UFC 259 was touted to be the resurgence of MMA with a stacked card that served 3 championship bouts out of 5 scheduled bouts on the main card.
The other 2 fights were crackers in their own sense where Khabib’s prodigy Islam Makhachev took on a tough nut Drew Dober who entered the octagon with a broad smile, but didn’t end up leaving the octagon with one.
The opener of the main card was with two extremely dynamic 205 pounders – Thiago Santos vs Austria’s own Aleksander Rakic.
The contest was a disappointment to the fans as they expected some fireworks but it looked like both the fighters held back their ammunition for another day. It’s not uncommon to see this happen, especially when you know it would take just one punch to knock each other out. We saw this happen when Yoel Romero took on Israel Adesanya for the middleweight belt.
At the end of the contest, we saw Rakic take home the victory with either of the men untouched and fresh to compete the next night.
Let’s speak on the first out of the 3 title fights.
We saw the confident Aljamain Sterling challenge Russian powerhouse Petr Yan for the bantamweight (135 lbs) championship.
From the get go, it seemed Sterling had no answers for Yan’s game plan. Be it on the feet or in the takedowns, Yan was proving to be the superior in every aspect.
Round 1 was evenly contested, but there seemed to be a drastic drop in Sterling’s gas tank after the middle of the second round. The takedowns became sloppy and Yan was rag dolling Sterling. The clinch near the cage fence proved costly for Sterling as Yan was reversing him with ease. Sterling’s strikes didn’t seem to faze at all and Round 3 looked like it would be the last of Sterling.
Round 4 began where Round 3 left and Yan was battering Sterling till the illegal knee struck Sterling.
(Sterling attempted a takedown. Yan avoided it. Sterling however stayed in that position on his knees. The referee told Yan that Sterling is in a grounded position. Despite the referee’s instructions, Yan struck Sterling with a knee, which is illegal.)
Sterling seemed to have not recovered from the illegal strike and the referee called off the fight making Sterling the first fighter to have won a championship belt by disqualification.
The co-main event of the evening was a one sided domination between the Women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes taking on Australia’s Megan Anderson.
As fans predicted, Anderson had to up her fight game two folds to hang in there with the Lioness. Anderson was the huge betting underdog but she seemed confident during the press conference and the weigh-ins. She was sure she would give Amanda her toughest challenge.
This all changed till Anderson ate the first punch of the Lioness. The look in Megan’s eyes changed and she quickly went in survival mode.
It didn’t take too much effort for Amanda to dismantle the 6 footer Megan Anderson and the contest ended in 2 minutes of the first round.
With this performance, the UFC is going to be in doldrums as to who would give Amanda a real fight as she has been destroying the number one contenders pretty easily.
And NOW…. The main event of the evening! The Super Fight between current reigning light heavyweight (205 lbs) champ Jan Blachowicz versus the middleweight (185 lbs) champion Israel Adesanya.
The last stylebender and his camp at city kickboxing had a very clear game plan of not moving around too many pieces and going with Israel’s natural weight into this fight. Israel weighed in at 200 odd pounds for the fight and Jan, like a true professional came in at sharp 205 lbs. The difference was clearly seen on fight day when Israel (walking at his natural weight) came at 200 odd lbs and Jan surely looked 25-30 lbs heavier.
The contest between the two for the first 3 rounds looked evenly matched. The fans were shocked to see Israel not firing his guns, which everyone predicted. The leg kicks from Adesanya were vicious, but it looked like Jan was ready for them.
The fight changed in the 4th round when Jan took Adesanya down and Adesanya didn’t have an answer to the ground n pound of Jan. It was evident, the weight, the power of Jan was wearing Adesanya down. As the clock struck and the bell rang at the end of the 4th, Adesanya looked visibly tired from the ground work by Jan. The fight till the 4th looked evenly matched, but after the 4th, it seemed to sway in the champions favor.
Round 5 started on the feet and Jan was quick to take it back to the ground where he found tremendous success in the 4th round. Again, Adesanya didn’t have an answer to the size and power of Jan and the fight ended with Jan dominating Adensanya completely in the championship rounds. Round 1 to 3 was touch and go but the 4th and 5th clearly went to the champion. With neither of the fighters known for their wrestling, Jan showed some new colors and hopefully will demand newly found respect from his fellow light heavyweight contenders.
The contest ended like a true championship fight where Jan handed Adesanya his first MMA defeat. Adesanya didn’t contest the decision and took the loss like a champion.
Overall, the card was super exciting with some upsets and unique situations and exciting post fights tweets from fellow competitors.
This is it from me. Looking forward to breaking down the next card – Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammed for all of you.
Till then continue reading great content on Spogo News, hear me speak exclusively on The Fighting GOAT on IVM Podcasts or see me on the Ultimate Guide to UFC on the Sony Sports Network.
About the author Somesh Kamra is a professional mixed martial artist specializing in Muay Thai. He has designed many effective training programs for Superhuman Gym and the Police Academy. His knowledge of hand to hand combat is unbeaten and has been a success story for many students. Somesh Kamra is educated from the University of Gold’s Gym in the field of physical fitness that includes strength training, plyometrics & cardiovascular training for muscular conditioning. He works closely with the UFC for India and serves as the panelist for the TV Show – The Ultimate Guide to UFC and Pit Stop on Sony Sports Network. Instagram: Somesh.Kamra Twitter: Somesh_Kamra