UFC 239 results: Jon Jones claims split-decision win as Amanda Nunes and Jorge Masvidal steal the show
Jones successfully defended his light heavyweight title but Nunes’ brutal head-kick knockout of Holly Holm and Masvidal’s five-second win over Ben Askren went down in UFC history
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Your support makes all the difference.Thiago Santos isn't known for his subtlety. He's a heavy hitter with the nickname 'Sledgehammer', and he sports a giant chest tattoo of, well, a sledgehammer.
His game plan on Saturday evening was never going to be anything except: hit Jon Jones as hard as physically possible, until 'Bones' shatters and his 6'4" frame is slumped against the cage, then leave Las Vegas with the light heavyweight title. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, that didn't happen.
There are typically two outcomes for fighters who step into the ring with Jones (25-1, 1 NC). Either they're stifled by the champion's length and reach advantages, his precision, variety and pressure, and his unrivalled ability to make reads and adjust mid-fight, leading them to retreat into themselves. Or they rise to the occasion, fight their best fight, and it's still not enough.
Santos (21-7) can pride himself on belonging to the latter category, because it is a genuine achievement to face Jones and remain undaunted in the face of arguably the greatest mixed martial artist to have ever lived, throw your shots, and not freeze.
Santos can take pride in losing to Jones by split decision, because he has to. It's the best anyone has ever done against the light heavyweight champion.
There are those who feel that Alexander Gustafsson's unanimous decision loss to Jones in 2013 was unjust and that the Swede had earned at least a split decision defeat, if not a win. But officially, Santos' effort at UFC 239 is the best yet recorded against the most dominant champion that the UFC has seen so far.
There is in fact a loss on Jones' record, but it is one that many are quick to dismiss – a disqualification defeat against Matt Hamill ten years ago, deemed controversial by numerous fans. It's not the only controversy in Jones' career, which has been tainted by run-ins with the law and failed drug tests, but for the 31-year-old to put such blemishes behind him, all he can do is keep winning, do so clean, and stay out of trouble outside the Octagon.
With three wins in seven months, Jones finally seems to be on the right track in that regard, and on Saturday night, he did what champions so often do – he won without being at his best.
Going into the main event, the consensus was that Santos – who has 15 KOs from 21 wins – can knock out anyone he touches, but that touching Jones would prove too difficult for the Brazilian brawler.
In fact, Santos displayed a technical tightness that few expected – Jones included, as the champion admitted after the contest – and connected with the American on multiple occasions. The challenger's leg kicks caused Jones' thigh to swell and his punches frequently put 'Bones' on the back foot, worrying Jones as much as any opponent has since Gustafsson, six years ago. And even more impressively, he did so on a damaged leg, having seemingly tweaked his knee early in the fight.
But what do you do when the champion still presses forward, throwing flying knees, spinning high kicks and back fists?
You take pride in losing to Jones by split decision, because you have to. It's the best anyone has ever done against the light heavyweight champion.
In the night's co-main event, Amanda Nunes (18-4) was also retaining a title and staking her claim as the best women's fighter to ever put on a pair of gloves.
The women's featherweight and bantamweight champion solidified her place in history by doing to Holly Holm (12-5) what 'The Preacher's Daughter' famously did to Ronda Rousey in 2015: head kicking her opponent out of consciousness and out of a title fight.
'The Lioness' viciously added Holm to a list of vanquished foes that includes other former champions in Rousey, Cris Cyborg, and Miesha Tate, as well as current flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko – whom Nunes has defeated twice. The first ever women's double champ has a resume like no other female fighter on the planet, and the Brazilian's achievements dwarf most male fighters', too.
Elsewhere on the card, Jorge Masvidal (34-13) secured his own place in history, settling a grudge with Ben Askren (19-1, 1 NC) by obliterating the former Olympic wrestler's undefeated record with the fastest knockout in UFC history.
Askren – a former Bellator and ONE welterweight champion – came out of retirement earlier this year to finally sign with the UFC and prove himself as the best in the world, and his first order of business was to call out every top 10 fighter in the promotion's 170lbs division.
Masvidal was possibly the only one to genuinely take offence to Askren's ribbings, and he made it known that he was coming to Las Vegas to "end" his opponent.
In MMA, what constitutes 'ending' a fighter more than separating them from their undefeated record and their consciousness? Doing so in five seconds, perhaps.
No one has ever ended a UFC fight as quickly as 'Gamebred' did on Saturday night, and with that, the Florida native etched his place in history and in the welterweight title picture.
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