It was as if he had never left.
Jon
Jones returned from a three-year sabbatical and laid claim to
the vacant
Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight crown, as he
submitted Ciryl Gane
with a guillotine choke in the first round of their UFC
285 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Gane
(11-2, 8-2 UFC) raised the white flag of surrender 2:04 into Round
1.
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Jones (27-1, 21-1 UFC)—in his first appearance since Feb. 8,
2020—executed a takedown a little more than a minute into the bout,
applied his ground-and-pound while climbing into a seated mount
position and threaded the needle on the choke. Before Gane realized
what was happening, his fate had been sealed.
Grasso Ends Shevchenko Reign
Alexa
Grasso stunned the mixed martial arts world and captured the
undisputed women’s strawweight championship, as she submitted
Valentina
Shevchenko with a face crank in the fourth round of their
co-main event. Shevchenko (23-4, 12-3 UFC) bowed out 4:34 into
Round 4, her reign atop the 125-pound weight class at an end after
1,547 days. Grasso (16-3, 8-3 UFC) never looked intimidated by the moment,
though she wandered into danger on more than one occasion.
Shevchenko struck for takedowns in the second and third rounds,
moved into dominant positions and piled up points with
ground-and-pound. Grasso was unmoved. She countered an ill-advised
spinning back kick from Shevchenko in Round 4 by immediately
jumping to the back and securing herself with hooks. Soon after,
Grasso’s arms were in place to author a career-defining upset, and
her crushing squeeze proved to be too much for “Bullet” to
overcome.
The setback was Shevchenko’s first since Sept. 9, 2017 and halted
her nine-fight winning streak.
Rakhmonov Choke Vanquishes Neal
Surging Kill Cliff Fight Club standout Shavkat
Rakhmonov took care of Geoff Neal
with a standing rear-naked choke in the third round of their
welterweight feature. The undefeated Rakhmonov (17-0, 5-0 UFC)
slammed the door 4:17 into Round 3.
Neal (15-5, 7-3 UFC)—who missed weight for the match by four
pounds—fought fire with fire for the better part of three rounds
but ultimately ran out of steam in the face of an opponent who
simply refused to go away. Rakhmonov opened a cut near the Fortis
MMA rep’s left eye with a head kick in the first round and hammered
away at the body with knees, punches and kicks with a sadistic
glee. Neal connected with multi-punch bursts that might have felled
lesser men; Rakhmonov ate most of them without issue. The former
M-1 Global champion finally broke Neal in Round 3. He slammed a
brutal right cross into his face, gave chase across the cage and
followed up with a series of close-range knees to the body and
elbows to the head. Rakhmonov then slipped behind his battered
adversary and snuck his arms into place for the choke.
Rakhmonov, 28, has finished all 17 of his opponents.
Gamrot Slows Ascending Turner
Former two-division KSW champion Mateusz
Gamrot rebounded from his Oct. 22 defeat to Beneil
Dariush with a split decision over Jalin
Turner in a three-round lightweight attraction. Judges Derek
Cleary and Ron McCarthy scored it 29-28 and 30-27 for Gamrot, while
David Lethaby saw it 29-28 for Turner.
Gamrot (22-2, 5-2 UFC) delivered takedowns in all three rounds and
at times paired them with positional control and ground-and-pound.
The 6-foot-3 Turner (13-6, 6-3 UFC) was superior in the standup
exchanges and clipped the American Top Team rep with knees, right
hooks and body kicks. Too often, however, he failed to maintain a
safe distance, allowing the Polish grappler to get into takedown
range and curb his momentum.
The loss snaped Turner’s five-fight winning streak.
Undefeated Nickal Throttles Pickett
American Top Team prospect Bo Nickal
handled his business in his long-awaited Octagon debut, as the
four-time NCAA All-American wrestler and three-time national
champion submitted Jamie
Pickett with an arm-triangle choke in the first round of their
middleweight showcase. Pickett (13-9, 2-5 UFC) checked out 2:54
into Round 1.
Nickal (4-0, 1-0 UFC) closed the distance, established himself in
the clinch and executed a takedown. He then progressed to the back,
threatened with a rear-naked choke and settled in half guard before
framing the arm-triangle. Nickal adjusted his grip on multiple
occasions, tightened his squeeze and forced the tapout.
Pickett, 34, has lost three fights in a row.