T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada was home to a great night of fights. The card saw seven (T)KOs, and six decisions, including one split-decision.
*Ben Saunders, Urijah Faber and Colby Covington were transported to the hospital.
The last PPV card of the year and the decade delivered, but one would expect that since it was stacked from top to bottom with compelling fights. Amanda Nunes executed an intelligent, dominant performance and retained her bantamweight belt and became the most winning woman in the UFC (12 wins).
Alexander Volkanovski dethroned Max Holloway with raw power, excellent cardio and an superb kicking game. Holloway didn’t have an answer for the amount of punishment his legs endured, nor the powerful punches Volkanovski was landing with great frequency. Alexander is the second champion to come from the City Kickboxing gym in New Zealand (Israel Adesanya is the other).
Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington had an exciting contest filled with furious exchanges that saw Covington possibly end up with a broken jaw and still fight on to the last moments of the fight when the “Nigerian Nightmare” finished him off. Going into the fourth round, many saw the fight even, but Kamaru turned it up to 11 and dropped Colby twice then jumped on him and landed several hammerfists until referee Mark Goddard pulled him off.
Fight of the Night: Usman/Covington
Jessica Eye (UD 29-28 x3), Brandon Moreno (UD 29-28 x2, 30-27), Omari Akhmedov (UD 29-28 x3), Marlon Moraes (SD 29-28, 28-29, 29-28), Amanda Nunes (UD 49-44, 49-46, 49-45), Alexander Volkanovski (UD 48-47, 48-47, 50-45) all won their respective bouts via decision.
Performances of the Night: Petr Yan, Irene Aldana
Punahele Soriano (R1 KO), Chase Hooper (R1 TKO), Matt Brown (R1 KO), Irene Aldana (R1 KO), Geoff Neal (R1 TKO), Petr Yan (R3 TKO), Kamaru Usman (R5 TKO) all won their bouts with impressive finishes but it was Petr Yan and Irene Aldana that took home $50,000 bonuses for their work.
Gate: $4.04 million
Attendance: 16,811
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