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Thoughts and analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC Fight Night 190, which took place Saturday in Las Vegas.
What mattered most at UFC Fight Night 190 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas? Here are a few post-fight musings …
Take a look inside Kennedy Nzechukwu’s TKO win over Danilo Marques at UFC Fight Night 190 in Las Vegas.
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LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag] beat Danilo Marques with a third-round TKO Saturday to close out the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 190 in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Nzechukwu, who had to rally from some struggles in the first and second rounds for a standing TKO win.
The Fortis MMA light heavyweight earned “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC 259 in March.
[autotag]Danilo Marques[/autotag] has lost his original opponent, but remains on UFC Fight Night 190 and takes on a new foe.
Fortis MMA product [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag] replaces [autotag]Ed Herman[/autotag] against Marques (11-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on the June 26 card, which takes place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup informed MMA Junkie of the change but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
After a loss to Paul Craig in his promotional debut, Nzechukwu (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) rebounded with back-to-back wins. Following a unanimous decision over Darko Stosic, Nzechukwu earned UFC 259 “Fight of the Night” honors for his back-and-forth battle against Carlos Ulberg, which he won by second-round knockout in March.
Marques, 35, rides a four-fight winning streak into the bout – with two victorious performances in the UFC. After a successful debut in which he defeated Khadis Ibragimov by unanimous decision, Marques returned to submit Mike Rodriguez in February.
With the change, the UFC Fight Night 190 lineup now includes:
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Check out these super slow motion UFC 259 highlights, including clips of Jan Blachowicz’s win over Israel Adesanya.
[autotag]Jan Blachowicz[/autotag] continues to come up big as un underdog.
UFC light heavyweight champion Blachowicz (28-8 MMA, 11-5 UFC) bounced middleweight champ [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] (20-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) from the ranks of the unbeaten in the UFC 259 main event, stopping “The Last Stylebender’s” pursuit of becoming a dual-champ.
Both men had good exchanges on the feet in the first few rounds, but it was Blachowicz’s wrestling that made the biggest difference. Although all three judges scored the fight 4-1 in favor of Blachowicz, it was the latter rounds in which Blachowicz was able to use his grappling to control Adesanya. Two judges gave him a 10-8 score in Round 5.
You can watch it all unfold in super slow-motion in the UFC 259 “Fight Motion” video highlights above.
Also featured are highlights from dual-champ [autotag]Amanda Nunes[/autotag]’ quick submission of Megan Anderson, newly crowned bantamweight champ [autotag]Aljamain Sterling[/autotag]’s controversial disqualification win over [autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag], [autotag]Islam Makachev[/autotag]’s dominant submission over Drew Dober, and a hoard of finishes from the prelims courtesy of the likes of [autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag], [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag] and [autotag]Kai Kara-France[/autotag].
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In a bit of a rarity, the post-fight bonus winners at UFC 259 all came from the preliminary card.
In a bit of a rarity, the post-fight bonus winners at UFC 259 all came from the preliminary card.
The promotion handed out a pair of “Performance of the Night” bonuses and “Fight of the Night” at Saturday’s event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The card had three title fights at the top of the bill.
Check out the $50,000 post-fight bonus winners below.
At UFC 259, Kennedy Nzechukwu and Carlos Ulberg went back and forth until the fight came to an end in violent fashion.
If you skipped [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Carlos Ulberg[/autotag], by most accounts, you missed out.
Saturday, Fortis MMA’s Nzechukwu (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and City Kickboxing’s Ulberg (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) entered the cage during the UFC 259 preliminary card. Ultimately, Nzechukwu’s hand was raised following a violent knockout at the 3:19 mark of Round 2 – but it was a hard-fought road to get the finish.
In the opening minute of the fight, Ulberg rocked Nzechukwu with a high kick. Although he absorbed an onslaught of attack, Nzechukwu survived. Back and forth the two fighters went. Nzechukwu found success with his sneaky left hand, which he surprised Ulberg in on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, Ulberg targeted Nzechukwu’s body. At times, he wound up and landed full-force body blows on Nzechukwu, who was covered up.
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BANANAS first round 🤯 #UFC259 is truly unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/nFWDVuCfWq
— UFC (@ufc) March 7, 2021
In Round 2, Ulberg looked refreshed and composed. Despite his calm approach, Nzechukwu caught him with a violent right hand in the midst of an exchange that sent the Israel Adesanya teammate to the mat, propped up against the fence. Nzechukwu swarmed Ulberg and a few follow-up shots finished the fight in the eyes of referee Herb Dean.
OUT COLD. Kennedy Nzechukwu connects with a BOMB to end it 😱
[ 📱 LIVE on Fight Pass, ESPN2, #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/r8A0HnGknt
— UFC (@ufc) March 7, 2021
The win was Nzechukwu’s first UFC finish victory and he spoiled Ulberg’s promotional debut.
UFC 259 took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
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We want your predictions for UFC 259, which features title fights at light heavyweight, women’s featherweight and bantamweight.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 259 event in Las Vegas.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC 259 main card staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC 259 takes place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
Make your picks for the fights below.
It’s become something of a tradition that when Israel Adesanya fights, his teammates join him on the card. That won’t change at UFC 259.
It’s become something of a tradition that when [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] fights, his teammates join him on the card.
That will be no different at UFC 259, when middleweight champion Adesanya moves up to light heavyweight to fight Jan Blachowicz and try to claim a second belt in the champion vs. champion headliner of the March 6 event.
UFC officials announced Thursday that Adesanya’s City Kickboxing teammates [autotag]Kai Kara-France[/autotag] and [autotag]Carlos Ulberg[/autotag] have been added to the UFC 259 undercard.
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Kara-France (21-9 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who is No. 10 in the latest USA TODAY Sport/MMA Junkie flyweight rankings, will meet No. 11-ranked [autotag]Rogerio Bontorin[/autotag] (16-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) in a matchup of 125-pound competitors looking to take the next step into title contention.
Ulberg (3-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), meanwhile, will attempt to make a splash in his first official octagon appearance. The striking specialist earned a contact on a November Dana White’s Contender Series card, impressing UFC president White with a knockout in just over two minutes. He’ll take on [autotag]Kennedy Nzechukwu[/autotag] (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who is also a veteran of DWCS and has split his first two UFC appearances.
UFC 259 airs on pay-per-view following prelims expected on ESPN and ESPN+. The event does not have an official location or venue at this time.
With the additions, the latest UFC 259 lineup now includes:
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