Join us today on Bloody Elbow for live results, discussion, round scoring, and play-by-play as UFC 244 goes down in Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The main event will a welterweight battle between Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal for a totally made-up “BMF” belt. The co-main comes at 185 pounds, where Kelvin Gastelum will welcome Darren Till to the division.
This post will cover the four fights on the main card up to the main event.
We’ll start on Fight Pass at approximately 6:30pm ET with three fights. The card then moves to ESPN2 at 8pm ET for four more bouts, then onto the main PPV card at 10pm ET. The full lineup and schedule follows. The prelims and main event will be covered in separate posts.
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Darren Till
Round 1 – Gastelum comes forward immediately and they clinch. Knees to the body from Gastelum. Till reverses and they break. Low outside leg kick from Till. They clinch again. They jockey for position. Two minutes in. More position changes against the cage. Gastelum with some knees. Till dumps him off with two minutes to go. Leg kick from Till. They trade inside leg kicks. Till with a combo. Till with an outside leg kick and a jab. Till with a left as Gastelum kicks. 10-9 Till.
Round 2 – Leg kick from Gastelum. Till with a combo. Till with a nice shot off the break. Lots of feinting, not a lot of striking. Gastelum goes to the body. Outside leg kick from Till, and a left hook. Outside leg kick from Gastelum. Till with a knee. Short elbow from Gastelum. Till gets poked in the eye. Ugh. Yeah that went right in his eye. Till didn’t even want any time. Till lands two kicks on the restart. And another. Gastelum fires back hard. They clinch. Gastelum looks for a takedown. Nothing there. Gastelum with a low kick. Gastelum evades a Till combo, and he lands another low kick. The crowd is booing. Another leg kick from Gastelum. Gastelum swings and misses. Till fights off a takedown and lands a left. Gastelum with one more kick. 10-9 Till.
Round 3 – Kicks from both men. Gastelum with more. Till catches one and lands a hard left hook. Gastelum ducks and gets a body lock, but Till fights him off. Strong. Till with a big left! Biggest punch of the fight. Gastelum with a left right back. Jab from Gastelum. Gastelum with a spinning elbow. Till with more leg kicks. Outside leg kick from Gastelum. The crowd is restless again. Till catches another kick but can’t do anything with it. Till is circling away from Gastelum’s power hand. Till with a jab. Just misses with a knee. Till looks for a takedown but can’t get it. Till with a left. Gastelum with a left to the body. Gastelum with a double-leg. Gastelum looks for the back but Till pops right up. 30 seconds left. Gastelum with a kick and a body shot. Nice left. He gets another double-leg takedown but Till gets right up. Gastelum turns it up, but too late on my card. 10-9 Gastelum but 29-28 Till.
Darren Till defeated Kelvin Gastelum via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 30-27)
Stephen Thompson vs. Vicente Luque
Round 1 – Luque with leg kicks early. Wonderboy responds. More leg kicks from each man. Jab from Thompson. Another. Low kick from Luque. Side kick from Thompson. Luque lands a right. Thompson with a straight left and a jab. Nice combo from Wonderboy. Two more lefts. Body kick from Luque. Lead right scores for Thompson. Luque lands three rights in a row! Uppercut. Thompson resets. Thompson scoops a leg then throws a right hook. Another one. Throwing finding a home for the right. Low kicks from Luque. Two-punch combo from Luque. They trade hard shots in the pocket. Thompson lands and circles out. Thompson with a straight left. 10-9 Thompson.
Round 2 – Thompson with a lead right hook. Body kicks from Luque. Thompson with a hard straight left. He’s ripping Luque and finding his rhythm. Luque fires back though. Jab from Wonderboy. Hard straight left again. Front leg side kick to the head drops Luque! It just kind of pushed him down though, and Thompson smiles. They both land big punches. Spinning kick from Thompson! They’re trading big punches! Spinning back to the body for Thompson. Straight left and a side kick from Thompson. Lead right from Thompson. Thompson beating him up against the cage. Luque gives it back though. Thompson with the wheel kick again. More leg kicks from both fighters. Biiig right hook from Thompson. 10-9 Thompson.
Round 3 – Both with kicks. Thompson landing and evading. Luque misses with a spin kick. Thompson with a side kick to the guy so hard that Luque went down! He came back up but Thompson drops him with a left! He’s in big trouble but Thompson let him up. Body/head combo from Thompson. Straight right. Luque’s face is really beat up. High kick from Wonderboy. Body kick from Luque. Thompson with a combo. Luque with two lefts. He’s coming on a bit. Side kick from Thompson. Thompson hit him with a right that gave Luque the chicken legs. Thompson doesn’t press too hard. Spin kick to the body. Hook kick. Body kick. Huge left. Luque gets to the horn though. 10-8 and 30-26 Thompson.
Stephen Thompson defeated Vicente Luque via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
Derrick Lewis vs. Blagoy Ivanov
Round 1 – No strikes thrown for the first 30 seconds. Lewis throws two half-hearted kicks. Ivanov playing patty cake. Head kick from Lewis is caught and Ivanov puts him on the floor right into side. He looks for an Americana but Lewis gets up. Huge right and a head kick from Lewis. Ivanov weathers it. Knee to the belly from Ivanov. Lewis looks for a takedown? They’re back up fast. Another knee to the belly from Ivanov. Ivanov looks for a guillotine. Elbow from Lewis. Ivanov tries to hit a judo throw but can’t. Lewis just misse with a left. Knees and they separate. Both land big rights. Ivanov lands to the body. 10-9 Ivanov.
Round 2 – Inside leg kick from Lewis. Ivanov with a hard left. They clinch. Lewis looks for a trip but they separate. Inside leg kick from Ivanov. They both land big shots but Ivanov is wobbled! Lewis charges in but eats a shot too! Lewis unloads with more but gets taken down! Ivanov has a key lock! Lewis is giving the thumbs up. He rolls out back to his feet and charges forward with rights! Ivanov is cut up. Ivanov charges into the clinch. Body work and uppercut from Ivanov. Lewis with a knee and a huge right! Ivanov takes it! Somehow. Two big shots from Ivanov. Ivanov hits a big judo throw! He’s looking for a front choke but the horn goes. 10-9 Lewis.
Round 3 – Counter right hook from Ivanov. Ivanov whiffs on a right this time. Lewis isn’t doing anything yet a minute in. Ivanov lands to the body. Lewis connects partially with a right. Ivanov wades into the clinch. Ivanov can’t get a trip halfway through the round. Lewis misses with an uppercut. Lewis with a knee in the clinch. He shoots, which wasn’t a bright idea. Ivanov looks for a front choke but couldn’t get it. He got up and avoided a Lewis barrage. More clinch work. Uppercut from Ivanov. Knee from Lewis. They brawl with 15 seconds to go. Two lefts and an uppercut from Lewis late. 10-9 and 29-28 Lewis.
Derrick Lewis defeated Blagoi Ivanov via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Kevin Lee vs. Gregor Gillespie
Round 1 – They trade jabs. Two rights land for Gillespie. He shoots but gets nowhere. Both land jabs. Lee with a big right. Uppercut from Gillespie. Two jabs land for Lee. They keep jabbing, and landing hard. Lee misses with a head kick. Lee goes to the body. Jab, jab, jab…and a jab. Lee rips the body. Right hook and LEFT HEAD KICK KNOCKS HIM OUT COLD! WOW! He was unconscious as soon as it landed!
Kevin Lee defeated Gregor Gillespie via KO (head kick), 2:47 of round 1
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