UFC 251 is in the books. It was the first event held at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, better known as “UFC Fight Island.”
In the main event Saturday night, the “Nigerian Nightmare” Kamaru Usman successfully defended his welterweight championship against Jorge “Gamebread” Masvidal via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-25, 49-46).
In the co-main event, Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski won a controversial split decision (47-48, 48-47, 48-47) over Max “Blessed” Holloway to retain the featherweight crown. Petr Yan refused to leave his fight in the judges hands, after he ground and pound UFC legend Jose Aldo in the fifth round to earn a TKO victory.
“Thug” Rose Namajunas avenged her lose against Jessica Andrade by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) and Amanda Ribas submitted Paige VanZant in the first round.
In addition, the featured prelim saw a potential contender rise for a shot at the UFC light heavyweight championship. Knockout artist Jiri Prochazka lived up to the hype in this UFC debut with a devastating second-round KO of former light heavyweight title contender Volkan Oezdemir.
The UFC will have a series of events on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, with the next one scheduled for Wednesday, Jul 15, which will be headlined by Calvin Katter vs Dan Ige.
Cay 3 Sports 