In the main event of the UFC 261, Kamaru Usman knocked out Jorge Masvidal to defend his welterweight title and prove that he is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the organization.
Kamaru Usman Knocks Out Gilbert Burns, Defends His Welterweight Title
In other matches, Rose Namajunas KOd the strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, taking over the strawweight title, while Valentina Shevchenko easily beat Jessica Andrade to preserve the flyweight belt.
Usman (19-1 MMA, 14-0 UFC) performed one of the best KOs of the year, knocking Masvidal (35-14 MMA, 12-7 UFC) out cold with his right hand, which ended on Gamebred’s chin. The challenger would drop down immediately, while Kamaru rushed to add a few more hammerfists before the judge in the ring stopped the bout. The time on the clock was 1:02 of the second.
Kamaru Usman Beats Jorge Masvidal, Keeps the Welterweight Title
The power of that single hit was so massive, that Masvidal couldn’t recover for some time. On the other side, Usman was celebrating outside the octagon, pumping up the crowd at the sold-out VyStar Veterans Memorial.
Usman took down Masvidal in the first round, but he couldn’t control the rival well on the floor, allowing him to get up. After that, Gamebred had a minor initiative until the end of the sequence, but nothing spectacular happened. The second round wasn’t promising either, but just one overhand right showed Usman’s greatness.
This was the fourth successful defense for the Nigerian Nightmare, who now has 14 straight wins in the UFC, and not a single loss. On the other side, Masvidal posted his 14th defeat, the second straight against Usman.
In other fights of the night, the biggest surprise was Rose Namajunas’ (10-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) win over Zhang Weili (21-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC). Namajunas got back her title belt, held previously from 2017 to 2019.
The American’s head kick at 1:18 of the opening round decided the clash, with the champion looking lost after the same. Namajunas added a couple of more hits while Weili lay on the floor, putting an exclamation point on her comeback to the top. The Chinese snapped her 21-match winning streak and lost the title won vs Jessica Andrade, who originally defeated Namajunas to claim the same.
The above-mentioned Andrade lost to Valentina Shevchenko (21-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the women’s UFC flyweight belt match. This was the fifth title defense for Shevchenko, who was extremely dominant before knocking out the rival at 3:19 of the second round. The Kyrgyzstani-Peruvian wrestled out the challenger, having all of her six takedown attempts successful.
Deiveson Figueiredo and Valentina Shevchenko Defend Titles at UFC 255
-->UFC Fight Night Reyes vs. Prochazka is the next event, scheduled for Saturday, May 1, at the UFC Apex.
