The time it took to restore order may have saved us from a kneejerk decision from Cejudo to retire. Decisions which were omitted from the list due to those changes. This year, we have tightened the qualifying criteria such that only nine fights made the final list. In the end, the champion did just enough in the fifth round to lock down one judge’s vote, securing his belt and defending it for the third time.įollowing the fight, Sterling called “Suga” Sean O’Malley into the cage to set up his next fight, and things came pretty close to a brawl after Aljo’s training partner, Merab Dvalishvili, stole O’Malley’s leather jacket. Another year has come and gone, and with it came another batch of contentious MMA decisions. Indeed, the cards were nearly identical going into the fifth round with two judges awarding both fighters two rounds and one having Sterling up 3-1. Sterling was awarded a split decision win over Cejudo with two judges giving “Funkmaster” 48-47 scores and a third giving “Triple C” the 47-48. And we have no doubt a large amount of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans are going to be upset over how the judges saw that fight and scored it ( see official scorecard here). Juan Alvarez def.Aljamain Sterling retained his Bantamweight belt in an extremely close fight with Henry Cejudo in the pay-per-view (PPV) main event of UFC 288, which took place last night (Sat., May 6, 2023) inside Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.Carlos Guerra via TKO (punches) at 2:40 of Round 1 Tyler Hill via TKO (punches) at 4:52 of Round 1 Joe Penafiel via TKO (strikes) at 3:01 of Round 2 Brandon Jenkins via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) Maki Pitolo via TKO (punches) at 2:36 of Round 2 Gamebred Bareknuckle 5 took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.Ĭheck out complete Gamebred Bareknuckle 5 results below.

Werdum (24-10-1, 1 NC), likewise, last competed in a 2021 no-contest against Renan Ferreira in his lone PFL appearance. Prior to Friday, dos Santos (22-10) had been sidelined since a shoulder injury against Yorgan De Castro spoiled his sole appearance in the Eagle FC cage. And the more I do, the more comfortable I feel.”įull fight video replay of the bout can be watched above.ĭos Santos, 39, and Werdum, 46, previously collided in 2008, with dos Santos defeating Werdum via first-round knockout in the former’s memorable octagon debut at UFC 90. “It’s jabs and crosses and hooks, that’s my thing. “You guys want me to go to the ground with that guy? No way,” dos Santos said. In the end, two judges scored the contest 30-27 for dos Santos, while the lone dissenter baffingly saw it 29-28 for Werdum. At times, it even appeared as if his eyelid was close to ripping off. Werdum survived and stayed in the fight by shooting for unsuccessful takedowns, however his left eye was a bloody mess by the third round. Everybody knows the legend that he is.”ĭos Santos led the dance from the opening ball, peppering Werdum with a steady diet of jabs, looping hooks, and lows kicks, then slicing Werdum open and knocking him down with a big right hand late in opening round. I’m fighting someone who was really well-prepared. Feeling a little sore but I think that’s OK. “That was my first time and I loved it, that was amazing,” an elated dos Santos said. The former UFC heavyweight champion snapped a five-fight losing streak by bloodying and battering fellow ex-champ Fabricio Werdum en route to a split decision win in his bare-knuckle MMA debut on Friday in the main event of Gamebred Bareknuckle 5. For the first time in more than four years, Junior dos Santos is back in the win column.

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