The 292nd Numbered Ultimate Fighting Tournament ended in Boston championship (UFC). In the main event of the evening, the dominant US champion Aljamain Sterling sensationally lost to compatriot Sean O'Malley and lost the status of the greatest fighter in the history of the promotion's bantamweight division. Sports talk about this and other confrontations that impressed fans at the TD Garden arena and in front of TV screens.
The UFC hype train flew into spaceToday, Sean O'Malley fought for the first time for the belt. Although a couple of years ago this was not even a dream: a thin American was as far from the belt as the signature curls of a fighter were from the hairdresser's scissors. He did not fight with top opponents, and he stamped viral knockouts on no-names or unranked athletes. The October duel with Petr Yan and the referee scandal changed everything: Sakharok sensationally defeated the Russian (although neither the fans nor the majority of journalists think so) and became the No. 1 contender.
At the top, Sean faced an equally difficult challenge. Aljamain Sterling, who held the belt, was on a series of nine victories and, if he defeated Sean, he would have improved his own record for the number of title defenses (there are three of them: Ian, T.J. Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo passed). It was hard to believe that the champion would stumble, because for striker O'Malley there is no greater danger than Sterling's high-class grappling.
But everything did not happen the way those who followed the fights of Aljo and Sean imagined. The challenger successfully defended himself from transfer attempts and confidently took the first round. There was a feeling that something was not going according to plan for Sterling: the favorite was too passive, while Sugar remained calm and interrupted the champion at a distance.
In the second five minutes, Aljamain upped the pace. For which he paid with the championship title: rushing into the attack, Sterling failed in defense, missed a crushing blow to the cheekbone and fell face down on the floor. The knockdown was replaced by amplitude finishing moves from Sean, blows repeatedly reached the owner of the belt — the judge gave Aljo time to save himself, but then intervened and stopped the beating.
It took Sean six years to get to the main goal in the world of mixed martial arts… Somewhere Snoop Dogg, a longtime fan of Sugar's talent, is screaming with delight.
Boston fans are ecstatic, Dana White is pleased. And together with the boss, the entire bantamweight division is also satisfied: changing the champion is a pleasant problem for matchmakers. Many fighters, including our Siberian Yan, have a chance to get to the «titulnik» faster. If Sterling were the champion, Peter would not have been allowed to fight the American for the third time. O'Malley is another story. The revenge with him will be epic, although the Russian is separated from him by at least two fights.
If Sterling doesn't go back on his word, then he will really move up to featherweight. For him, his friend and sparring partner Merab Dvalishvili should get even with the new champion. It was he who was next in line for Sean, so Sugar is most likely to make the first defense of the title against the Georgian with nine wins in a row.
But does not rise? Perhaps an immediate revenge.
Women's batch, McGregor 2.0 and the loss of a Muscovite
- Weili Zhang from China returned the gold and is not going to give it to anyone. Brazilian Amanda Lemos, as part of the co-main event of UFC 292, fell under the truck of the minimum weight champion: the challenger was beaten on the ground, but she survived all 25 minutes (and it seemed that she completely took the fourth round thanks to a second wind and work in the rack). A manual triangle could save Lemos from defeat in the first five minutes, but the underdog failed to hold Zhang's neck and bring the hold to surrender;
- One of the main characters of the dead show is the undefeated Irishman Ian Machado Garry. Experiencing frank hostility to the well-deserved MMA veteran Neil Magny, Conor McGregor's successor defeated the American who came out on short notice (Jeff Neal withdrew due to health problems). Garry beat off his opponent's leg, but failed to finish the experienced welterweight — it all ended with the victory of the 25-year-old native of Dublin by unanimous decision. The only thing that could overshadow the 13th victory in 13 professional fights was the prospect's boorish behavior and the middle finger that Ian showed Neal more than once;
- The main card started with division guys Sterling and O'Malley meeting. Ecuadorian Marlon Vera defeated Brazil's Pedro Munoz via unanimous decision, while Mario Bautista defeated D'Amon Blackshire with a similar verdict. Why is it important? Yes, because one of them may become Jan's next rival;
- The only Russian speaking in Boston today is Denis Tyulyulin. For the Muscovite, this evening turned into a real nightmare, because Gregory Rodriguez knocked out our fighter in the very debut. The Brazilian climbed into a full mount and beat the opponent with his elbows (delivering one illegal blow to the back of the head — the judge for some reason decided to turn a blind eye to this). As a result, Tyulilin has a second early loss in a row;
- After Tyulyulin, former UFC champion Chris Weidman fought in the final battle of the prelims. In April 2021, the American broke his leg in a duel against Uriah Hall and, after two years of recovery, again entered the octagon. True, the comeback turned out to be gray: he missed Brad Tavares in the groin, and injured his other leg, and did not show himself in his favorite fight … Wideman's defeat by unanimous decision.
- In the first fight of the Boston tournament, the Ukrainian Marina Moroz suffered a most offensive defeat. At the very end of the first round, she fell on the guillotine performed by Karine Silva from Brazil and knocked as a sign of surrender a second (!) before the break.
BONUSES
- Fight of the Night: Brad Katona vs. Cody Gibson;
- < u>Best Performance: O'Malley and Zhang