UFC 259 promised to be one of the best nights of fighting of the year, and it didn’t disappoint as Jan Blachowicz and Amanda Nunes both defended their titles. However, the most controversial moment of the night saw Petr Yan disqualified for an illegal knee to the head of Aljamain Sterling during their bantamweight title fight.
The referee, Mark Smith, warned Yan of Sterling’s unnatural position but he continued to intentionally throw the illegal move in the fourth round. The Russian was just one round from winning the fight and retaining his belt, as a fast start from Sterling saw him fatigued by round three.
Despite becoming the new champion, Sterling left the octagon disappointed and even threw the belt to the ground. Speaking to Joe Rogan he said ‘that’s not the way I wanted to win. That’s not the way I envisioned this. I just took the belt off.’
Yan claimed that the move was not intentional but it was evident that he knew what he was doing.
Khabib Nurmagemadov who was on the coaching team of another fighter later informed Rogan that he heard Yan’s corner telling him to throw the illegal move.
Even with all the controversy of this fight, the other bouts on the night still delivered the best way they could.
Amanda Nunes defends her UFC featherweight title
Megan Anderson walked into the octagon on Saturday night knowing that she had probably the biggest challenge of the night. It took Nunes just one round to finish Anderson and retain her belt.
Nunes instantly got on top, putting all her power behind a right hand to Anderson’s face. The challenger was rocked and proceeded to attempt a takedown, which was successfully reversed and put the champion was in the perfect position. The Brazilian proceeded to land strike after strike and eventually had her opponent caught in a triangle armbar. That was that and the Lioness went home without a scratch.
After the fight, the champion was being labelled as the greatest of all-time by everyone in the MMA world, to which she simply responded by saying: ‘The plan was exactly how I finished the fight. I’m here. It’s not my fault. I know there are a lot of girls out there who wants this opportunity. Who wants it?’
Who is next for 32-year-old is unclear at the moment, but it is clear to see that she is far superior as a fighter to any other woman in MMA right now.
Jan Blachowicz beats Israel Adesanya
Adesanya stepped up a weight division to light heavyweight to try and become a double champion. Unfortunately for him he couldn’t complete this and fell to his first defeat of his professional career.
The middleweight champion Adesanya had a record of 21-0 in his sights, but Blachowicz’s size and power advantage was the difference as he won with a unanimous decision to retain the light heavyweight belt.
The first three rounds of the fight were closely contested with a lot of the public scoring the fight 2-1 to the New Zealand native. However, rounds four and five were bossed by the defending champion. He used his extra power to earn takedowns and grappling that he knew his opponent wouldn’t be able to handle. He won the last two rounds and subsequently won the fight.
Afterward, the 38-year-old yelled ‘here’s to the underdogs’ in the octagon and told Rogan: ‘I knew if I got him to the mat, if I take him down, I’m bigger than him and I wear him down.’
Adesanya was interviewed after the fight and said sorry for letting his fans down. There is no doubt that he will take what happened in the bout and work on improvement for next time.
The two other fights on the main card also delivered exceptionally well with one standout performance.
Khabib Nurmagomedov coaches to victory
Islam Makhachev stepped into the octagon for the first time since 2019 due to the coronavirus restrictions. He took on Drew Dober, who couldn’t really get into the fight, which ended in round three from a submission by the Russian.
The 29-year-old’s coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, sadly passed away in 2020 due to the virus, which lead to his undisputed son Khabib Nurmagomedov to take over in Makhachev’s corner since his retirement from fighting.
It was clear to see from the start of the fight that his aim was to land a takedown and go from there controlling Dober on the ground. He executed this perfectly and in the third round, locked in an arm triangle and it was fight over.
It was Makhachev’s seventh-straight victory and he is continuously climbing up the rankings, with many considering him a serious challenger for the lightweight title. His coach Nurmagomedov is yet to be stripped of the title by Dana White, despite making it clear he intends to retire.
Elsewhere at UFC 259…
The main card started with Thiago Santos facing up against Aleksandar Rakic over three rounds. The fight went the distance with Rakic earning the victory.
The fight wasn’t the most entertaining, with both fighters thinking more tactically then anything else. Rakic ended up landing more decisive blows and getting a unanimous decision.
Santos has suffered from injury as of late, which was potentially key to his opponent winning, with the leg kicks coming into full force.
By Daniel Perry
