The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday closed out the pay-per-view portion of its 2019 schedule with UFC 245, a rare event that featured three title bouts at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While there were a number of memorable performances, five stood out.
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UFC 245
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5. Irene Aldana
The Lobo Gym export cut down the previously undefeated Ketlen Vieira with punches in the first round of their women’s bantamweight clash on the undercard. Aldana drew the curtain 4:51 into Round 1, as she posted her fifth win in six outings and announced her arrival as a potential contender at 135 pounds. In her first appearance in nearly two years, Vieira controlled a majority of the standup exchanges but paid a steep price for leaving her chin exposed. A leaping left hook from Aldana leveled the Brazilian in the waning seconds of the first round, and two follow-up right hands pounded her unconscious at the feet of referee Jason Herzog. The knockout was Aldana’s first since 2016.
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4. Kamaru Usman
“The Nigerian Nightmare” kept his stranglehold on the welterweight crown, as he buried Colby Covington with punches in the fifth round of their headliner. Covington succumbed to blows 4:10 into Round 5, as he tasted defeat for the first time in more than four years. Usman had to work hard to defend the mountain. Covington raced out to a strong start behind volume punching combinations, often punctuated by powerful rolling overhand lefts. Usman answered by going to the body and began to turn the tide in Round 3, where he withstood an inadvertent eye poke and appeared to break the challenger’s jaw with a devastating right hand. They went to the fifth round with the outcome still in doubt. In the closing minute, Usman dropped the American Top Team export with another straight right, denied a desperation takedown and closed the door with a volley of unanswered hammerfists.
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3. Alexander Volkanovski
Volkanovski called upon crushing leg kicks and power punching combinations, as he captured the UFC featherweight crown with a unanimous decision over Max Holloway in the five-round co-main event. The Australian swept the scorecards with 48-47, 48-47 and 50-45 marks from the judges, ending Holloway’s 922-day reign atop the 145-pound weight class. Volkanovski never once deviated from his game plan. He shredded Holloway’s base with kicks to the upper and lower leg, forcing him to switch from orthodox to southpaw. Holloway fought well in spurts—he occasionally doubled up on his jab and connected with hooks to the body—but ran into an opponent who was unwilling to back down. Volkanovski kept the Hawaiian’s patented multi-punch bursts to a minimum, fought fire with fire when the situation called for it and emerged as the fourth undisputed featherweight champion in UFC history. The 31-year-old Volkanovski has recorded 18 consecutive victories.
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2. Geoff Neal
Fortis MMA’s Neal extended his winning streak to seven fights, as he dispatched Mike Perry with a head kick and follow-up punches in the first round of their featured prelim. Perry wilted 90 seconds into Round 1, bowing to strikes for the first time in his 19-fight career. Neal, an emerging force in the UFC welterweight division, picked his spots. The 29-year-old blindsided Perry with a left high kick, pursued him to the fence and unleashed a volley of pinpoint lefts and rights. Referee Chris Tognoni gave “Platinum Mike” every opportunity to recover before he intervened on his behalf.
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1. Petr Yan
The former Absolute Championship Berkut titleholder brought down Team Alpha Male patriarch Urijah Faber with a head kick in the third round of their bantamweight showcase. Faber bit the dust 43 seconds into Round 3, his modest two-fight winning streak at an end. After a somewhat-tepid first round, Yan went about systematically dismantling the former World Extreme Cagefighting champion. He sat down Faber with an exquisite three-punch combination in the middle stanza, reset and floored him again with a short standing elbow. The impact of the strike not only dropped “The California Kid” but left him with severe damage to his left eye. Still, Faber survived to see a third round. There, Yan walked down the 40-year-old with punches and, with a minimal amount of space, unfurled the fight-ending kick inside the first minute.
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