today 07:39
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After Conor McGregor, reportedly the second highest paid fighter in the UFC, Israel Adesanya defeated Jared Cannonier to defend his middleweight title.
Main card
Medium: Israel Adesanya (NGA) -Jared Cannonier (USA) -and body (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) – defended the title
Pen: Alexander Volkanovski (AUS) – Max Holloway (USA) – na body (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) – defended the title
Middle: Sean Strickland (USA) – Alex Pereira (BRA) – KO (1st column, 2:36)
Welterweight: Robbie Lawler (USA) – Bryan Barberena (USA) – TKO, punches (2nd round, 4:47)
Bantamová: Pedro Munhoz (BRA) – Sean O’Malley (USA) – with no result (accidental eye poke)
Prelims
Lightweight: Brad Riddell (NZL) – Interlace Turner (USA) – guillotine choke (1. kolo, 0:45)
Velterova: Jim Miller (USA) – Donald Cerrone (USA) – guillotine choke (2nd round, 1:32)
Velterova: Ian Garry (IRL)-Gabriel Green (USA)-na body (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Middle: Brad Tavares (USA) – Dricus du Plessis (RSA)-na body (28-29, 28-29, 28-29)
Early prelims
Middle: Uriah Hall (JAM) – Andre Muniz (BRA) – na body (27-30, 27-30, 27-30)
Must: Jessica Eye (USA) – Maycee Barber (USA) – and body (28-29, 28-29, 27-30)
Bantam: Jessica-Rose Clark (AUS) – Julija Stoliarenko (LTU) – armbar (1. kolo, 0:42)
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The Nigerian triumphed in the main event of UFC 276 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas thanks to a controlled performance. In an action-poor match, he kept his challenger at bay and won by 49–46, 49–46, 50–45.
He was more interested in the epic entrance to the motif of the wrestling superstar Undertaker than the actual performance in the cage. On the other hand, Cannonier, who started in the UFC at heavyweight, did not threaten him.
Adesanya is still undefeated in 23 middleweight fights. He suffered the only loss in his MMA career last March against Poland’s Jan Blachowicz while trying to win the light heavyweight title.
The native of Lagos was shaking his head after the last match, not satisfied with his performance. The fans whistled during and after the match.
Another challenger? He has beaten Adesanya twice already
Alex Pereira will most likely be Adesanya’s next challenger. The Brazilian knocked out Sean Strickland in the middle of the 1st round at the same tournament.
Pereira has only seven fights in MMA and only three in the UFC, but he defeated Adesanya twice in kickboxing in 2016 and 2017. To this day, he is the only one to finish the Nigerian champion in any discipline.
“That was in kickboxing. Next time I’ll hit you and you’ll be balancing like you’re on ice skates. You will freeze like Elsa (a character from the fairy tale Ice Kingdom),” Adesanya said after the last match.
Volkanovski bathed the challenger in a blood bath
Undaunted featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski defended his title in dominant fashion. He knocked out the most serious possible challenger in the division, Max Holloway, in all five rounds. The Australian also defeated the same opponent in the third fight for the belt, each time on points. And this time most unambiguously and probably for good.
Holloway did not get into the match at all, the champion surpassed him especially in speed. From the 2nd round he was fighting with a deep laceration above his left eye. By the end, blood was sprinkling the entire surface of his face.
Volkanovski found only one winner in 26 matches, back in May 2013 he was beaten by Corey Nelson in Australian FC. Since then, he has won 22 times in a row and has no challenger in the division. He expressed his ambition to win a second title in the weight category up to 70 kilograms, who does not have a champion after taking the belt from Charles Oliveira: “I want to be as busy as possible and this division is not enough for me. I want to move up a weight.’
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He fought for the title. Cowboy Cerrone has ended his career
Jim Miller triumphed in a fight between true UFC veterans, finishing Donald Cerrone in the 2nd round with a guillotine choke. Miller is the organization’s record holder in the number of matches and victories, Cerrone is second in the historical rankings. Together, they have 108 professional matches.
The popular “Cowboy” will not add another one. He did not win a single one of the last seven duels and ended his career at the age of 39 with a record of 36-17 (2).
In December 2015, he fought for the UFC lightweight title, losing to Rafael dos Anjos in 66 seconds. He is the only fighter who has been defeated by Conor McGregor since November 2016. At that time, 40 seconds were enough for the Irish star.
After the loss, Cerrone symbolically folded his gloves into a cowboy hat in the middle of the cage and the fans gave a standing ovation: “I don’t love MMA anymore. It’s hard for me to get up, this was the longest preparation in a long time… Sold out, Las Vegas, it’s time to bow out and leave. Now I’m going to be a movie star!”
Ex-champion Lawler fell again at the age of 40
Former 40-year-old welterweight champion (two defenses) Robbie Lawler sparred with Bryan Barberen for a round and a half, then his advanced age seemed to show. Barberena pushed him to the net with punches, where the salvo continued until the referee intervened. A shaken Lawler was barely on his feet as the referee protected the wrestler’s health.
The performance of the ex-champion experienced a decline after losing the title, he won only one of the last six duels. He is not ending his career yet. Barberena won for the third time in a row, calling the attractive match with the legend an honor.
Former KSW champion on the wave in the UFC
The South African Dricus du Plessis, who defeated the star Robert Soldič in the fight for the title of the Polish organization KSW, also won in the third duel after transferring to the UFC. He beat the American Brad Tavares on points, who neither Israel Adesanya nor Yoel Romero could finish before the limit. Former WAKO K-1 World Champion Du Plessis improved his score to 17-2.
Instead of O’Malley’s sugar show, a match without a result
One of the rising stars of the UFC, Sean O’Malley, met an opponent from the TOP 15 for the first time. The American with the nickname “Sugar” did not get to his “sugar show”. Pedro Munhoz controlled his strengths in a tactical battle and won the 1st round. In the second, O’Malley inadvertently poked him in the eye with a finger. The Brazilian informed the called doctor that he could not see him, and the referee waved the end. As only the 2nd round passed, the match did not progress and ended without a result. The fans roared.
O’Malley remains 15-1 and remains untested by elite competition. Munhoz entered the fight as the ninth-ranked bantamweight after four defeats in his last five duels. However, he was losing to the absolute top of the division and the champions.
She lost to Pudilova, collapsed on the scale. The Lithuanian woman twisted her opponent’s elbow
The Lithuanian Julija Stoliarenko, who also appeared in Příbram in March 2015, where she lost to the Czech unit Lucia Pudilová, achieved her first victory in the UFC on the fourth attempt.
The former Invicta and ILFJ Burmese boxing champion, whose footage of her weigh-in collapse went viral last year, armbars Jessica-Rose Clark. The Australian knocked back quickly after only 42 seconds, but not quickly enough. Her opponent twisted her elbow to the opposite side.
The challenger for the title ended her career after the loss
The American Jessica Eye, who failed in June 2019 in the fight for the flyweight title against Valentina Shevchenko, after her fourth loss in a row, put her gloves in the middle of the octagon and ended her career: “I think it’s time. I spent most of the years after my twenties in a cage. I would like to find out what the world looks like outside of it.”
He says goodbye at the age of 35 with a record of 15-11 (1). In the bye, she was not enough for talented compatriot Maycee Barber with an 11-2 record and title aspirations.
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