UFC 268 results and recap: Usman, Namajunas retain titles in their respective five-round thrillers

Rose Namajunas and Kamaru Usman retained belts in UFC 268 (Image Courtesy: UFC)

New York, November 7: Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and women's strawweight champion Rose Namajunas retained their respective titles in the headliner of UFC 268: Usman vs. Covington 2 at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on Saturday (November 6).

Number 1 pound-for-pound fighter Usman defeated No. 1 contender Colby Covington via a decision in a rematch from UFC 245, while number 3 women's pound-for-pound fighter Namajunas dominated Zhang also in a rematch to retain the strawweight gold.

In the main event, "The Nigerian Nightmare" Usman and bitter rival Covington rematched with vengeance and delivered an impressive sequel.

In the co-main event, strawweight champion Namajunas rematched former champion Zhang in a fight that went a very different direction, but still ended with the Namajunas' hand being raised.

In the 14-fights stacked card there were eight stoppage wins and six decision wins with the Justin Gaethje vs Michael Chandler earning the fight of the night bonus and, Marlon Vera, Chris Barnett, Alex Pereira and Bobby Green took the performance of the night bonus.

Main Event

While Usman dominated in all aspects of the fight, Covington showed moments of brilliance with wrestling and some shots that found their way to the mark. In the end, the champion Usman retained the belt with the judges scoring in his favour.

Following the unanimous decision win, Usman said, "There was a lot of trash talk, there was a lot of bad blood here... but this guy is tough... We came out and we wanted to put on a performance, and I hope we did that for you tonight. I am the pound-for-pound best alive right now."

Co-main Event

Zhang dominated in the opening stanza, and as the championship rounds unfolded, Namajunas took back control. After five rounds were closely contested within every facet of MMA, the split decision was awarded to Namajunas.

After retaining the title, Namajunas said, "I had a feeling it was going to be a way tougher fight. I was pretty confident at the end that I won it... I was just present in the moment and wasn't even too worried about the result. I'm pretty healthy right now, so I could get back in there. We'll see."

Main Card Action

Also on the main card, No. 13 ranked bantamweight Marlon Vera brought everything he had against the savvy and tough former champion Frankie Edgar, weathered the grappling, and got the KO in round three.

In the main card opener, two of the best lightweight knockout artists in the world, No. 2 ranked Justin Gaethje and No. 4 ranked Michael Chandler, opened the main card with an instant classic. The potential fight of the year delivered three rounds of blistering knockdown action with Gaethje getting the unanimous decision victory.

Later, Shane Burgos and Billy Quarantillo made the record for the most significant strikes in UFC featherweight history in their three round war, and Burgos walked away with the win on the scorecards.

Preliminary Card Action

Earlier in the prelims, the featured bout saw kickboxing standout Alex Pereira make his highly anticipated UFC debut by knocking out Andreas Michailidis with a jumping switch knee, while Bobby Green starched Al Iaquinta with a perfect left right combination early in the first round.

To round off the preliminary card, Chris Curtis, Nassourdine Imavov and Ian Garry also earned stoppage wins over Phil Hawes, Edmen Shahbazyan and Jordan Williams in their respective middleweight and welterweight bouts.

Early Prelims Action

In the early prelims, entertaining heavyweight Chris Barnett shocked the world by executing a spinning wheel kick to knock out Gian Villante in the second round, while Dustin Jacoby, Melsik Baghdasaryan and Ode' Osbourne claimed decision wins.

UFC 268 Results

Main Card

1. Welterweight title bout: Kamaru Usman defeated Colby Covington by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)

2. Women's Strawweight title bout: Rose Namajunas defeated Zhang Weili by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 49-46)

3. Bantamweight bout: Marlon Vera defeated Frankie Edgar by KO (front kick) at 3:50 of Round 3

4. Featherweight bout: Shane Burgos defeated Billy Quarantillo by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

5. Lightweight bout: Justin Gaethje defeated Michael Chandler by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

1. Middleweight bout: Alex Pereira defeated Andreas Michailidis by TKO (flying knee and punches) at 0:18 of Round 2

2. Lightweight bout: Bobby Green defeated Al Iaquinta by TKO (strikes) at 2:25 of Round 1

3. Middleweight bout: Chris Curtis defeated Phil Hawes by TKO (counter left) at 4:27 of Round 1

4. Middleweight bout: Nassourdine Imavov defeated Edmen Shahbazyan by TKO (elbows) at 4:42 of Round 2

5. Welterweight bout: Ian Garry defeated Jordan Williams by KO (right hand) at 4:59 of Round 1

Early Preliminary Card

1. Heavyweight bout: Chris Barnett defeated Gian Villante by TKO (spinning wheel kick) at 2:23 of Round 2

2. Light Heavyweight bout: Dustin Jacoby defeated John Allan by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

3. Catchweight (148.4 lb) bout: Melsik Baghdasaryan defeated Bruno Souza by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

4. Catchweight (127.4 lb) bout: Ode' Osbourne defeated CJ Vergara by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Story first published: Sunday, November 7, 2021, 15:16 [IST]

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