This is Sportstar's blog of the UFC 259 event which happened at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday (according to IST).
UFC 259 HIGHLIGHTS:
That's it for today. Thanks for tuning in!
Just for the seventh time in UFC history, three title fights headlined the same event. Two champions -- Jan Blachowicz (light heavyweight) and Amanda Nunes (women's featherweight) -- retained their belts, while Aljamain Sterling (bantamweight) became a new titleholder in the promotion.
UFC 259 REPORT |
The main event clash went the distance and delivered. After 25 minutes, the champion retained but the challenger can walk away with his head held high.
JAN BLACHOWICZ RETAINS THE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE! HE BEATS MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION ISRAEL ADESANYA VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION (49-46, 49-45, 49-45) AFTER FIVE ROUNDS!!!
And the fight is done and dusted!!!
ROUND 5: One final round today! They've gone tit for tat so far. Another crucial takedown from Blachowicz at the half-way mark. Think the Polish champ will see this round off in a similar manner. Izzy has somehow managed his way out of serious damage here. Blachowicz isn't able to turn Izzy the other way round.
ROUND 4: Think Izzy has two rounds to Blachowicz's one. The champ has to be aggressive now. And there's a takedown from Blachowicz. The Light Heavyweight champion is doing everything he can to stay on top of Adesanya. Almost four minutes now. Good domination from Blachowicz. He wore down the middleweight titleholder right at the centre of the Octagon for close to 250 seconds.
ROUND 3: What a start to the round! Blachowicz connects with clean jabs first. He went for the takedown but Adesanya countered and took the advantage from there. The challenger then hit some good shots of his own. Blachowicz looked dazed for a while but he came back with a couple of late punches to close out the round.
This has been a fight loaded with kicks so far. We could see a string of jabs but the legs have majorly done the talking. Guess it's a round each right now.
ROUND 2: A couple of nice jabs early on from Blachowicz. And they connected pretty sweet. Adesanya goes down to the floor. But he gets up immediately. Advantage to the defending champ from minutes five to ten. Unintentional low blow from Izzy and referee Herb Dean brings in a brief pause.
ROUND 1: Calm and composed start from both the fighters here. Izzy just makes it look too easy. Doesn't he? A very close first round comes to an end. Blachowicz was the one pushing Adesanya to a corner at the beginning but the challenger connected with a few decent hits towards the end.
We're a few seconds away from the champion vs champion encounter.
Reminder: Israel Adesanya already holds the UFC middleweight championship.
MAIN EVENT: JAN BLACHOWICZ (CHAMPION) VS ISRAEL ADESANYA FOR THE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!!!
And it is time for the main event!
10:55 PM IST: AMANDA NUNES DEFENDS HER WOMEN'S FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE! SHE BEATS MEGAN ANDERSON USING THE TRIANGLE ARMBAR SUBMISSION AT TWO MINUTES AND THREE SECONDS OF THE VERY FIRST ROUND!!!
ROUND 1: Good early offence from the champ Nunes here. Megan goes to the ground. And the submission is locked in. We are heading towards a very early finish in the second championship bout of the day.
Amanda Nunes (champion) and Megan Anderson are out for their Women's Featherweight Championship bout.
10:35 PM IST: ALJAMAIN STERLING IS THE NEW CHAMPION!!! HE BEATS PETR YAN VIA DISQUALIFICATION (INTENTIONAL ILLEGAL KNEE) TO CLAIM THE BANTAMWEIGHT CROWN!
The fight is over. The result will be announced in a while!
ROUND 4: ILLEGAL KNEE! Petr Yan with terrible decision making here. He was dominating the bout. Both of Sterling's knees were down. And, the champion decided to go for the knee to the face. Yan was on top of Sterling. This might cost him the title. There were instructions from the champ's corner before the move.
ROUND 3: The No. 1 contender and title challenger, Sterling, is clearly tired now. The Bantamweight titleholder Yan is taking down his opponent with ease. Sterling at least had the advantage with respect to significant strikes in the first two rounds but Yan has overturned that as well.
ROUND 2: Sterling is rushing into takedown attempts here. In the process, he's falling to the ground way too often. He needs to be patient against Yan, otherwise he'll lose a lot of energy. It was all Yan in the second round. Sterling did get some offence in but it wasn't enough.
ROUND 1: An entertaining first round comes to an end. There were flying knees, big slams, powerful right hands, spinning elbows and well-calculated takedowns. There was nothing much to separate Yan and Sterling. This fight might have a finish soon.
The champion and the challenger are out!
We will finally move on to the first title fight of UFC 259 - Petr Yan will defend his Bantamweight championship against No. 1 contender Aljamain Sterling.
9:45 PM IST: Islam Makhachev defeats Drew Dober by using the Arm Triangle submission at one minute and 37 seconds of the third round.
ROUND 3: The second bout is done and dusted now.
ROUND 2: Makhachev dominates the second round as well. Dober needs a miracle to take this one from here. He's totally tied. Meanwhile, his opponent is having it way too easy.
ROUND 1: Makhachev was all over Dober in the opening round. He almost sealed the deal before the buzzer sound. Dober just held on in the end after tackling several submission attempts from Makhachev.
Lightweights Islam Makhachev and Drew Dober are out for the second bout of the main card.
9:15 PM IST: Aleksandar Rakic beats Thiago Santos by unanimous decision in a Light Heavyweight bout (Scores: 29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
ROUND 3: Another evenly-contested round. Thiago Santos was attacking here. He knew that he was trailing on the judges' scorecard. The opening fight is done and dusted.
ROUND 2: Rakic dominated Santos a bit in the second. The No. 4 Light Heavyweight contender pushed the No. 2-ranked star to a corner and held him there for a brief period.
ROUND 1: A very close first round comes to an end. Both fighters are initially taking it easy throwing only the occasional punches and kicks.
8:50 PM IST: Light Heavyweights Thiago Santos and Aleksandar Rakic are out. The first fight of the main card is almost underway.
8:30 PM IST: Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier will be our commentators today.
8:00 PM IST: This will be Light Heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz's first title defence in the promotion. Ahead of his encounter against Middleweight titleholder Israel Adesanya at UFC 259, we caught up with Blachowicz for a chat.
7:45 PM IST: The UFC 259 main card will begin in less than an hour.
PREVIEW:
Three title fights will headline UFC 259 at the Apex in Las Vegas, United States. The main event will feature Light Heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz defending his belt against Middleweight titleholder Israel Adesanya, who will be looking to become a two-division champion in Nevada.
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Talking about multi-division champs, Amanda Nunes, the Women's Bantamweight and Featherweight titleholder, will face Megan Anderson in a Women's Featherweight championship bout. Last but not the least, Petr Yan will put his Bantamweight belt on the line against Aljamain Sterling.
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The main card of the marquee MMA event will open with another Light Heavyweight affair pitting No. 2 contender Thiago Santos against No. 4-ranked Aleksandar Rakic. The only other bout on the card includes a Lightweight fight between No. 14 Islam Makhachev and Drew Dober.
UFC 259 MAIN CARD:
***** C - Champion *****
Where can you watch/stream UFC 259 live in India?
Sony Ten 2 (English) and Sony Ten 3 (Hindi) will telecast UFC 259 live in the Indian subcontinent. Meanwhile, SONY LIV will provide live streaming online for the event from 8:30 am IST onwards.
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