Jan Blachowicz is still the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion!
The 205-pound champion entered his bout against UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya as the underdog, but after an intense back-and-forth between the two titleholders, Blachowicz managed to outstrike the 185-pound champion to retain his title. Blachowicz also became the first man to beat Adesanya in MMA.
That wasn’t the only shocking win last night as a new UFC Bantamweight Champion emerged victorious, though not in the way that many people expected. Heading into the fourth round, it appeared that Petr Yan would retain his belt according to the judge’s scorecard; however, the 135-pound champion made a huge mistake that cost him the title. Yan delivered an illegal knee to a down Sterling in the third round and was disqualified since his opponent was unable to continue.
Sterling became the first UFC fighter in history to win the belt by disqualification, a distinction that he isn’t too proud of (Transcript courtesy of MMA Junkie):
“Everything I worked for to this point and to f*cking have the fight go like that,” Sterling told UFC commentator Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview. “I thought the fight was very close, but I was down two rounds. That’s not the way I wanted to win. That’s not the way I envisioned this.
“I was trying to continue, even be all f*cked up like that, but I was in bad shape. It would’ve just been the ego taking over and just get further punishment. The ref told me I was down. I don’t know, man. I understand there’s some heat and some bad blood, but this is a rivalry.”
For the Women’s Bantamweight title, Amanda Nunes dominated Megan Anderson and beat the former Invicta FC Featherweight champion by submission. Check out the full results below:
Main card (ESPN+ PPV)
Jan Błachowicz def. Israel Adesanya via unanimous decision to retain light heavyweight title.
Amanda Nunes def. Megan Anderson via 1st-round submission to retain women's featherweight title (2:03).
Aljamain Sterling def. Petr Yan via 4th-round disqualification for UFC bantamweight championship (4:29).
Islam Makhachev def. Drew Dober via 3rd-round submission (1:37).
Aleksandar Rakić def. Thiago Santos via unanimous decision.
Preliminary card (ESPN/ESPN+)
Dominick Cruz def. Casey Kenney via unanimous decision.
Kyler Phillips def. Song Yadong via unanimous decision.
Askar Askarov def. Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision.
Kai Kara-France def. Rogério Bontorin via 1st-round TKO (4:55).
Early prelims (ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass)
Tim Elliott def. Jordan Espinosa via unanimous decision
Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg via 2nd-round KO (3:19).
Sean Brady def. Jake Matthews via 3rd-round submission (3:28).
Amanda Lemos def Lívia Renata Souza 1st-round TKO (3:39).
Uroš Medić def. Aalon Cruz via 1st-round TKO (1:40).
Trevin Jones def. Mario Bautista via 2nd-round TKO (:47).