UFC 262 Fallout – ‘Do Bronx’ reaches the summit

In what was only the UFC’s second pay-per-view with fans back in full force, a pair of big losses threatened to take away from the anticipation that had built up around this event as the featured prelim between Jack Hermansson and Edmen Shahbazyan was moved to the following week’s Fight Night event due to a positive COVID test in Hermansson’s camp.

In addition, what was meant to be the co-main event of this event, the first non-title, non-main event bout to be contested over five rounds between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz was postponed to UFC 263 after an injury to Stockton’s favourite son.

With plenty of hype to live up to and a frenzied crowd in Houston to entertain, the UFC typically delivered.

Lee hunts down ‘La Pantera’:

The opening bout of the night was a Women’s Flyweight bout between number eleven ranked Andrea ‘KGB’ Lee and number twelve ranked Antonina ‘La Pantera’ Shevchenko.

The first round played out mostly on the feet, with Lee trying to keep pace with the credentialed Muay Thai of Shevchenko, and it looked as if the boxing of Lee was paying dividends as she was able to enter and exit striking exchanges well, landing effective combinations and pushing the pace, leaving ‘La Pantera’ trying to counter her American adversary or disrupt her momentum, usually with a front kick to the body.

With just over ninety seconds left in the opening frame, Lee would land her biggest shots up to that point, landing a left high kick, followed by a right hand that wobbled Shevchenko.

However, instead of trying to follow up on the feet, Lee would engage the elder Shevchenko sister in a clinch against the cage, eventually securing the body lock and taking her opponent down with an inside trip.

Lee would close out an impressive first round in a positive position on the ground.

The second round would begin with a wild sequence as Lee attempted a spinning backfist, which Antonina attempted to counter by grappling her opponent, but Lee was able to roll, sending Shevchenko to the ground and ending up on top, with Shevchenko in a headlock.

Shevchenko would get to her feet soon after but would almost immediately be sent back down via a judo throw by ‘KGB’.

It was then that Lee would start to pull away in the fight as she landed in side control and immediately looked to put ‘La Pantera’ in a crucifix, leaving her unable to block oncoming ground and pound, but when Shevchenko was able to resist, Lee moved into mount and secured a triangle hold.

Despite the dominant position, the American just didn’t have the angle or the leverage to complete the choke and force Shevchenko to submit, so what followed was an extended period on the ground of Lee landing a host of brutal elbows in the position and trying to find the leverage to either push Antonina’s head down, further into the choke or isolate an arm to attempt a triangle armbar.

With less than ten seconds left in the second round, Lee was able to do the latter and forced the sister of the division’s champion to submit.

‘Jacare’ suffers broken arm in loss to Muniz:

The featured preliminary bout of the night was a Middleweight bout between Andre Muniz and the revered Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza. The matchup was given a little extra fuel on the fire after Muniz claimed that he was a better grappler than the legend.

His claims wouldn’t immediately be backed up as ‘Jacare’ would land a takedown, but Muniz would be seated up against the cage. As ‘Jacare’ tried to pull Muniz away from the cage to initiate his grappling, Muniz would threaten with up-kicks to ward off his opponent.

Muniz would land a pair of takedowns to reverse his fortunes and the finishing sequence would begin with Muniz jumping onto Souza’s back to threaten with a rear-naked-choke.

Muniz was too high on ‘Jacare’s’ back however and the veteran would try to send Muniz over the top to end up in a dominant position on the ground. The arm of ‘Jacare’ would be trapped by Muniz, however and as he tried to move over to the side, he would snap Souza’s arm, causing the immediate stoppage of the bout.

Barboza stops Burgos in fun scrap:

The opener of the main card was a Featherweight clash between number nine ranked Shane Burgos and number thirteen ranked Edson Barboza.

This was Barboza’s third fight at 145lbs after spending the majority of his career at Lightweight and has a reputation as one of the slickest kickboxers in the UFC’s history. Despite this, it was highlighted in the pre-fight introductions that Barboza would likely be at a disadvantage in traditional boxing.

Barboza would begin the fight with repeated leg kicks, and it was clear that they were quickly taking their toll on his opponent as Burgos would start to check and avoid them after some time.

Similarly, to the pre-fight predictions, Burgos would find more success as he moved into close range and landed punches. The American would open up the defence of Barboza with choice body shots and a sharp jab that opened up a cut over the right eye of the Brazilian.

With a minute left in the opening frame, Barboza would almost secure another highlight reel knockout with a spinning heel kick; Burgos would manage to get enough of his block up to shield himself from the complete impact.

In the second round, Barboza would set the tone with a spinning back kick to the body on Burgos, immediately drawing redness from the stomach of the American.

The kicks of both men would be a focal point of the second round as Burgos was able to find success with his calf kick, while Barboza would continue to throw his kicks with venom, to the point where he suffered a cut on his shin.

Barboza would force a peculiar finish in the third round with jab and a right hook that Burgos appeared to shake off, before his body seemingly gave out, stumbling back into the cage and forcing the referee to stop the fight.

