. Nzechukwu lands a left hand. Ulberg lands a right hand. Nzechukwu then drops Ulberg with a right hand and lands more from the top and finishes it. What a crazy fight as Nzechukwu gets the comeback win.
Official Result- Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg by TKO (punches) at 3:19 of Round 2
> Tim Elliott (#12, 16-11-1, 5-9 UFC) vs. Jordan Espinosa (15-8 1 NC, 2-3 UFC) Flyweights
Elliott coming forward and lands a couple of left hands and they clinch against the fence. They break and Espinosa lands a hook and Elliott tries again to find the takedown against the fence. Elliott lands a knee. They break. Espinosa lands a grazing head kick and Elliott grabs him and takes him down and has the back and looking for a choke as he lands punches. Elliott lands some more and Espinosa defending well. Espinosa looking for a kimura from the bottom as Elliott lands punches to the body. Elliott finishes the first on top. 10-9 Elliott.
Elliott gets a quick takedown but they get back to their feet. Elliott gets another takedown and is working in the half-guard and lands a couple of left hands. They work their way to the fence and Elliott looks to take the back of Espinosa. Elliott lands and has his arm around the neck of Espinosa. Espinosa escapes. Elliott then gets on top and is talking trash to Espinosa as he has his arm on his neck and lands some punches. 10-8 Elliott, 20-17 Elliott.
Espinosa with a jumping knee. Elliott gets a takedown against the fence. Elliott working from the top and lands a left hand. Elliott with more left hands to the body. Elliott gets in the guard of Espinosa and looking to set up a choke. Elliott gets cut open from an elbow from the bottom by Espinosa and Elliott is doing all he can to rub blood onto Espinosa’s face. Elliott landing more punches from the top. Espinosa looks for an armbar and almost had it but Elliott escapes and goes to side control. Elliott goes to the half-guard and Espinosa is just pinned to the mat. Elliott with some elbows and big left hands from the top at the end of the fight. Great showing by Elliott. 10-8 Elliott, 30-25 Elliott.
Official Result- Tim Elliott def. Jordan Espinosa by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
ESPN PRELIMS | 8 PM ET/5 PM PT
> Rogerio Bontorin (#8, 16-2 1 NC, 2-1 UFC) vs. Kai Kara-France (#8, 21-9 1 NC, 4-2 UFC) Flyweights
Bontorin landing punches early on. Bontorin lands a right hand and gets a takedown against the fence and takes the back of Kara-France. Bontorin with some punches and is looking for a rear-naked choke. Kara-France gets out but Bontorin still has the back. Both landing punches on the mat. Bontorin with some body punches and Kara-France landing back punches. Kara-France gets to his feet but Bontorin still has his back and is jumped up and looking for a rear-naked choke from there. They go to the mat and Bontorin still has the choke locked in but Kara-France is able to escape. They stand and Bontorin is still jumped on the back of Kara-France. Kara-France gets him off the back and they separate and Kara-France lands some right hands. Kara-France rocks Bontroin with a right hand and then lands an uppercut and drops Bontorin with a right hand and Kara-France starts walking off and it looked like Herb Dean stopped it but there was some confusion but it was stopped. What a comeback by Kara-France.
Official Result- Kai Kara-France def. Rogerio Bontorin by TKO (punches) at 4:55 of Round 1
> Joseph Benavidez (#2, 28-7, 15-5 UFC) vs. Askar Askarov (#3, 12-0-1, 2-0-1 UFC) Flyweights* (Askarov missed weight by 1 pound)
Askarov with a front kick to the lead leg of Benavidez. Benavidez with a leg kick. Askarov with a right hand and Benavidez with a combo. Askarov with a front kick to the leg. Benavidez with a right hand and then lands a left hand. Askarov keeps throwing the front kick to the body and it is landing. Askarov with a combo and hurts Benavidez with a punch. They trade leg kicks. Askarov gets Benavidez down to the mat late and has the back of Benavidez as the round ends. 10-9 Askarov.
