UFC 224 Results: The Real Winners and Losers
Maybe it didn't hold the obvious, blockbusting appeal of other UFC pay-per-views. But for those who took the time for a second look, UFC 224 on Saturday contained plenty of storylines.
It started with the main event, a women's bantamweight title bout between champ Amanda Nunes and challenger Raquel Pennington. The fight was originally scheduled for last December, but in October, an ATV accident left Pennington with a broken leg and put the fight on hold.
This came after Pennington suffered a slew of surgeries, meaning she was on the shelf for a year and a half. A title fight is quite a way to re-enter the scene. It was undoubtedly the biggest fight of her life.
There was plenty on the line for Nunes as well. According to OddsShark, Nunes was a huge favorite—about 1-9—to complete her third successful title defense. On Saturday, in front of her fellow Brazilians, an emphatic win would put her in good position for a true blockbuster: a showdown with the best and most fearsome female in MMA today, and maybe ever, in Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino.
The main event was just the beginning. Several aging Brazilian lions took the cage to vie for continued relevance. Two former champions in 41-year-old Vitor Belfort and 39-year-old Lyoto Machida squared off to begin the pay-per-view, while a relatively young buck in 38-year-old Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza tested his contender status against Kelvin Gastelum.
And what about Mackenzie Dern? Could the much-discussed jiu-jitsu champion redeem herself after missing weight by seven pounds?
There was intrigue up and down the card at UFC 224, and as always, the stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from Rio de Janeiro.
For the literal-minded among us, full card results appear at the end.
Winner: Amanda Nunes
1 of 10
Are you ready, Cyborg?
Amanda Nunes successfully defended her title for a third consecutive time. But it didn't come without controversy, albeit that had nothing to do with Nunes.
To the surprise of no one, The Lioness was the aggressor early. Pennington constantly appeared to have her back against the fence, with the cage cut off and seemingly no means of escape. When she was in open space, Pennington went for takedowns, but they tended to go begging.
Meanwhile, Nunes was racking up damage to Pennington's lead leg, which was streaked with pink and purple from the first round on.
From there, Nunes kept the pressure on with takedowns of her own and slowly tenderized Pennington's face. Pennington did damage, landing heavy shots, but she could never string anything together or otherwise build any momentum.
Then things changed at the end of the fourth. A Nunes knee to Pennington's face seemed to break Pennington's nose. Between rounds, Pennington audibly asked her corner to stop the fight. The corner didn't do that. They trotted their fighter back out instead of protect her. The trainers, from Triple Threat MMA in Colorado, didn't do their job.
From that point forward, they ceded the power of stopping the fight to Nunes. The champion obliged.
She got Pennington to the ground and cracked her across the face with an elbow. Pennington's nose began running blood like a faucet, she turtled up and it was soon over.
Nunes and Pennington are friends away from the cage, and that probably won't change. They understand the business the other is there to accomplish. Between Pennington and the trainers? That may be a different story.
Nunes has said before the Cyborg fight didn't happen because of timing but that she would be open to it this summer. That's a fast turnaround for Nunes, but hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. MMA needs a good blockbuster, and this would fit the bill.
Winner: Kelvin Gastelum
2 of 10
This epitomized the back-and-forth fight. Kelvin Gastelum and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza beat up each other for three rounds, and the Rio faithful and fans everywhere were better for it.
Gastelum inflicted more damage, defending Jacare's takedowns and submission attempts and landing huge shots throughout. He ended up with a split-decision win.
The first round was Souza's all the way. He landed a trip takedown and controlled Gastelum on the ground. An armbar attempt looked solid, but Gastelum seemed to wiggle out in the nick of time.
In the second round, Jacare's gas tank began to betray him. Gastelum dropped Souza with a heavy right-left combination and kept the pressure on. Several two-sided striking exchanges occurred, but this was undeniably a Gastelum round.
The third round was the closest. Both men landed hard but Souza was visibly exhausted and unable to get Gastelum to the ground. According to the UFC brodcast, Gastelum stopped 10 of Souza's 11 attempts. It was still even enough that the UFC gave this the Fight of the Night award.
It's hard to believe Gastelum is only 26. Souza may not be the biggest name among those he's beaten, but he might be the toughest. Souza is 38. It will be interesting to see what happens with his career from this point forward. Clearly he still has ability, but gas tank and chin aren't things that tend to get better with age.
