Covington hospitalized
UFC capped off its 2019 PPV calendar with a loaded UFC 245 event from Las Vegas. The main event saw Kamaru Usman take a late fifth-round TKO win over Colby Covington. The fight proved to be more exciting than many were expecting. One of the three judges had Usman up three rounds to one heading into the fifth round while another had Covington up 3-1 with the third judge having the fighters locked at 2-2. Usman ensured the judges’ scores would be irrelevant with a violent last-minute attack that put out and had him running from the arena as soon as the decision was read.
A real hero. pic.twitter.com/RdF6gpDroI
— #1 Internet Dad (@tankbearclaw) December 15, 2019
One reason Covington may have been running is that he suffered a broken jaw in the third round. Covington could be heard telling his corner of the injury in between rounds. Covington was hospitalized immediately after the fight to treat the injury.
Holloway not blessed by the judges
Max Holloway lost his UFC featherweight championship to Alexander Volkanovski last night by unanimous decision. Our own Cole Henry had the fight 48-47 for the new champ as did two of the cageside judges. The third judge gave Volkanovski all five rounds. Despite the consensus that he got beat, Holloway thinks he should have had his hand raised Saturday night.
“(rounds) three, four, five I thought was mine,” Holloway said at the post-fight press conference.
“But they saw it another way, there’s only three opinions that matter,” he continued. “Like the great Burt Watson said, don’t leave that s*it to the judges, they’re gonna make you cry. They made me cry twice in 2019, so let’s choo-choo forward to 2020, new year, new me.” (transcribed by MMA Fighting).
Aldo next for Cejudo
Jose Aldo was another victim of a close decision at UFC 245. Aldo, in his bantamweight debut, lost a razor-close decision to Marlon Moraes. Despite coming up short, Aldo may have earned himself a championship fight against Henry Cejudo if Dana White is to be believed.
“Henry Cejudo texted me tonight and said ‘that’s bullsh*t, [Aldo] didn’t lose that fight, he won that fight, and I want to treat him like he did.’ He wants to fight Jose Aldo,” White said at the post-fight press conference (transcribed by MMA Fighting).
Some other top bantamweights may have something to say about that, including Moraes and Petr Yan, who dismantled Urijah Faber in the PPV opener.
Other post-fight notes
-Kamaru Usman says Leon Edwards may be most deserving of the next welterweight title shot while Dana White sounds to be leaning towards Jorge Masvidal as the top contender.
-Post-fight bonuses went to Usman and Covington for Fight of the Night with Performance of the Night awards going to Yan for his third-round knockout of Faber and to Irene Aldana for her knockout of Ketlen Viera on the preliminary card.
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