HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF UFC 251 HELD IN “FIGHT ISLAND” YAS, ABU DHABI

IT IS THE FIRST UFC EVENT HELD IN FIGHT ISLAND

UFC 251 has just finished, the much-awaited MMA event has been a roller coaster ride for everyone with the main Welterweight title experiencing a switch due to Gilbert Burns testing positive for COVID-19. Filling in for him was Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal who surprisingly cut 9 kgs on short notice.

 

In the end, Kamaru Usman won the match getting a unanimous decision with scores 50-45, 50-45, and 49-46. The win was mainly attributed to Usman’s superior wrestling skill, where when Masvidal looked for a stand-up exchange, Usman’s counter strategy was to launch a combination of blows followed with a takedown. Masvidal would eventually be exhausted due to the tiring strategy of Usman, but not without landing impressive combinations of his own. During the post-fight interview, Gamebred regret on his cardio saying that he wished that he was in better shape for the UFC 251 fight. The match is currently trending on the internet with a number of tweets and posts depicting the foot-stomp clinch technique of Usman.

 

The Featherweight, another UFC 251 main event, saw the second encounter for Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. Holloway was quite sharper this time around against Volkanovski. After the fight’s final discussion, many fans were unhappy. The first two rounds had Holloway leading the scores with a number of clean shots landed along with an impressive head kick that wobbled the Australian. But, Volkanovski was able to make a come back in the championship rounds with takedowns and answers of his own. While we did see a better Holloway this UFC 251, it still was not enough to win back his championship belt. The bout was a tough one to call with many fans upset with the results.

 

In another UFC 251 boout, the match between Petr Yan versus Jose Aldo played out differently with No Mercy putting pressure on Junior after the second round, but not before we saw Jose Aldo’s infamous leg kicks return. In this match everyone saw a lot of briliant exchanges and displays of technique but the empty bantamweight title spot was officially filled as Yan dropped the legendary Aldo with a clean right and then threw a left follow-up. The match ended with devastating ground-and-pound. Many fans are calling it late stoppage.

 

HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF UFC 251:

Main Card

Kamaru Usman def Jorge Masvidal (unanimous decision)

Alexander Volkanovski def Max Holloway (split decision)

Petr Yan def Jose Aldo (fifth-round TKO)

Rose Namajunas def Jessica Andrade (split decision)

Amanda Ribas def Paige VanZant (first-round submission)

 

Preliminary Card

Jiri Prochazka def Volkan Oezdemir (second-round KO)

Muslim Salikhov def Elizeu dos Santos (split decision)

Makwan Amirkhani def Danny Henry (first-round submission)

Leonardo Santos def Roman Bogatov (unanimous decision)

 

Early Preliminary Card

Marcin Tybura def Maxim Grishin (unanimous decision)

Raulian Paiva def Zhalgas Zhumagulov (unanimous decision)

Karol Rosa def Vanessa Melo (unanimous decision)

Davey Grant def Martin Day (third-round KO)

 

All in all, UFC 251 “Fight Island” was not a bad event. It seems the decision to invest hold the UFC in Yas, Abu Dhabi during the coronavirus epidemic was a good strategy for the organization.