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UFC 259 is in the books and it saw three title fights, with one of them controversially changing hands. Israel Adesanya lost his bid to become a two-division champion against Jan Blachowicz in the headliner.
As for the other two title bouts, Amanda Nunes somewhat predictably picked up another easy win, while Petr Yan looked to be on his way to a spectacular performance, before landing a blatant illegal knee that cost him his title. While he clearly did not want to win the belt in that manner, Aljamain Sterling is now the new UFC bantamweight champion after a disqualification.
Here’s a quick twitter thread with a brief recap and analysis of the event, that’s fitting for people’s social media era attention spans:
CRUZ DECISIONS KENNEY
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
CONS: Weird sponsor call out from Cruz.
PROS: Fun fight. Cruz landed much more shots, but Kenney invested in leg kicks to try and stifle that movement. That fight IQ shined in the end though. https://t.co/zafwhHkk8w
RAKIC WINS SNOOZEFEST OVER SANTOS
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
PROS: None! Zero! Nada!
CONS: Zzzzzz. This was horrible. Almost Ngannou-Lewis bad as both refused to engage or even enter proper range -- especially Santos. It was so bad Rogan shot down Rakic asking for a title request https://t.co/GDhCwOLAtT
MAKHACHEV SUBMITS DOBER
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
CONS: None! That was great!
PROS: Beautiful takedowns, and slick finish. With people desperately trying to find the “next Khabib” maybe Makhachev finally gets that well deserved push. https://t.co/xlAX6y5Vei
YAN LOSES BELT TO STERLING VIA DQ!!
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
PROS: Top notch takedown defense, good strikes, and slick trips. Yan looked great and was putting on a clinic...
CONS: ...Until that blatant illegal knee cost him his title. Definitely not Sterling’s fault so: https://t.co/vGEo0TdYls
NUNES SUBMITS ANDERSON
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
PROS: Another title defense from the GOAT. Easy win
CONS: Who's next? Megan didn’t look like she wanted to be in there, & Nunes made it seem like she didn’t deserve to be. Not her fault, but this is the problem with dominant champs in paper thin divisions
BLACHOWICZ DECISIONS ADESANYA
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
PROS: Very technical affair on the feet. Jan’s skills deserve way more credit. He spent rounds playing Adesanya’s game, and did well!
CONS: Size was a factor, but Adesanya really needs to work on his ground game https://t.co/oBjmfM5eJt
#UFC259 OVERALL
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 7, 2021
PROS: Jan established himself as a legit champ and hopefully a bigger star. Nunes still Nunes’d. Stacked cards are always good, even if…
CONS: …it had slow moments. No champ-champ history was made. Anti-climactic DQ. WEC greats Cruz and Joe B are looking older
And that’s about it. For more social media musings, follow me on twitter over at @antontabuena, and of course you should do that for Bloody Elbow’s official twitter account as well.
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