UFC 251 results, highlights: Kamaru Usman dominates Jorge Masvidal with strong wrestling to retain title
Usman suffocated Masvidal with against the fence and on the ground with his gameplan to get the decision win
Jorge
Masvidal stepped up on six day's notice to face off with UFC
welterweight champion on Kamaru Usman, so there's a reason he's the BMF
champion. But Usman showed his championship skills over five rounds,
neutralizing the always-dangerous Masvidal on his way to a wide
unanimous decision victory in the main event of UFC 251 from Fight
Island in Abu Dhabi.
Masvidal came out strong in the opening
round, throwing flurries of fast strikes and popping up from an early
Usman takedown. But Usman took over the fight from the second round on,
using a grueling clinch game to neutralize the striking threat of
Masvidal. Without the benefit of a full camp, it was clear the pace and
style of the fight had wore Masvidal down and he had less and less
offense to offer as the minutes ticked by.
The level of
dominance shown by Usman can be summed up in two simple post-fight
statistics. Usman landed 263 strikes to just 88 for Masvidal. And more
than 10 of the 25 minutes of the fight were spent with Usman having
control of the clinch. The final scorecards read 50-45, 59-46 and 49-46,
all for Usman.
Following his victory, Usman seemed slightly disappointed in not getting the finish, but gave Masvidal credit.
"Gamebred
is the biggest, baddest dude out there right now," Usman said. "I had
to change gears to face him on six day's notice. I trained for Gilbert
[Burns]. I had a totally different gameplan. That's no excuse. Gameberd
is tough."
CBS Sports was with you throughout UFC 251 with
updates, results and highlights. Relive all the action with our fight
card recap below.
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