NEW YORK –
Kamaru Usman defeated Colby Covington by unanimous resolution to retain the UFC welterweight championship at UFC 268 in New York on Saturday evening.
With the win, Usman improved to 20-1-0, and has gained 19 fights in a row, together with 5 title defenses.
“I’m the pound-for-pound finest alive proper now,” he stated.
Covington, the previous interim welterweight champion, dropped to 16-3-0.
New York State Athletic Fee judges Derek Cleary (49-46), Dave Tirelli (48-47) and Sal D’Amato (48-47) all submitted scorecards in Usman’s favor.
Going into the combat, Covington stated he had recalibrated his strategy and wouldn’t combat the identical means as he did of their first encounter. And the start of the opening spherical revealed a extra cautious fighter, although because the spherical progressed, Usman’s strain appeared to power Covington right into a defensive posture.
Usman received the primary knockdown of the combat late within the second spherical, and tried to complete Covington with a flurry of punches earlier than the bell rang. He began the third spherical the place he left off, however Covington completed the 5 minutes by having Usman pinned in opposition to the cage.
The 2 spent a lot of the fourth and fifth rounds exchanging strikes. Covington staggered Usman with a shot within the fifth, however was unable to place him away.
Usman and Covington headlined the fifth UFC pay-per-view occasion at Madison Sq. Backyard, and had a pair of rematches within the co-main occasion and fundamental occasion.
The Usman-Covington combat was a rematch of their traditional title bout at UFC 245. Usman gained that five-round, stand-up battle with a technical knockout of Covington with 50 seconds left within the fifth spherical, though Covington instantly protested referee Marc Goddard’s resolution, and continued to grumble concerning the name within the 22 months for the reason that combat.
There was no such controversy within the first Rose Namajunas-Zhang Weili girls’s strawweight title combat, as Namajunas knocked out Weili 1:18 into the primary spherical of their UFC 261 bout in April to retain her title.
Seven months later, the outcome was the identical for Namajunas, even when the trail she and Weili trode was unfamiliar. Following a five-round jiujitsu exhibition, Namajunas defeated Weili through cut up resolution within the co-main occasion.
Decide Michael Bell submitted a 48-47 scorecard for Weili, whereas Eric Colon (49-46) and Doug Crosby (48-47) had Namajunas profitable the combat.
“It was totally different,” stated Namajunas, who was serenaded by chants of “USA” and “Let’s Go Rose” by the partisan crowd all through the combat. “I used to be fairly assured ultimately I gained it.”
Justin Gathje opened the five-fight fundamental card with a three-round unanimous resolution over Michael Chandler. Promoted as “The Individuals’s Major Occasion,” and seen as contender for Struggle of the Evening honors, Gathje and Chandler might have authored MMA’s Struggle of the 12 months and one of many nice fights in UFC historical past.
The 2 lightweights had an an all-action combat. Gathje received the primary knockdown, as he dropped Chandler practically two minutes into the second spherical, after which spent the subsequent minute attempting to submit his rival. However Chandler maneuvered his means out.
Chandler returned the favor within the third spherical as he suplexed Gathje, who was capable of get again to his toes. The 2 traded strikes for the rest.
Gathje, who obtained scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 from judges, praised Chandler in his post-fight interview.
“We must always have been preventing within the (expletive Roman) Coliseum,” stated Gathje, who lobbied for a title combat in opposition to the winner of the Charles Oliveira-Dustin Poirier championship bout at UFC 269 on Dec. 11. “I am No. 2 (within the division).”
Following the Gathje-Chandler combat, Shane Burgos earned an unanimous resolution over Billy Quarantillo, and Marlon Vera recorded a third-round knockout victory over Frankie Edgar.
Ode’ Osbourne (unanimous resolution), Melsik Baghdasaryan (unanimous resolution), Dustin Jacoby (unanimous resolution), Chris Barnett (TKO), Ian Garry (KO), Nassourdine Imavov (TKO), Chris Curtis (KO), Bobby Inexperienced (TKO) and Alex Pereira (TKO) gained undercard bouts.