Askarov hurts Benavidez with some punches early in the second round. Benavidez is circling around and Askarov gets a takedown. Askarov landing from the top and takes the back of Benavidez and is landing punches. Benavidez with some back elbows. They scramble and Askarov ends up on top and then they scramble up and Askarov still has control. Askarov has the back of Benavidez and is landing right hands. Askarov has the body and lands some knees. Askarov with more right hands and he gets the back of Benavidez. They get to their feet at the end and Askarov lands some hard right hands at the end. 10-8 Askarov, 20-17 Askarov.
They both land to start. Benavidez lands a grazing head kick and Askarov tried to grab the body but they broke. Askarov with the jab. Askarov lands some punches and tries for a takedown but they break. Askarov with a high kick. They continue to trade but Askarov landing more as he is circling away and trying to stay out of trouble. Benavidez’ left eye is a mess. Askarov with a check right hook. Askarov stuns Benavidez with a right hand. Benavidez lands a right hand. Askarov lands late. 10-9 Askarov, 30-26 Askarov.
Official Result- Askar Askarov def. Joseph Benavidez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
> Song Yadong (#14, 16-4-1 1 NC, 5-0-1 UFC) vs. Kyler Phillips (8-1, 2-0 UFC) Bantamweights
Phillips lands a head kick. Phillips with a right hand. Phillips lands a jab and then a massive head kick that somehow Yadong didn’t fall from. Phillips with a spin kick to the body. Yadong still coming forward and he lands a spin kick that glances to the head of Phillips. Yadong with a body kick. Phillips lands a combo. Yadong with a flying knee attempt. Phillips lands a hard right hand. Phillips gets a takedown and lands an elbow from the top but they get to their feet. Phillips lands a left hook and Yadong counters with an uppercut and a right hand behind it. Phillips with a leg kick and Yadong lands a combo off of it. They tie up and battle for underhooks. They break and Yadong with an elbow and a spin kick to the body. Phillips with a late combo. Fun round. 10-9 Phillips.
Phillips lands a jab and leg kick. Yadong with a right hand. Phillips with a high kick. They trade wild punches. They trade and Phillips gets a brief takedown but they work to their feet and Phillips lands a spin kick to the body as they break. They trade jabs. They trade right hands at the same time. Phillips with a leg kick. They trade punches. Phillips lands a right hand. Yadong with a right hand to the body. Yadong with an uppercut. Phillips gets a takedown. He lands an elbow as he gets in the half-guard of Yadong. Yadong escapes and they get to their feet. Yadong lands a right hand. 10-9 Phillips, 20-18 Phillips.
Yadong with a leg kick. They trade. Phillips lands a left hand and gets a brief takedown as they explode up. Yadong with a combo to the body and ends it with a left hook to the chin of Phillips. Phillips with a leg kick. He lands another. Yadong with some leg kicks and lands a right hand. Yadong with another right hand. They trade right hands. Yadong with a combo. Yadong with another combo. Phillips just misses a spin kick to the chin. Yadong with another combo. Yadong lands a right hand. Phillips gets a takedown and they work to the fence. Phillips gets the back but Yadong spins into his guard. Yadong with a right hand to the body. Yadong ends the fight on top. Good fight, close fight. 10-9 Yadong, 29-28 Phillips.
Official Result- Kyler Phillips def. Song Yadong by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Cruz shoots for a takedown right away but can’t get it and they stand and break. Cruz with a leg kick. He lands another. They trade and Cruz with a head kick. They trade punches and Kenney lands a nice right hand. Cruz with a leg kick and then lands a right hand. Cruz with a quick hook and then a right hand. They trade kicks. Cruz with a right hand. Kenney lands a left hand. They trade kicks. Kenney lands a right hook to the body. They trade strikes. Kenney with a body kick and Cruz with a leg kick. Kenney with a leg kick. 10-9 Cruz.
Cruz with an inside leg kick. Kenney lands a leg kick. Cruz with a high kick. Cruz lands a right hand. Kenney lands a left hand. Cruz shoots for a takedown but Kenney defends. Cruz lands a right hand. Kenney with a leg kick and they trade punches. Cruz with a high kick and Kenney lands a leg kick. Cruz lands a left hand. Kenney with a left hand. They both land left hands. Kenney with a left hand. They trade body kicks. Cruz with a right hand to the body and Kenney counters with a left hand. Cruz with a nice combo. Cruz goes for a takedown and lands a left hand. Cruz lands a right hand. Kenney with an inside leg kick and Cruz counters with a right hand. They trade punches. Cruz with a left hook. Kenney lands a left hand. They trade late. Kenney tries for a neck but the round ends. 10-9 Cruz, 20-18 Cruz.
