Join us today on Bloody Elbow for live results, discussion, round scoring, and play-by-play as UFC 248 goes down in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The main event will be a middleweight title fight between champ Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero. The co-main is for a belt too, with Weili Zhang putting up her women’s strawweight belt against former champ Joanna Jedrrejczyk.
This post will cover the main PPV card.
We’ll start on Fight Pass and ESPN+ at approximately 7pm ET with two fights. The card then moves to ESPN at 8pm ET for four more bouts, then onto the main PPV card at 10pm ET. The full lineup and schedule follows. The main card and main event will be covered in separate posts.
Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero
Round 1 – Romero is standing still like a statue with his hands up. He’s just looking at Adesanya bouncing around. One minute in and nothing has happened. Almost halfway through the round and all that’s happened is a couple of leg kicks. Very odd. Yoel drops to one knee briefly. He lands a big punch though! Low kick from Adesanya. Jumping kick to the body from Romero. Inside leg kick from Romero. 10-9 Romero. So weird.
Round 2 – Adesanya lands but eats a big counter from Romero. Adesanya wings a head kick. They trade kicks. Adesanya flurries. Inside leg kick from Adesanya. Slapping outside leg kick. Jab from the champ. Adesanya spins. Romero trips up Adesanya with a low kick and swarms! He only lands one shot though. Head kick from Adesanya. Another. Romero catches a kick and misses with a huge left. Hard inside leg kick, and another. The crowd is booing. Romro misses with a jumping kick. Adesanya sticks him with the left. 10-9 Adesanya.
Round 3 – Front kick from the champ. Adesanya misses with a head kick and Yoel lands a left. Outside leg kick from Adesanya. Romero with a slapping kick. He lands to the body. Front kick from Adesanya and he evades the counter. Low kick from Adesanya. Romero returns one. Jab to the body from Adesanya. Inside leg kick from Romero. Outside leg kick from Romero. Romero runs in a lands a left but slips. Body kick from Romero. Lots of feinting. Front kick to the body from Adesanya. Slapping body kick from Adesanya. Romero returns it. Front kick to the face from Adesanya. Izzy spins. Crowd boos again. Jab from the champ. Body shot. Head kick is blocked by Romero. 10-9 Adesanya.
Round 4 – The ref warns them for inactivity. Front kick from Adesanya. Hard leg kick from Izzy. Body kick from Romero. Knee to the belly from Romero. Adesanya with a left. Low kick again. Jab from Adesanya. The crowd is still unhappy. Leg kick from Adesanya. Short right from Adesanya. Eye poke to Romero, who is taking some time. Doctor is in to look at his eye. He’s deemed good to go. Romero charges in for an immediate takedown on the restart. Izzy was only down for a second. Body kick from Adesanya. Romero is hopping up and down for some reason. The ref warns them again. Romero charges in with a left. He misses with the second one. Adesanya back to the leg kick. Romero with a right. At least he’s finally fighting. Heaaaavy leg kick from Adesanya. He misses with a head kick. Romero shoots in again but lands a hard left instead. 10-9 Adesanya.
Round 5 – An Izzy kick is blocked. Leg kick from Yoel. Another hard low kick from Adesanya. Another. Romero charges in but there’s nothing there. Adesanya with a right. Romero gets inside but can’t get Adesanya to the floor. Another leg kick. Left from the champ. Two minutes to go. Low kick from Romero. Again. Straight left from Romero. Romero almost trips him and charges after Adesanya. He wisely retreats. Left from Romero. Jab from Izzy. Romero bounces to one knee, then misses with two punches. He’s trying to goad Adesanya in 40 seconds to go. Leg kick from Adesanya. Romero with a combo. Thy go crazry for the last 10 seconds, but no one really lands. They get in each other’s faces after the horn. 10-9 Romero but 48-47 Adesanya.
