- Kamaru Usman retains his welterweight title, defeating Jorge Masvidal.
- He had the initiative throughout the entire bout, but couldn’t finish the rival.
- The judges made a controversial decision scoring in favor of Alexander Volkanovski against Max Holloway.
- Petr Yan demolished Jose Aldo.
Usman Takes Advantage of Masvidal’s Short Notice
Kamaru Usman won his 19th straight battle, 12th in the UFC, which kept him the welterweight title. He would defeat Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision this Saturday night, in a match that didn’t reach the fans’ expectations.
The champ was better and was constantly pushing forward, but the majority of his attacks were in the clinch. He would pressure Masvidal back to the fence, and dictate the tempo but without anything spectacular. Gamebred wouldn’t allow the Nigerian Nightmare to finish him, but he also couldn’t restrain his tempo and do anything more than defend properly.
Masvidal was in a tough position almost all the time in the last two rounds, but he prevented Usman from finishing him. It could be said that it is a success for the veteran who accepted this fight just six days ago.
Therefore he didn’t have too much time to prepare for this battle, while Usman came in in the best possible shape. Still, the champion acknowledged his toughness after the fight, saying kind words about his rival.
“‘Gamebred’ is the biggest, baddest dude out there right now, and I had to switch gears and prepare for him on six days’ notice,” Usman said. ‘Gamebred’ is tough, and he showed it out there. He took a lot of big elbows, and he didn’t quit.”
Usman will start preparing for his next fight pretty soon, as there are talks that he might meet with Gilbert Burns at the end of the year. Dana White already confirmed that the Brazilian stands next in the line for challenging the champ.
Volkanovski’s Controversial Win, and Yan’s Dominance
The judges surprised almost everyone once they scored in favor of Alexander Volkanovski after his fight with Max Holloway. The Aussie kept his title via split decision, and it needs to be told that their ruling caused shock all over the UFC community.
It was a match in which Holloway dominated in the opening three rounds, while Volkanovski took the initiative in the latter two, but being far less convincing than his opponent earlier in the match.
Holloway would shake Volkanovski severely on two occasions, making the champ wobble in the octagon.
Petr Yan’s win didn’t raise any such controversies. The Russian was smashing Jose Aldo throughout the entire fight, eventually winning via TKO with 3:24 inside the last round.
Aldo wouldn’t give up even though he wasn’t able to defend himself properly, which is why many went after the referee for not stopping the fight earlier.
Yan’s bantamweight title marks the new era in this division, as many predict this guy a long reign.