They trade to start the third and Cruz goes for a takedown and Kenney has the neck while Cruz is in side control. Cruz landing from the top as Kenney lets go of the neck and they scramble to their feet. Kenney with a leg kick. They trade punches. Kenney lands a right hand and Cruz lands a right hand. Kenney tries for a takedown attempt but Cruz easily defends. They trade wild punches. Cruz lands a combo. They trade wild punches. They trade right hands. Cruz ducks under some Kenney punch attempts. Kenney tries a takedown but Cruz stops it with a knee to the body. Cruz gets a late takedown. Cruz with lots of punches from the top to end the fight. 10-9 Cruz, 30-27 Cruz.
Official Result- Dominick Cruz def. Casey Kenney by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
ESPN+ PPV MAIN CARD | 10 PM ET/7 PM PT
> Thiago Santos (#2, 21-8, 13-7 UFC) vs. Aleksandar Rakic (#4, 13-2, 5-1 UFC) Light Heavyweights
Santos with a leg kick. They trade punches. Rakic with a leg kick. Santos just misses a left hand and they trade body kicks. Santos with a body kick and Rakic counters with a leg kick. Rakic goes high with a kick but Santos blocks it. Santos with a body kick. Santos with a body kick, Rakic fires a leg kick back and then Santos counters with a left hand. Rakic with an inside leg kick and then they trade leg kicks. Rakic with a body kick. Rakic just misses a head kick. Santos with a body kick. Santos with a leg kick as Rakic lands a punch. Santos with a leg kick and Rakic lands a couple of body kicks. 10-9 Rakic.
They trade leg kicks. Rakic with a left hand. Rakic with a leg kick. Both are being patient in this round. Rakic with a leg kick. Santos just misses a couple of left hands. Rakic with a leg kick. They clinch against the fence and Rakic has control. They trade low knees as not much is going on. Santos with a couple of knees before they break. Rakic with a leg kick and it gets checked. They trade leg kicks. The pace has slowed late in the second. Rakic lands a nice counter combo after Santos. Santos tries a late flying knee but misses. 10-9 Rakic, 20-18 Rakic.
Rakic with a high body kick. They trade leg kicks. Santos with an inside leg kick. Santos shoots for a takedown but Rakic defends. They break and Rakic lands a hard leg kick. Santos lands some leg kicks. Santos just misses a left hand. Santos with a body kick. Santos with a high kick. Rakic with a leg kick then a right hand. Rakic tries a takedown but Santos landing a flurry of big elbows to defend. Rakic trying a single-leg and goes for the high-crotch but Santos defending. Santos with some shoulder strikes. They break and Rakic with a combo. Santos with a leg kick. Rakic with a leg kick. Santos with another leg kick. 10-9 Santos, 29-28 Rakic.
Official Result- Aleksandar Rakic def. Thiago Santos by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
> Islam Makhachev (#14, 18-1, 7-1 UFC) vs. Drew Dober (23-8 1 NC, 9-4 1 NC UFC) Lightweights
Dober lands a couple of leg kicks. Makhachev gets a takedown and is working in the half-guard of Dober. Makhachev with some short punches from the top. Makhachev moves to the mount. Makhachev then moves to side control and has complete pressure on Dober. Makhachev with short punches and then moves to the mount and briefly takes the back before getting back on top and sliding to side control. Makhachev then gets an armbar and has it in deep but Dober gets out of it before the round ends. Just an absolute clinic on the mat from Makhachev. 10-8 Makhachev.
They trade punches. Makhachev with a knee and then goes for a takedown but Dober defends. Makhachev gets a trip takedown against the fence. Makhachev working in the half-guard. Makhachev working from the top and in control as he lands punches. Makhachev with more control from the top as Dober can’t do a thing to get out from the bottom. Makhachev lands from the top at the end of the round. 10-9 Makhachev, 20-17 Makhachev.
