Kamaru Usman Defeats Jorge Masvidal At UFC 251

Kamaru Usman defended his UFC welterweight title by beating Jorge Masvidal on a unanimous decision at UFC 251 on Fight Island.

Masvidal stepped into the fight at just six days notice, after Usman's original opponent Gilbert Burns had to be pulled from the show for testing positive for Covid-19.

The two men had a long running rivalry before the fight was made and there was certainly no love lost between them.

Both men came into the fight off the back of huge years in 2019. The champion won the title off Tyron Woodley before defending it against Colby Covington, whilst the challenger beat Darren Till, Ben Askren and Nate Diaz, officially becoming the baddest motherf**ker in UFC.

Masvidal flew out of the blocks early with leg kicks in the opening round but Usman got the early take down, exactly what he would have wanted.

Gamebred was on his back as the Nigerian Nightmare tried to take advantage of his dominant position but the challenger managed to get back to his feet.

The 35-year-old, who had to cut 22 lbs in a week, landed some good knees to the body and then defended well as Usman again tried to take him down.

An accidental clash of heads did open up a cut on Masvidal's face but he definitely landed the better shots in the opening stanza.

Once again the champion attempted to takedown his challenger early in the second round, testing his opponents defence, which Masvidal did really well with in the first 90 second of the second round.

Another clash of heads opened up another cut for the man from Miami as the two men spent most of the five minutes at close quarters, until the final 30 seconds as both man landed shots.

The third round started the same as Masvidal tried to create space between the two men but was left defending takedowns, before he got some time to compose himself after a borderline accidental 'low blow.'

Usman then landed two quick takedowns and dominated the final minute of the round from the floor.

The first two minutes of the fourth again followed the pattern of Usman tying up his opponent and trying to score another takedown, as Masvidal defended against the fence.

Usman landed a couple of big left hand shots in the middle of the round, before going back to clinching his opponent and squeezing the life out of the fight.

One more takedown in the early part of the fifth round left no doubt as to who the victor would be, with the champion dominating from the above his opponent, even though Masvidal did get to his feet for the final 40 seconds before landing one final big shot, and went for a flying knee at the end which just missed.

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