Winner: Mackenzie Dern
3 of 10
Mackenzie Dern's jiu-jitsu is above reproach. Despite the win Saturday over Amanda Cooper, everything else is still up for discussion.
Most fight fans know Dern missed weight by seven pounds before this fight. That's no small amount when you are fighting at 115 pounds, and she had a noticeable size advantage over Cooper.
In her UFC debut in March, Dern's striking and takedown skills were highly questionable. If you're Dern, all you need to do is get the fight to the ground and it's over. But she was sloppy, sluggish and unpolished and was lucky to escape with a split-decision win over lightly regarded Ashley Yoder.
Cooper isn't the creme de la creme, but she has pretty good striking. Could Dern get her down and put her out?
The answers were yes and yes, but it wasn't inspiring and didn't happen the way you might imagine.
To begin the fight, Dern fired the same looping, one-note overhand shots she used in March. There was no improvement evident. There were no takedowns. Just the overhand, over and over.
Cooper was outlanding her until one of those overhands hit home. Dern undoubtedly has power in her punches. Cooper hit the floor. Dern chased her down there, poured on some hammerfists, locked on the choke and it was over.
So her offensive wrestling essentially consists of an overhand right.
To sum up, despite a first-round stoppage win that will look flashy on the stat line, it didn't answer any of the questions she faced coming in. Two fights, two dicey efforts but two wins. Hey, if it isn't broken, don't fix it. If it breaks, that's another story. But for now, live it up.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Loser: Brian Kelleher's Game Plan
4 of 10
Brian Kelleher is a good fighter. Coming into this fight he was 19-8 overall and 3-1 in the UFC. Against hometown favorite John Lineker, Kelleher had a good game plan. He was going to circle and keep moving. He was going to try for takedowns when it made sense. And he was going to look for favorable striking exchanges, relying on defense and a solid chin to help carry him through.
Too bad for Kelleher that Lineker's hands break game plans like they are cobwebs.
Lineker floored Kelleher twice in the first round. After he smelled blood, he spent the rest of the fight looking to close the curtain. He chased Kelleher around the cage, savoring pocket exchanges.
Lineker was clearly winning, but Kelleher hung tough. He fought gamely. Eventually, though, as so many before him have done, he fell before the Hands of Stone. In the final seconds of the contest, Lineker threw a glancing right hook and then went upstairs with a left. Kelleher fell like a stone. No follow-up needed.
On top of his strength, Lineker had a pretty good game plan of his own. And once he entered head-hunting mode, his skills and instincts won him the fight. And he might have the greatest punching power in the UFC today on a pound-for-pound basis.
Winners: Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort
5 of 10
Goodbye, Vitor Belfort.
In a bout he repeatedly insisted was his last, Belfort left fans with a memory. It's just that he was on the wrong side of it.
After a not-unexpectedly slow first round of feeling out, Belfort and the notoriously methodical Lyoto Machida resumed their circling dance. And then wham! Machida rocked Belfort to sleep. Then he suddenly fired a back kick that split Belfort's guard and landed flush on the chin.
Belfort fell back, instantly unconscious. Machida, not wanting or needing to pile on additional punishment, stood over the sprawled body of his opponent, arms outstretched, taking it all in. It was quite the scene and good enough to net the Dragon a $50,000 performance bonus.
Machida is no spring chicken himself, but this gives him two straight wins after losing three in a row. His future is uncertain. This knockout was not. After the fight, he called out Michael Bisping. The Brit himself has said he's nearing the end of his career, and there are already a few names in the mix, but Bisping vs. Machida would move some units.
Meanwhile, Belfort moves into his next chapter after going winless in four of his past five outings. Still, a career record of 26-14 (1) and a UFC championship is enough to land The Phenom in the Hall of Fame, even if his career was colored by controversy.
"Life is about beginnings and ends," Belfort told announcer Jon Anik. "I think I've come to an end."
That knockout will live on highlight reels for a long time. So will Belfort despite the defeat.
Loser: Enthusiastic Judges
6 of 10
UFC 224 held 13 contests. Eleven of them ended by stoppage.
It was pretty evenly distributed too. Five were submissions. Six were knockouts. But the techniques were diverse, with spinning wheel kicks and Ezekiel chokes and front kicks and a full-on chokeout in the mix. We have already covered some of them, and we will get to several more presently.
It allowed the judges to have an easy night, which is not necessarily a bad thing. There are worse things than giving an MMA judge the role of a Maytag repair man.
