UFC 221 results: Romero knocks Rockhold out cold but doesn't win title

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Perth, February 11: Yoel Romero knocks Luke Rockhold out cold in a middleweight bout of UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia on Sunday (February 11).

In the interim middleweight title bout - the main event of UFC 221, Romero won spectacularly, but won't have a title to show for as he failed to make weight which made only Rockhold eligible to win the title.

Romero took out former middleweight champion Rockhold with a massive third-round knockout with a pair of left hands at the 1:48 mark of the third round.

In the co-main event, Curtis Blaydes got the biggest win of his career as he survived a first-round knockdown and went on to dominate Mark Hunt in the second and third.

Blaydes overcame the favourite Hunt using his strength - takedowns and it was 10 successful ones which got him a pair of 30-26 scores and a 29-27.

A light heavyweight bout opened the main card in Perth where Tyson Pedro forced Saparbeg Safarov to tap to a tight kimura at the 3:54 mark of the first round.

Australia's Jake Matthews caused an upset as he defeated the eye-raking Li Jingliang of China via unanimous decision with a pair of 30-26 scores and a 29-28 in a welterweight scrap.

Next up, in a heavyweight bout Tai Tuivasa took out Cyril Asker with a brutal TKO via an uppercut and followed it with strikes on the ground to earn the stoppage at the 2:18 mark of the first round.

In the preliminary card headliner, Dong Hyun Kim took a split decision from Damien Brown with couple of 29-28 scores in a lightweight bout. While Jussier Formiga choked out Ben Nguyen to earn a submission (RNC) win in the battle of flyweights.

Plus, we also saw two stoppages in the prelims, the first being Alex Volkanovski's technical knock out (TKO) of Jeremy Kennedy in a featherweight bout. While the second was UFC newcomer Israel Adesanya's technical knock out of Rob Wilkinson in middleweight bout.

Also on the preliminary card, Luke Jumeau (welterweight), Jose Quinonez (batamweight) and Ross Pearson (lightweight) picked up unanimous decision wins against Daichi Abe, Teruto Ishihara and Mizuto Hiroto respectively.

Here are the final results of UFC 221:

Main Card

1. Interim Middleweight title bout: Yoel Romero defeated Luke Rockhold by knockout (punches) - Round 3, 1:48

2. Heavyweight bout: Curtis Blaydes defeated Mark Hunt by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)

3. Heavyweight bout: Tai Tuivasa defeated Cyril Asker by TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 2:18

4. Welterweight bout: Jake Matthews defeated Li Jingliang by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-26, 30-26)

5. Light Heavyweight bout: Tyson Pedro defeated Saparbeg Safarov by submission (kimura) - Round 1, 3:54

Preliminary Card

1. Lightweight bout: Dong Hyun Kim defeated Damien Brown by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

2. Middleweight bout: Israel Adesanya defeated Rob Wilkinson by TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:37

3. Featherweight bout: Alex Volkanovski defeated Jeremy Kennedy by TKO (punches) - Round 2, 4:57

4. Flyweight bout: Jussier Formiga defeated Ben Nguyen by technical submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 3, 1:43

5. Lightweight bout: Ross Pearson defeated Mizuto Hirota by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

6. Bantamweight bout: Jose Quinonez defeated Teruto Ishihara by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

7. Welterweight bout: Luke Jumeau defeated Daichi Abe by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 28-27)