Kamaru Usman ends Colby Covington in fifth round, retains UFC welterweight title

UFC 245 saw a long night (or morning) of fights, but the event ended in spectacular fashion.

Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – arguably the first real grudge title fight since Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor – started and finished at a frenetic pace put on by both fighters.

Covington was off to the races in the fight’s early stages, pouring on the kind of striking output he displayed against Robbie Lawler last time out.

However, Usman stood firm and found success in his counters and digging to his foe’s body with a shovel hook and a series of front kicks to put money in the bank in the later rounds.

In fact, neither man ever resorted to grappling. This was a brawl in the centre of the Octagon, which is surprising given the wrestling credentials of both men.

It was a close fight but a big turning point occurred in the third round.

One of Usman’s aforementioned counters caught Covington as he overextended on a missed punch, appearing to break Covington’s jaw.

Somehow, Covington showed tremendous grit to come out and scrap again in the fourth round, arguably taking that round despite having the injury he said he had.

But the broken jaw caught up with Covington.

Sensing he could be behind on the judges’ scorecards, Usman stepped his striking up another gear in the fifth round. He scored multiple knockdowns, but Covington scrambled back to his feet. Then a final straight right sent Covington back down to the canvas and Usman capitalised on this occasion, raining down ground and pound to force the stoppage.

Covington ran out of the arena before Usman’s announcement as the victor was barely made. The Oregon native is now 15-2 in his career, while Usman has extended his 15-fight winning streak.

Usman looks in imperious form and it could take something special to end his reign as UFC welterweight champion. As for the fight, it could go down as one of the best in UFC welterweight championship bouts in history.

 

Alexander Volkanovski unseats Max Holloway to become UFC featherweight champion

Alexander Volkanovski is your new UFC featherweight champion.

The Australian never let Max Holloway – a man considered by many to be the finest to ever perform at 145 pounds – settle into any form of a rhythm.

Over five rounds, Volkanovski was absolutely relentless in nullifying Holloway’s punching with offence of his own.

If “The Great” wasn’t at range chewing up both of Holloway’s legs with a series of kicks, he was in the pocket landing hooks to the body and above.

Holloway had success on the odd occasion, but Volkanovski was always in control en-route to an impressive unanimous decision victory to take UFC gold back to Australia.

Volkanovski is now on an 18-fight win streak.

 

Amanda Nunes retains bantamweight title against Germaine De Randamie

Amanda Nunes retained the UFC women’s bantamweight championship in a five-round unanimous decision against Germaine de Randamie at UFC 245.

It was the second time these two fighters faced each other and Nunes fairly comfortably made it a second win over her Dutch opponent.

From rounds one to five, the Brazilian largely sought after takedowns to punish de Randamie on the ground. She was successful in doing so, looking very close to finishing the fight in the first round, but de Randamie showed off how durable she was.

However, it wasn’t always plain sailing for Nunes. In the second round, de Randamie nailed Nunes with a head kick and some knees from the clinch which certainly caused a negative reaction from the “Lioness. De Randamie, while on her back, also landed one up-kick in particular which seemed to have stunned the champion, as well as appearing to get close to snatching a triangle choke.

Other than that, it was all Nunes. It wasn’t the most impressive Octagon outing from Nunes that we’ve seen, but she earned a thoroughly-deserved win and title defence against de Randamie on Saturday night.

 

UFC 245: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington full results

Welterweight championship: Kamaru Usman (c) def. Colby Covington by TKO (punches) at 4:10 of round five
Featherweight championship: Alexander Volkanovski def. Max Holloway (c) by unanimous decision after five rounds
Women’s Bantamweight championship: Amanda Nunes (c) def. Germaine de Randamie by unanimous decision after five rounds
Bantamweight: Marlon Moraes def. José Aldo by split decision after three rounds
Bantamweight: Petr Yan def. Urijah Faber by KO (head kick) at 0:43 of round three
Welterweight: Geoff Neal def. Mike Perry by TKO (head kick and punches) at 1:30 of round one
Women’s Bantamweight: Irene Aldana def. Ketlen Vieira by KO (punches) at 4:51 of round one
Middleweight: Omari Akhmedov def. Ian Heinisch Decision by unanimous decision after three rounds
Welterweight: Matt Brown def. Ben Saunders by KO (elbow and punches) at 4:55 of round two
Featherweight: Chase Hooper def. Daniel Teymur by TKO (elbows) at 4:34 of round one
Flyweight: Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France Decision by unanimous decision after three rounds
Catchweight: Jessica Eye def. Viviane Araújo Decision by unanimous decision after three rounds
Middleweight: Punahele Soriano def. Oskar Piechota by KO (punches) at 3:17 of round one