Israel Adesanya defeated Yoel Romero via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)
Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Round 1 – Jedrzejczyk pumps the jab and throws a light leg kick. They trade low kicks. Joanna with a quick right. Hard straight right from Jedrzejczyk. She lands again. Zhang a little out of range so far. Joanna with another right and an inside leg kick. Weili throws and lands. They both land inside leg kicks. Joanna checks a kick. Weili with two hard rights. Side kick from Weili. She’s getting her rhythm now. Hard shot from Jedrzejczyk. Counter right from Zhang. Another. Joanna circling. They’re throwing down! Hard low kick from Weili. Another right from the champ. Weili spins and misses with a kick. They trade again. Left hook scores for Zhang. Joanna punches her after the bell! Weili is pissed, but Joanna apologizes. 10-9 Zhang.
Round 2 – They both land in a fast exchange. Joanna with a hard right. Another big exchange that ends with a Joanna leg kick. Jedrzejczyk landing and evading. Weili shoots in and they clinch. Weili looks for a takedown but eats a knee. Another knee from Jedrzejczyk. Zhang with an elbow inside. Jedrzejczyk lands another knee and they break. Zhang with a hard counter right. Another right has Joanna staggered! Side kick. Zhang with a takedown but Joanna is right back up. Leg kick from Joanna. Joanna with the jab but gets countered. Front kick from Jedrzejczyk. Body kick from Weili. Low kick from Joanna. Jedrzejczyk with head kick! They may have clashed heads. 10-9 Jedrzejczyk.
Round 3 – They get after it right away. Zhang presses with low kicks and power punches. Joanna with a right over the top. Now a left! Jab from Zhang. They both land inside. Leg kick and a left from Joanna. Hard straight left from Jedrzejczyk! Inside leg kick from Joanna. Weili fires back with her own. Counter from Zhang. They exchange again. Front kick to the body from Jedrzejczyk. Zhang clinches and misse with an elbow. Zhang hits a trip but Joanna is up right away. Same sequence. Inside leg kick from Weili. Zhang catches a kick and drags Joanan down. She’s right back up. Jedrzejczyk has a big goose egg on her forehead. Inside leg kick from Zhang. Straight left from Joanna, and another left. Weili with a right over the top. Zhang’s face is a bloody mess. They battle aganst the fence. 10-9 Jedrzejczyk. Great fight.
Round 4 – Body kick from Zhang, and a combo. Low kick from the champion. Joanna with a hard left, but Weili fires right back. Another big shot from Jedrzejczyk. They both land hard. Big left hook from Weili! Joanna fires right back. Big knee up the middle from Jedrzejczyk! This is amazing. Big body-head combo from Joanna. Head kick! Check left hook from Jedrzejczyk. They both land again. Low kick from Joanna. Yet again they both land big in an exchange. Weili with a right! Joanna kicks the leg again. Weili with an inside leg kick. Jedrzejczyk with a massive elbow and they clinch. Joanna spins away and scores with an elbow and a right hook. They both land at the same time again! I’ve never seen anything like this. Counter left hook from Jedrzejczyk. 10-9 Jedrzejczyk.
Round 5 – Both women are bloodied and batter. They hug to start the round. They throw down right away. Body kick from Joanna. Combo from Zhang. Solid low kick from Jedrzejczyk. Joanna with a right over the top. Weili with a left hook that blew up Joanna’s nose! Weili with antother left hook, and a body kick. Joanna goes to the body. Joanna wih two huge left hooks! Weili wih her own! They both land again. Another left hook from Weili forces Joanna to clinch. Knee to the belly from Jedrzejczyk. They trade body kicks. High body kick from Jedrzejczyk. Inside leg kick from Weili. More kicks. They land straight lefts. Zhang with an elbow. Joanna with a huge spinning back fist! Zhang with a massive right, just before the horn! Holy cow! I have it 10-9 Weili but 48-47 Jedrzejczyk. No score would surprise me though.
Zhang Weili defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk via split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)
Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
Round 1 – Dariush with a straight left and a body kick. Klose misses with a counter. But he lands the next one. Dariush shoots in and gets it to the floor. Klose is up but is warned for grabbing the cage. Dariush jumps on his back and secures a body triangle. Human backpack. He looks for a choke. Klose is defending. Few punches from Dariush. They’ve sort of stalled out here. Dariush looking for the choke again. Klose is trying to pull his arms off, and succeeds. 10-9 Dariush.
