• Izrael Adesanya did not provide the fans with the promised finish, however, he did not leave any great options for the opponent, winning another victory. Now the UFC middleweight champion faces the next challenge – the Brazilian Alex Pereira, who knocked out Adesanya in the kickboxing ring, but last night he won by knockout in his third UFC fight.
• Welterweight champion Alexander Volkanovski once again proved that there is no better wrestler than him in the division, defeating former titleholder Max Holloway for the third time. This time, however, Volkanovski managed it most convincingly, dominating all five rounds.
• UFC veteran and fan favorite Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone announced his retirement as part of the warm-up bouts. The American lost to another experienced compatriot – Jim Miller, who has now become the leader in the number of victories won in the UFC (24).
“F**k I broke my hand in the first round!”
???? @AlexVolkanovski putting in a performance like THAT with one hand? Championship grit. #UFC276 pic.twitter.com/ZYm6lXi7t3
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 3, 2022
Show Israel Adesanya in his title defense against Jared Cannonier held already on the way to the Octagon, with WWE stars coming out Undertaker style and holding an urn with the ashes of the “adversary”.
ADESANYA CHANNELING THE UNDERTAKER ????
STREAM #UFC276 NOW ON @ESPNPLUS ▶️ https://t.co/lDO4DiDPME pic.twitter.com/u5JabMxZuY
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 3, 2022
The fight, however, turned out to be far from the promised show. Adesanya fought safely, skillfully keeping his distance and trying to exploit holes in his opponent’s defense. Cannoneer rarely managed to get closer to his opponent and Adesanya continued safely to shoot the Americans from the outside, often attacking with kicks at different levels. In the third round, Cannonier managed to close the distance by forcing Adesanya to the fence and attacking in the clinch. There were no major breakthroughs in the final two rounds either, and the end of the fight was accompanied by cheers from the audience. In the end, however, Adesanya had done enough to win on points.
The middleweight champion also immediately sent a message to his next opponent – Alex Pereira, who after the win last night [raksta turpinājumā] already sat in the first rows of spectators and watched Adesanya’s fight.
There’s only one man @Stylebender wants next – and that’s Alex Pereira ???? #UFC276 pic.twitter.com/iFNbXt7hdE
— UFC (@ufc) July 3, 2022
Alexander Volkanovsky and Max Holloway fight the champion played a great first round, being both more active and more accurate in his shots. Volkanovski was also not shy to give his opponent a few words in the middle of the fight, however, at the end of the round, Holloway also hit well a couple of times. Volkanovski also dominated the second round, hitting several great elbows in the clinch and opening a wound on his opponent’s eyebrow.
The Australian was always one step ahead of his opponent – every time the fight went to close range, a combination from Volkanovsky followed and Holloway did not always manage to find an answer. In the fourth round, Holloway’s face was almost completely covered in blood, and it was clear that the Hawaiian needed to end the fight early in order to hope for victory. Volkanovski did not have such a scenario in his mind, and also in the fifth round, the champion proved who is the best, ending the head-to-head trilogy with a dominant victory.
Volkanovskis has already talked about moving up a weight category, and he maintained this idea even after the victory: “I want to continue being active – I don’t know if one division can keep me active enough. I also want to get the lightweight belt and defend both.”
Alexander Volkanovski becomes the 4th fighter in UFC history to win his first 12 UFC fights (Also: Anderson Silva, Kamaru Usman, Khabib Nurmagomedov).
He becomes the 1st fighter in UFC history to beat the same opponent 3 times in title fights. pic.twitter.com/UYxxCCesVp
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 3, 2022
Kickboxing star Alex Pereira (6-1) scored a stunning knockout in his third UFC fight, defeating #4 ranked middleweight Sean Strickland (25-4) in the first round. Pereira landed a great left hook that sent Strickland down before continuing his onslaught with another punch that ended the fight. The Brazilian, who has two victories in the kickboxing ring over Izrael Adesanya, earned himself the opportunity to win the middleweight title in his fourth UFC fight and meet the champion in the octagon as well.
Without a “proper” outcome ended Sean O’Malley (16-1) the first UFC fight with someone from the bantamweight division top 10 representatives – in the second round O’Malley with his fingers entered in the eye of the opponent after which the Brazilian Pedro Munoz (19-7) was unable to continue the fight. Its outcome was annulled. As expected, it turned into a proper fight of fists and elbows Brian Barberen (18-8) and Robbie Lawler (29-16) duel, Barberen won by technical knockout in the second round. The American landed several hard elbows in the melee late in the second round that left Lawler swim awayand after several more missed punches, the fight was stopped.
Experienced Donald “Cowboy” Cerone (36-17) said goodbye to MMA sport with a loss, falling to fellow veteran Jim Miller (34-16) by choke in the second round. After the loss, Cerrone left his gloves and cowboy hat in the middle of the Octagon. “I don’t love it anymore. It’s hard to get up in the morning. This has been one of the hardest camps in a long time. Now I’m going to be a movie star. I can’t think of a better way to end my career – Las Vegas, a sold-out UFC show,” he said goodbye to the fans with a big smile Cowboy. Serone ends his career as the joint second most active player [38 cīņas] and the second richest in victories [23] fighter in UFC history.
The Cowboy hat and gloves have been left in the Octagon ????@Cowboycerrone has called time on his career ????
A legend bows out ????#UFC276 pic.twitter.com/zarDRHmxX6
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) July 3, 2022
Until the UFC title in his career though For a cowboy it did not succeed. In both of the above indicators at the moment the first is exactly Jim Miller with 40 fights and 24 wins. The 38-year-old fighter has previously expressed that he wants to continue his career until the “UFC 300” show.
Lithuanian wrestler Yulia Stolyarenko (10-9-2) won her first UFC victory in the first fight of the evening., defeating Australian Jessica Rose-Clark (11-8) in 42 seconds in the first round with an arm-breaking technique. The 29-year-old Lithuanian made her UFC debut in 2020 and had losses in her first three fights in the ranks of the organization.
