Melbourne, February 10: Anderson Silva's long-awaited return to the octagon did not go according to plan after the MMA legend was beaten by the middleweight's surging Israel Adesanya in UFC 234 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on Sunday (February 10).
Silva was making his first appearance since 2017 – a milestone that brought the 43-year-old Brazilian icon to tears on the eve of the bout. But Silva, who held the middleweight title for seven years between 2006 and 2013, suffered an unanimous defeat to Adesanya who earned scores of 29-28, 30-27, 30-27.
The middleweight bout replaced the original main event after a severe abdominal injury forced champion Robert Whittaker to withdraw from his showdown against Kelvin Gastelum just hours before the fight.
Anything you can do, I can do. #UFC234 pic.twitter.com/GLBAPF4uG5
— UFC (@ufc) February 10, 2019
And Adesanya was too good for Silva after the judges scored the fight in the favour of undefeated Nigerian-New Zealander, who improved to 16-0.
"This is like, for a kid, if I played basketball against Michael Jordan. This is it for me," Adesanya said.
"I do this s*** for real, and I do it against the best. Crazy week. I showed up to work, a lot of people didn’t. It’s out of their hands, you know, sometimes it’s not in their control.
"But, hey, Player one has the controller, so I showed up. Anderson, thank you. You've been doing this for a long time my friend, I appreciate you."
Due to that late change in the schedule, Lando Vannata and Marcos Mariano's lightweight bout was moved to the main card from the prelims and served as a co-main event. And it was the former, who emerged victorious via a first round submission win. Meanwhile, Ricky Simon, Montana De La Rosa and Jimmy Crute were also victorious on the main card.
The 1... 2...
— UFC (@ufc) February 10, 2019
And the finish!
Have yourself a night, @K_O_E_KingKage! #UFC234 pic.twitter.com/TmIqFlxtcD
Earlier in the prelims, Jalin Turner, Kyung Ho Kang and Devonte Smith won via stoppages, while Shane Young, Kai Kara-France and Jonathan Martinez earned decision wins.
Here are the final results of UFC 234:
Main Card
1. Middleweight bout: Israel Adesanya defeated Anderson Silva by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
2. Lightweight bout: Lando Vannata defeated Marcos Mariano by submission (kimura) - Round 1, 4:55
3. Bantamweight bout: Ricky Simon defeated Rani Yahya by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
4. Women's Flyweight bout: Montana De La Rosa defeated Nadia Kassem by submission (armbar) - Round 2, 2:37
5. Light Heavyweight bout: Jim Crute defeated Sam Alvey by TKO (punches) - Round 1, 2:49
Preliminary Card
1. Lightweight bout: Devonte Smith defeated Dong Hyun Kim by TKO (punches) - Round 1, 3:53
2. Featherweight bout: Shane Young defeated Austin Arnett by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
3. Flyweight bout: Kai Kara-France defeated Raulian Paiva by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
4. Bantamweight bout: Kyung Ho Kang defeated Teruto Ishihara by technical submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 3:59
5. Lightweight bout: Jalin Turner defeated Callan Potter by knockout (punches) - Round 1, 0:53
6. Bantamweight bout: Jonathan Martinez defeated Wuliji Buren by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
(With inputs from OPTA)