UFC 239: Jon Jones wins, but knockouts dominate on wild night in Vegas

Poor Ben Askren!

By / UFC / 5 years ago

The showpiece event of UFC’s International Fight Week delivered the goods, and then some, on a night of spectacular finishes in Las Vegas.

One fight that did go the distance was the main event, as Jon “Bones” Jones went all five-rounds with Brazilian challenger Thiago Santos.

Sitting at octagon-side, we had Jones as the clear winner, but the three judges saw it much closer than that.

PaddyPower.com’s odds are a knockout

One actually scored it 48-47 to Santos, but the other two scored it for Jones by the same scoreline.

It was another technical performance that the purists will have enjoyed watching but his name won’t be on the lips of the fans who watched the event, because the main card featured a trio of stunning finishes that had the Las Vegas crowd on their feet.

Amanda Nunes “Holly Holms” Holly Holm

Two division UFC women’s champ Nunes produced another brilliant finish as she added former bantamweight champion Holm to her list of victims to join the likes of Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey.

To make it even more impressive, she did it by using the signature move that saw Holm defeat Rousey back at UFC 193 – the head kick.

Holm won the title from Rousey with a brilliant head kick, and Nunes repeated the trick as she connected perfectly to drop Holm to the mat before finishing her with strikes.

“I told my coaches I wanted to knock her out the same way she knocks people out (and) I did it tonight,” she said.

Masvidal smashes Askren in record time

Last time we saw Jorge Masvidal in action, he starched Darren Till inside the octagon, then gave Leon Edwards a “three-piece and a soda” backstage afterwards. It was always going to need something pretty spectacular to trump that appearance, but Masvidal did that in some style.

Masvidal launched himself straight at Askren and connected with a full-blooded flying knee that instantly knocked out the previously unbeaten welterweight contender.

The official time was five seconds, but in truth, it should have been quicker, as it took at least a second or two for ref Jason Herzog to react and stop the contest.

Blachowicz batters Rockhold

When Jan Blachowicz and Luke Rockhold faced off at media day earlier in the week, Rockhold mocked Blachowicz’s feet for supposedly being “small”.

The big Pole put that somewhat strange trash talking moment into his memory and answered it in the perfect manner on fight night.

Blachowicz hammered Rockhold with a huge left hook to knock him out, then stood over him, pointing to his foot. Point made, indeed.

“Trash talk doesn’t work on me,” he said after his win.

“I have the legendary Polish power and I’m proud of it.”

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