The biggest fight card of the year, UFC 244 is finally in the books. A highly anticipated main event ends in controversial fashion, while multiple fighters bounced back from previous losses.
Kevin Lee, Derrick Lewis, Stephen Thompson and Darren Till all had lost their previous fights, but bounced back with major victories today in highly entertaining fights.
Fight of the Night: Stephen Thompson v Vicente Luque
Performance of the Night: Corey Anderson and Kevin Lee
Main Card Results
- Jorge Masvidal vs Nate Diaz (Welterweight): Masvidal wins via doctor stoppage
- Kelvin Gastelum vs Darren Till (Middleweight): Till wins via split decision
- Stephen Thompson vs Vicente Luque (Welterweight): Thompson wins via unanimous decision
- Derrick Lewis vs Blagoy Ivanov (Heavyweight): Lewis wins via split decision
- Kevin Lee vs Gregor Gillespie (Lightweight): Lee wins via KO
What Happened
The first headlines were made with Corey Anderson’s shocking knockout of Light Heavyweight sensation Johnny Walker on the preliminary card.
Anderson won the fight in the first round and has said that he will not accept anything less than a fight against Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones.
The main card was opened by Kevin Lee taking on the undefeated Gregor Gillespie. Gillespie didn’t stay undefeated for long, as Lee knocked Gillespie out cold with a picture perfect head kick.
What followed were three entertaining fights that went to a decision. We first saw Derrick Lewis win his return to the octagon after an ACL tear against Blagoy Ivanov. Lewis came close to knocking Ivanov out on multiple occasions, and that reflected in his split decision victory.
Stephen Thompson came back after his stunning KO loss to Anthony Pettis with a strong decision win against Vicente Luque. Luque had ‘Wonderboy’ hurt in the first round, but Thompson rolled over the up and coming Brazilian fighter in the second and third round.
The co-main event saw Darren Till move up to Middleweight and face former title contender Kelvin Gastelum for his debut fight. The two had a slow match which opened up right at the end. Till’s size and power saw him get the split decision win to end his losing streak.
The main event saw Jorge Masvidal take the fight to the unbreakable Nate Diaz in a brutal affair. Masvidal cut Diaz open at the start with a kick and continued the pressure with punches and elbows. Diaz fought back, but was unable to control the pace like he usually does.
At the end of Round Three, after Diaz showed some fight, the doctor called the fight off because of a cut above Diaz’s eyes. The entire MSG crowd chanted expletives, while Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson crowned Jorge Masvidal as the BMF Champion.
Masvidal said post-fight that he wants to fight Diaz again to get a more definitive conclusion.
Preliminary Results
- Corey Anderson vs Johnny Walker (Light Heavyweight): Anderson wins via TKO
- Shane Burgos vs Makwan Amirkhani (Featherweight): Burgos wins via TKO
- Brad Tavares vs Edmen Shahbazyan (Middleweight): Shahbazyan wins via TKO
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (Heavyweight): Rozenstruik wins via KO
- Jennifer Maia vs Katlyn Chookagian (Women's Flyweight): Chookagian wins via unaninmous decision
- Lyman Good vs Chance Rencountre (Welterweight): Good wins via TKO
- Julio Arce vs Hakeem Dawodu (Featherweight): Dawodu wins via split decision.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)