Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream UFC 268
live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device
via the ESPN app. The gulf between Kamaru
Usman and Colby
Covington appears to have shrunk ever so slightly but not
enough to necessitate a changing of the guard. “The Nigerian Nightmare” maintained his stranglehold on the
undisputed
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight crown with a
unanimous decision over Covington in the
UFC 268 headliner on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New
York. All three cageside judges scored it for Usman (20-1, 15-0
UFC): 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.
SWANGIN’ & BANGIN’
[
#UFC268 | We’re LIVE on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/xRVlqJBhNX ] pic.twitter.com/xNso0eL5Ag— UFC (@ufc)
November 7, 2021
An understandably cautious Covington (16-3, 11-3 UFC)—who succumbed
to fifth-round punches from the champion in their December 2019
encounter at UFC 245—took some time to get going. Usman floored him
twice with crushing left hooks in the second round, but the MMA
Masters export managed to survive and once again pushed “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 21 winner to his limit. Covington started
to string punches together in the third round, wobbled his rival
with uppercuts on more than one occasion and even forced him
backward with a body kick. Usman stayed composed in the face of
significant pressure, leaned on his jab and made his way to the
finish line with his title reign alive.
Namajunas Edges Zhang in Rematch
Timely takedowns, determined top control and undying aggression
spurred Rose
Namajunas to a split decision over Weili
Zhang, as she retained her undisputed women’s strawweight
championship in the five-round co-main event. Judges Douglas Crosby
and Eric
Colon scored it 48-47 and 49-46 for Namajunas, while Michael
Bell saw it 48-47 for Zhang.
The tension never broke, with champion and challenger trading barbs
on the feet and on the ground. Zhang (21-3, 5-2 UFC) invested
heavily in leg kicks, staggered her counterpart with a left hook,
mixed in a few takedowns and climbed to full mount at one point.
Namajunas (11-4, 9-3 UFC), meanwhile, chipped away with chopping
right hands, moved forward in the face of considerable resistance
and turned in a dominant fifth round. There, she struck for a
takedown roughly a minute into the period, bottled up Zhang and
kept her pinned to the mat for the duration, applying her
ground-and-pound whenever possible. Namajunas stood with 30 seconds
to go on the clock, kicked the legs and jumped back into full guard
to chew up the remaining time.
Namajunas now owns a 2-0 advantage in her head-to-head series with
Zhang, having knocked out the Fight Ready representative at UFC 264
in April.
Vera Kick Vanquishes Edgar
“The Ultimate Fighter Latin America” semifinalist Marlon Vera
put away Frankie
Edgar with a front kick in the third round of their
bantamweight attraction. Vera (18-7-1, 12-6 UFC) drew the curtain
3:50 into Round 3, winning for the eighth time in 10
appearances.
Edgar (24-10-1, 18-10-1 UFC) struck for two takedowns in the first
half of the fight, consolidating them with positional control and
elbow-laced ground-and-pound. Vera was undeterred. He scrambled
free in the second round and overwhelmed Edgar with merciless
pressure. Vera staggered the Mark Henry disciple with a left hook
in Round 3, cut off his increasingly desperate bids for takedowns,
backed him to the fence and sliced through his defenses with the
front kick. The impact snapped back Edgar’s head and dropped him
face first to the canvas, at which point referee Todd Anderson
elected to intervene.
The 40-year-old Edgar has lost four of his past five bouts, three
of them via knockout.
Steady Burgos Denies Quarantillo
Team Tiger Schulmann’s Shane
Burgos rebounded from back-to-back losses to Edson
Barboza and Josh Emmett
with a unanimous decision over former King of the Cage champion
Billy
Quarantillo in a three-round featherweight feature. Burgos
(14-3, 7-3 UFC) swept the scorecards with 29-28 marks across the
board.
Quarantillo (16-4, 4-2 UFC) made him earn it. “The Ultimate Fighter
22” graduate pressed forward with punches and an almost maniacal
purpose. Burgos met his aggression with clean punching combinations
and a steady stream of kicks to the lower leg. Quarantillo could
barely stand during the second half of the fight but continued to
let his hands go, all while doing admirable work at close range.
Those efforts fell short after 15 minutes.
The victory was Burgos’ first since Nov. 2, 2019.
Unbreakable Gaethje Outlasts Chandler
Damaging low kicks, devastating power punches and an unshakable
resolve carried former World Series of Fighting champion Justin
Gaethje to a unanimous decision over Michael
Chandler in an epic three-round lightweight showcase that seems
certain to wind up on a number of reputable “Fight of the Year”
lists. All three cageside judges scored it for Gaethje (23-3, 6-3
UFC): 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.
Chandler (22-7, 1-2 UFC) had the Trevor Wittman protégé reeling on
the end of his blinding right hand on more than one occasion in the
first round but could not finish the job. Gaethje returned fire
under considerable duress, zeroed in on the three-time Bellator MMA
titleholder’s lower lead leg and slowly but surely seized the
reins. He floored Chandler with a crushing uppercut in the second
round and continued to assault his already compromised base with
kicks. Gaethje withstood a final push from the Sanford MMA rep—it
included savage hooks to the body from both hands—and scrambled out
of a high-amplitude takedown in the third round, where the two
revered gladiators finally seemed to run out of steam.
Gaethje has rattled off five wins in six outings, an October 2020
defeat to the great Khabib
Nurmagomedov the lone misstep.
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