UFC 249: Justin Gaethje gets TKO win over Tony Ferguson in an absolute war
Thanks to Justin Gaethje, we will have to wait a little while longer to see Tony Ferguson face UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov – if that fight was to happen at all.
Arizona native Gaethje put on a striking clinic to dispatch of a game, iron-chinned Ferguson in the fifth round at UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida.
It was a fight which looked like pure, unadulterated violence on paper and it duly delivered. Unfortunately for Ferguson, a lot of the aforementioned violence came via one-way traffic.
Gaethje chewed up Ferguson’s legs to stifle his movement and back up his lower body attack with precise power punching throughout the fight.
Ferguson somehow ate the vast majority of the punches thrown his way, but eventually crumbled under some relentless pressure in the fifth round.
A jab to the nose caused Ferguson to take a step back and physically shake out the cobwebs and Gaethje smelled blood. After a further volley of punches, referee Herb Dean called a stop to the fight.
Gaethje is now the interim UFC lightweight champion, setting up an intriguing match up with champion Nurmagomedov.
UFC 249: Henry Cejudo dismantles Dominick Cruz before announcing retirement
An Olympic freestyle gold medalist, Henry “Triple C” Cejudo has not made his love for championships a secret.
On Saturday at UFC 249, Cejudo made the first defence of his UFC bantamweight championship against one of the division’s most revered fighters in Dominick Cruz, keeping hold of his gold.
In a tense yet frenetic opening round, Cruz quickly resumed his tricky fighting style in the cage despite his long-term absence through injury. Though Cruz did have some success in landing strikes from the outside, but the story of the first five minutes was Cejudo’s chopping leg kicks which were thrown – and landed – to stifle his foe’s movement.
The second round largely went the same way until an inadvertent clash of heads left Cejudo bloodied and the fight was briefly paused as he was checked by the cage-side doctors.
When given the all-clear, Cejudo attacked Cruz like a buzzsaw and caught his opponent lunging in with a nasty knee to the head. Floored, Cruz couldn’t get his bearings back before Cejudo charged in with a crushing right hand on the ground, followed up with dozens more unanswered blows.
Referee Keith Peterson called a stop to the fight much to the chagrin of Cruz who believed he was getting out of his compromised position on the floor. It was one of those referee stoppages which you could make an argument for and against in equal measure.
After his win, Cejudo unexpectedly announced his retirement from mixed martial arts competition. Triple C seemed genuine with his statement, but who knows if that will ring true in a few months’ time.
UFC 249: Francis Ngannou demolishes Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 20 seconds
Francis Ngannou never let Jairzinho Rozenstruik find any fighting rhythm before leaving him crumpled on the canvas.
As the fight began and the distance between both men had closed, Suriname’s Rozenstruik tried to throw a couple of inside leg kicks.
Cameroon-born French heavyweight Ngannou’s reaction to that? To charge in with some wild power punches with his opponent in fearful retreat.
One of said punches happened to land flush on the kickboxer’s chin. Ngannou then followed up with some brutal punches against the fence on the face of a defenceless Rozenstruik, forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to wave the fight off.
This means Ngannoug’s resurgence – and a renewed purple patch of fighting form – has been extended as he has knocked out all four of his last opponent. Not one of said opponents managed to last longer that 71 seconds with “The Predator.”
UFC 249: Tony Ferguson vs. Justin Gaethje full results
Interim lightweight championship: Justin Gaethje def. Tony Ferguson by TKO (punches) at 3:39 of round 5
Bantamweight championship: Henry Cejudo (c) def. Dominick Cruz by TKO (knee and punches) at 4:58 of round two
Heavyweight: Francis Ngannou def. Jairzinho Rozenstruik by KO (punches) at 0:20 of round one
Catchweight (150.5 lbs): Calvin Kattar def. Jeremy Stephens by TKO (elbows and punches) at 2:42 of round two
Heavyweight: Greg Hardy def. Yorgan de Castro by unanimous decision after three rounds
Welterweight: Anthony Pettis def. Donald Cerrone by unanimous decision after three rounds
Heavyweight: Aleksei Oleinik def. Fabricio Werdum by split decision after three rounds
Women’s Strawweight: Carla Esparza def. Michelle Waterson by split decision after three rounds
Welterweight: Vicente Luque def. Niko Price by TKO (doctor stoppage) at 3:37 of round three
Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell def. Charles Rosa by unanimous decision after three rounds
Light Heavyweight: Ryan Spann def. Sam Alvey by split decision after three rounds