Lightweight Charles Oliveira shook off two big shots from Justin Gaethje and choked him to win via submission in the first round of UFC 274 on Saturday night in Phoenix, Arizona.
Oliveira (33-6, 1 no contest) had to vacate the title after missing the 155-pound-for-a-half limit at Friday’s weigh-in, leaving Gaethje (24-4) the only fighter who could take the title. championship. belt.
It may not have been a title fight, but it certainly saw plenty of action, including two knockdowns and a takedown of Gaethje. The Arizona native allowed Oliveira to get up each time and backfired when the jiu-jitsu specialist dropped him to the ground and grabbed him from behind, submitting him at 3:22 of the first round.
A fan favorite from eastern Arizona, Gaethje promised some “car crashes” in an attempt to push Oliveira back.
He crashed into Oliveira early and often, dropping the Brazilian with punches twice in the first round, putting him up both times so he could keep hitting. Gaethje added a takedown and again let Oliveira get up.
As he did after being reeled by Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier in the previous two fights, Oliveira recovered and attacked.
His face bloodied, Oliveira dropped Gaethje with a hard right hand and caught him from behind. Gaethje appeared briefly as if he was going to escape, but Oliveira put an arm under his chin and forced him to submit with a rear-naked choke.
long awaited rematch
Namajunas had to wait eight years for a rematch against Esparza, who beat her in the inaugural UFC strawweight bout in 2014.
Esparza lost the title to Joanna J─Ödrzejczyk in her first defense and spent the next eight years working her way back to the top, filling in the rest of her attack to go with her elite fight.
Namanjunas beat Jędrzejczyk in 2018 to win the strawweight title, lost it to Jessica Andrade and then beat her in a rematch. “Thug Rose” regained the title by beating Zhang Weili and won the rematch last November.
Distrustful of Esparza’s fighting abilities, Namajunas spent most of the night in the desert at range, occasionally ducking to land blows before backing away. Namajunas fended off a takedown attempt in the second round and escaped another early in the third.
Esparza dropped Namajunas briefly twice in the fourth round, but got away both times, the second time in a quick reversal. Namajunas kept the same tactics for the fifth round, ending the fight with a takedown of his own in the closing seconds.
It was not enough. Esparza won on two cards, Namajunas on the other.
After two opening fights on the main card that at times booed fans, lightweight Michael Chandler (23-7) sent roars echoing from the rafters as he dropped Tony Ferguson (26-8) with a front kick to the head in the second round. Ferguson lay on the canvas for several minutes while being tended to by medical personnel before slowly getting up on his stool.
Donald Cerrone had to pull out of his lightweight fight against Joe Lauzon after suffering from food poisoning. The fight has been rescheduled for next month in Austin, Texas.
Reference-www.cbc.ca