Round 2 – Inside leg kick from Klose. Dariush with one of his own, and the second one catches cup. They restart right away. Leg kick and aright from Klose. Two huge rights from Klos! Leg kicks and a counter left from Dariush. Dariush firs back and hurts Klose! He’s on the roller skates! He’s staggered and goes down after another big left It’s over! That was some wild action!
Beneil Dariush defeated Drakkar Klose via KO (punches), 1:00 of round 2
Round 1 – Jingliang lands first. They are both throwing but not connecting much. Low kick from Magny. Magny gets the Thai clinch but can’t land a knee. Jingliang looking for a takedown. Jingliang with a huge right on the break! Magny begs off. He’s looking for a takedown now, and gets Jingliang down. He’s up fast but Magny is holding onto him. They jockey for position against the fence, and finally break with 90 seconds left. Jab from Magny and he clinches again. Hard knee to the body from Magny. Jingliang with a takedown. Magny launches him off and gets up right away. Magny with some rights and knees to the body. Hard jab. 10-9 Jingliang.
Round 2 – Magny with the pressure right away. Jingliang clinches. Magny reverses position and almost gets a body lock takedown. Magny lands a bunch of short punches. Jingliang is warned a couple of times for grabbing the fence. Magny looks for a piledriver! Can’t get it though. Magny gets a brief takedown. Jingliang lands a couple of punches and Magny resets. Jab and he clinches. He lands some elbows on Jingliang. Big knee and two punches. Jingliang is moving his head. Magny is starting to land hard though. Big shot! He takes him down. 10-9 Magny.
Round 3 – Outside leg kick from Magny. Jingliang charges in but misses. Two jabs and a right from Magny. Jingliang wades in. Magny looks for a takedown and they battle in the clinch. Jingliang spins around to his back, releases him, and just misses with a head kick. Magny keeps landing the jab. He checks a low kick from Jingliang. They both swing and miss. Magny with a trip takedown. Magny grapevines the legs and lands a few punches. He takes the back. Knees to the butt. Sure. Jingliang is back to his feet but it’s too late. 10-9 and 29-28 Magny.
Neil Magny defeated Li Jingliang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Round 1 – Grifffin gets after it right away. Front kick from Oliveira. Oliveira lands a right and Griffin clinches. Oliveira holds him against the fence. They break. Another front kick followed by a right. Nice jab from Griffin. Griffin lands hard. He gets a takedown. He gradually moves Cowboy over against the fence. Not much else going on though. He’s looking for an arm triangle but there isn’t enough room. Cowboy back up with 30 seconds to go. Griffin stays on him and drags him down, but Oliveira gets up and lands a couple of shots before the horn. 10-9 Griffin.
Round 2 – Griffin with an immediate jab. Oliveira with two low kicks. Griffin with a punch to the chest. Griffin is bleeding. Jab from Griffin. They clinch. Cowboy is looking for a takedown. They break and the ref calls for time for a doctor to come in and look at Griffin’s cut. It appears to be on the eyelid, but the doc lets him continue. Low kick from Oliveira. Another hard one. Goes to the inside of the leg now, and cracks Griffin with a right hook. Griffin changes in looking fora takedown, but comes up empty. Cowboy spins. Another takedown attempt, but Oliveira stops him again. Lots of blood. They work against the fence. Oliveira scoops a single but can’t do anything with it and they break. Griffin with a counter left. Front kick to the body from Cowboy. Griffin spins and misses. 10-9 Oliveira.
Round 3 – Left from Griffin. Oliveira back to the front kick. They battle on the fence. Elbows to the back of the head from Oliveira. The ref warns him. Griffin just stalling. Looking for a takedown but it’s not happening. They break. Oliveira immediately looks for his own takedown and gets it. He takes the back. He’s basically in mount, but Oliveira settles for half against the fence. Oliveira goes to the back and looks for a choke but he slips off. Griffin is on top now with two minutes left. He lands some punches and the crowd is behind him. Short elbow. Cowboy is trying to lock him down. Few light rights. Elbows. Very close. I’ll go 10-9 and 29-28 Griffin, but it could go either way.
Alex Oliveira defeated Max Griffin via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
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