Makhachev gets an early takedown into the full guard of Dober. Dober is throwing elbows from the bottom but Makhachev blocking them and landing punches. Dober looks for a kimura from the bottom. Makhachev with more pressure from the top and has a head-and-arm choke locked in and Dober taps. What a performance by Makhachev, complete domination throughout the fight.
Official Result- Islam Makhachev def. Drew Dober by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 1:37 of Round 3
> Petr Yan (C, 15-1, 7-0 UFC) vs. Aljamain Sterling (#1, 19-3, 11-3 UFC) UFC Bantamweight Championship
Sterling comes forward right away and lands a body kick. Sterling with another body kick. Sterling with a right hand. Sterling with a body kick. Yan playing defense right now and then comes forward but Sterling avoids. Sterling with more body kicks and lands a flying knee. Yan backing up. Sterling with a leg kick. Yan with a body kick. Sterling with a combo ending with a leg kick. Yan gets a takedown off a kick and Sterling with a stomp to the knee before he stands. Sterling lands a right hand and then a flying knee. Sterling tries a takedown but Yan defends. Sterling gets a takedown and lands some right hands before Yan stands. Yan has the body lock standing. Yan lands a right hand before they break. Yan lands a right hand that sends Sterling to the mat but Sterling gets right back up. Yan lands a right hand and then a leg kick trips Sterling to the mat but Sterling gets up. Sterling with a combo to the body but Yan gets a takedown. Sterling looking for a leg and lands some hammerfists to the body. Yan escapes and they stand. Yan with a body kick. Yan gets the back standing and scores a takedown. Sterling reverses to the top and they stand and Sterling with a combo and knee at the end. Close round. 10-9 Sterling.
Sterling with a leg kick. They trade kicks and Sterling to the mat and Yan lands some leg kicks but the referee orders Sterling up. Sterling with a body punch and goes for a takedown but can’t get it completed. Sterling still working for it against the fence. Yan working hard to defend. Yan with some short punches. They break. Sterling with some punches and he looks for the takedown again against the fence. Sterling with heavy pressure against the fence and Yan landing short right hands. Yan lands a nice knee as Sterling tries for the takedown. They break and Yan lands a combo. Sterling with some short punches and lands a knee and some elbows. Sterling tries a takedown but Yan defends and Yan gets a takedown and has the back but they get to their feet quickly. Yan with a knee. Close round again. 10-9 Yan, 19-19.
Sterling with a body kick to start the third. Yan with a leg kick. Sterling with some right hands. Yan with a knee. Sterling with some punches. Yan with a right hand. Sterling tries a takedown but Yan defends and lands a knee. They trade body kicks. Yan with some punches as Sterling covers up. Sterling with some body punches. Yan gets a takedown. Sterling wants him on the mat but Mark Smith orders Sterling up. Yan with a right hand. Sterling with a combo and goes for a takedown against the fence. They break and Yan with a kick. They battle for position and Sterling goes to the mat and Yan with some leg kicks before Sterling stands. Sterling with a high kick and goes for a takedown. Yan with some right hands. Sterling with short punches. Sterling with a leg kick. Yan gets a late takedown. 10-9 Yan, 29-28 Yan.
Sterling with a couple of body kicks. Yan with a trip takedown and lands a leg kick as he doesn’t want to go to the mat with Sterling. Sterling stands and Yan with a knee to the body. Sterling with an uppercut. Yan lands a right hand. Sterling with a combo to the body and head. They trade leg kicks. They trade in close range. Sterling trying for a takedown and they both land leg kicks. Yan with a left hand. Sterling tries a takedown but Yan defends. Yan landing as they break. Yan with some right hands. Sterling with a combo and Yan lands a body kick. Yan with a left hand. Yan with a knee. Sterling with a body kick. Yan lands a hard punch. Sterling trying hard for a takedown but doesn’t have the energy. Yan with a nice combo. Sterling with a head kick. He lands another. Yan lands a vicious illegal knee and we have a timeout. Sterling is down and hurt and the referee and doctor are checking on him. This is taking some time. Sterling doesn’t want the fight to stop but says he can’t see straight. Sterling was clearly down and it was clearly illegal. The fight is stopped by the official and now we have an interesting situation.