The people who pick the post-fight bonuses, on the other hand? They were on their toes.
Winner: Capoeira
7 of 10Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos' nickname is Capoeira. Whoever conferred that nickname upon him was on to something.
If you don't know, capoeira is a form of Brazilian martial arts that combines elements of dancing and acrobatics. Think break-dancing if break-dancing could hurt someone.
By itself, it's not the kind of thing that can carry you to the UFC. Combined with other, more practical skills, it can lead to some spectacular combat.
In the first round, Dos Santos feinted with his hands and then launched into a spinning capoeira kick. The spacing was perfect, and he landed it on the side of Sean Strickland's head. Strickland hit the mat, and a few ground strikes finished it.
You could see ballet in it as much as anything else. It's the fifth straight UFC win for the aggressive and creative Capoeira. And you know he was kicking himself in dramatic fashion after Machida-Belfort happened and took away his bonus money.
At least he still has three of those under his belt. Whatever the future holds for the Curitiba native, it's a pretty safe bet he will have a shot at a fourth.
Winner and Loser: Jack Hermansson's Guts
8 of 10
Jack Hermansson and Thales Leites were both coming off losses. Both had proved themselves as UFC-level fighters, but neither had done much to distinguish himself in the middleweight pack or anywhere else.
That changed Saturday, though not for any reason you would have guessed beforehand.
Following a Leites takedown in the first round, Hermansson began to grimace in pain. Then he began to cry out. At first, it looked like a problem with his leg. More than one viewer surely winced as Hermansson gritted his way through the first and second rounds.
It all changed in the third. Hermansson rushed out with a flying knee. Then he went for a guillotine choke, clearly trying to end the fight as quickly as possible. Leites went for a choke himself, but Hermansson escaped and found himself in mount. Sharp, heavy strikes ensued, and referee Marc Goddard soon called the stoppage.
It's hard to know what percentage of fighters, much less human beings in general, would have gutted their way through an injury that was causing scream-level pain. Hermansson not only did it, but he also found a way to win.
Afterward, the Swede told Anik what happened.
"I broke my rib in the first round," Hermansson said. "I could feel it float around in there. It was terrible. The most painful thing I ever experienced."
A free-floating rib is not exactly the best thing for the innards. Luckily, those guts were tough enough to withstand it.
Winner: Ramazan Emeev
9 of 10
It's not just about the main event here at the Real Winners and Losers. Let us now dive down into the underbelly of the undercard.
Once there, you should do yourself a favor and file this name away: Ramazan Emeev.
The Dagestani had the crowd in his face against Brazilian Alberto Mina. But he did not care and delivered an efficient and complete performance. The unanimous-decision outcome gave him his sixth consecutive W and moved him to 2-0 in the UFC.
Emeev fought as if spring-loaded, firing stiff jabs and damaging hooks. His takedowns were pure power. He was almost irresistible in the clinch. And his movement and defense were great.
Mina fought hard but was outgunned coming off a two-year layoff. At the end, his face wore the punishment.
In his UFC debut, Emeev bested a middleweight name in Sam Alvey. He looked just as good down at welterweight. Welterweight is a long road, but Emeev just moved a few spaces along the path.
UFC 224 Full Card Results
10 of 10
Main Card
Amanda Nunes def. Raquel Pennington by TKO, 2:36, Rd. 5
Kelvin Gastelum def. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Mackenzie Dern def. Amanda Cooper by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:27, Rd. 1
John Lineker def. Brian Kelleher by KO, 3:43, Rd. 3
Lyoto Machida def. Vitor Belfort by KO, 1:00, Rd. 2
Preliminary Card
Cezar Ferreira def. Karl Roberson by technical submission (head-and-arm choke), 4:45, Rd. 1
Oleksiy Oliynyk def. Junior Albini by submission (Ezekiel choke), 1:45, Rd. 1
Davi Ramos def. Nick Hein by submission (rear-naked choke), 4:15, Rd. 1
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos def. Sean Strickland by TKO, 3:12, Rd. 1
Warlley Alves def. Sultan Aliev by TKO (doctor stoppage), 5:00, Rd. 2
Jack Hermansson def. Thales Leites by TKO, 2:10, Rd. 3
Ramazan Emeev def. Alberto Mina by decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Markus Perez def. James Bochnovic by submission (rear-naked choke) 4:28, Rd. 1
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