It is being ruled that Yan intentionally threw the knee and he’s being disqualified, and Sterling is going to be the new champion. Sterling is emotional and upset about winning that way and threw the belt down, but it was the correct call. The knee was clearly illegal and Yan was told by the referee that Sterling was grounded about five seconds before he threw the knee, so it was clear as day.
Official Result- Aljamain Sterling def. Petr Yan by disqualification (illegal knee) at 4:29 of Round 4 to win the UFC Bantamweight Championship
> Amanda Nunes (C, 20-4, 13-1 UFC) vs. Megan Anderson (11-4, 3-2 UFC) UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship
Nunes with a leg kick. Nunes lands a right hand. Nunes lands another right hand and Anderson is wobbly. Nunes with another right hand and then a leg kick. Nunes gets Anderson to the mat and is landing big punches on the mat. Nunes has the back and is working for a choke. She’s now looking for an armbar. She has it locked in and Anderson taps! Nunes complete domination to retain the title.
Official Result- Amanda Nunes def. Megan Anderson by submission (armbar) at 2:01 of Round 1 to retain the UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship
> Jan Blachowicz (C, 27-8, 10-5 UFC) vs. Israel Adesanya (C MW, 20-0, 9-0 UFC) UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Adesanya with an inside leg kick. Blachowicz with a leg kick. Adesanya with a leg kick and then a body kick and a left hand. Adesanya with a left hand. They both just miss punches. Adesanya with a body kick. They both miss left hands. Blachowicz with a leg kick and one to the body. Adesanya with a leg kick. Blachowicz with two leg kicks. Adesanya with a body kick. Adesanya with more leg kicks and lands a left hand. Very technical first round. 10-9 Adesanya.
Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands a body kick. Adesanya with the jab. Blachowicz lands a right hand. Adesanya with a body kick. Adesanya lands and then Blachowicz lands a right hand and body kick. Blachowicz with a jab to the body. Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya throws a head kick and slips but gets right back up. Adesanya with a couple of leg kicks. They clinch but break quickly. Adesanya with a leg kick. Blachowicz with a body kick and follows with a jab. Adesanya with a body kick followed by a left hand. Adesanya with a low blow and we have a timeout. They get back to action quickly. Blachowicz with a flurry. Adesanya with a left hand. Adesanya with some leg kicks. Adesanya with the jab. 10-9 Blachowicz, 19-19.
Blachowicz with a body kick. He lands a right hand. Adesanya with a leg kick. Blachowicz lands a combo and then gets Adesanya down and has the back but they stand and break. Blachowicz lands a knee and Adesanya stuns Blachowicz with a punch. Adesanya with a head kick. Adesanya with a body kick then a combo and they clinch. Adesanya with some clinch strikes and they break and Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya with the jab. Adesanya with a leg kick. He lands another. They trade heavy jabs. Blachowicz with a nice left hand. They clinch and Blachowicz with a foot stomp. They break. Adesanya with a right hand. 10-9 Adesanya, 29-28 Adesanya.
Adesanya lands a combo and they clinch as Blachowicz is trying for a takedown. Blachowicz lands a right hand as they break. Blachowicz with a big right hand. Adesanya with a snapping jab. They trade and Blachowicz with a takedown. They trade in close range. Adesanya with a right hand. Adesanya with a combo and Blachowicz gets a takedown. Blachowicz keeping Adesanya on the bottom as he’s in the half-guard and landing some punches. Blachowicz with more right hands as he moves into side control. Blachowicz with a right hand and he goes back to the half-guard. Blachowicz ends the round on top. 10-9 Blachowicz, 38-38.
Adesanya with a leg kick. Adesanya lands a left hand. Blachowicz with the jab. Adesanya with a leg kick and Blachowicz with a right hand. They trade lefts. Blachowicz breathing heavy and carrying his hands low. Adesanya with a right hand. Blachowicz with the jab. Adesanya with a high kick. Adesanya with a spin kick to the body. Blachowicz lands a right hand. They trade. Blachowicz gets a takedown. Blachowicz lands from the top and gets into the half-guard. He lands more right hands from the top. Blachowicz ends the fight on top. This is going to come down to a couple of rounds, close fight overall. 10-9 Blachowicz, 48-47 Blachowicz.
Official Result- Jan Blachowicz def. Israel Adesanya by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 49-45) to retain the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