Three losses in a row for ‘El Cucuy’:

May 15, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Beneil Dariush is declared the winner by decision against Tony Ferguson during UFC 262 at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It would be incredibly difficult for fight fans to find a fighter that had a worse 2020 than Tony Ferguson. At the beginning of the year, it looked as if Ferguson was finally going to get his first opportunity to become the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion as, for the fifth time, he was booked to face long-time rival Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 249.

But after travel restrictions were put in place due to the pandemic, Khabib was stuck in Russia and the fight was cancelled again. Instead of waiting for ‘The Eagle’ to be available, Ferguson elected to put his interim UFC Lightweight Championship on the line against Justin Gaethje.

In a cruel twist, Gaethje would defeat ‘El Cucuy’ to secure his own title shot against Nurmagomedov and after Khabib beat Gaethje, he would announce his retirement.

Then, in his first fight trying to get back to the top of the division, Tony would be dominated by Charles Oliveira, giving the former interim champion a two-fight losing streak after previously winning twelve in a row.

This fight against the surging Beneil Dariush would be extremely telling of Ferguson’s future in the division.

The opening round was a rough one for the frenzied crowd in Houston that was clearly behind ‘El Cucuy’ as Dariush would rush forward, unafraid of Ferguson’s unpredictable striking and he would begin by attacking the back leg of his opponent, before securing a takedown and spending the rest of the round in top position landing ground and pound strikes.

In round two, Dariush would immediately shoot in for a takedown, but Tony would attempt to counter with his favoured D’Arce choke, but the elite jiu-jitsu of his opponent left him without the requisite angle to leverage the choke.

In almost a mirror image of his previous fight against Oliveira, Ferguson would find himself caught in a deep submission after a scramble as Dariush was able to secure a heel hook, leaving Ferguson in agony as he increased the pressure on the hold.

Similarly, to his fight with Oliveira, Ferguson displayed his otherworldly toughness as in the midst of the submission, he would kick at the arms of Dariush to break the hold.

Unfortunately for fans of Ferguson, his toughness would not be the beginning of a comeback as his left leg was clearly compromised, allowing Dariush to slam him to the ground and grind out the rest of the fight on the ground, racking up over ten minutes of ground control time.

Dariush’s efforts would be rewarded with a clean sweep of 30-27 scorecards for a unanimous decision victory.

Oliveira knocks out Chandler in wild comeback:

All that was left to decide was the main event as two men in vastly different stages in their UFC careers went to battle over the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship.

Charles Oliveira was preparing for his twenty-eighth UFC fight, after having mixed results at Featherweight, a move up to Lightweight proved to take ‘Do Bronx’ to the next level, going on an immense winning streak to become the promotion’s best kept secret in a stacked division and also breaking the record for the most submission wins in UFC history.

Conversely, Michael Chandler has spent the majority of his career in Bellator, and this would be only his second fight under the UFC banner after putting a stamp on his debut with a first round knockout of Dan Hooker at UFC 257.

The fight would start with immediate fireworks as Oliveira would begin the fight with a hard leg kick that almost sent Chandler to the ground, but ‘Iron’ Michael would soon respond with a big left hook, forcing ‘Do Bronx’ to shoot in for a takedown in retaliation.

Chandler would attempt to counter the takedown with a guillotine choke and while it looked for a moment that the choke was too deep for Oliveira to escape, he was able to slip his head out and after a scramble, would take Chandler’s back.

Chandler would stand up with Oliveira on his back and throw himself to the ground in an attempt to knock Oliveira off the hold, but the Brazilian was able to maintain the body triangle.

In a wild finish to the opening round, Chandler was able to escape Oliveira on the ground after some hand-fighting and soon after the men got back to their feet, Chandler would again put his punching power on display after a series of stiff shots left his opponent clinging on.

Oliveira would save himself from the onslaught of his American adversary by pulling Chandler down into his guard, with the commentators questioning why Chandler would not try to force Oliveira back to his feet.

For anyone who believed that Oliveira was saved by the bell in the first round, he quickly proved that he would not be left struggling through the remainder of the bout as less than ten seconds into the second round, he would land a big left hook that sent Chandler stumbling towards the cage.

As Oliveira rushed in to pursue the finish, Chandler would try to circle away from the cage to his right, giving ‘Do Bronx’ the perfect window to land another huge left to put Chandler down again, finishing the fight and giving the Brazilian his first piece of UFC gold after over a decade in the promotion.

The emotion of the moment was apparent as Oliveira would celebrate his victory by rushing out of the cage and celebrating around the floor of the arena and thanking UFC president Dana White before finally being presented with the championship.

What’s next?

The UFC’s next pay-per-view offering will be headlined by a pair of championship rematches as Deiveson Figueiredo will defend his UFC Flyweight Championship against Brandon Moreno, in what will hopefully be a repeat of their classic bout from late last year.

In the main event of UFC 263, UFC Middleweight Champion Isreal Adesanya will put his belt on the line against Marvin Vettori, with Vettori claiming that he is the man to crack the puzzle that is the ‘Last Stylebender’ in the Middleweight division, believing that he gave the Nigerian-born champion his toughest test in their previous meeting.

UFC 263 will also feature the aforementioned five-round bout between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz.

In terms of Oliveira’s first defence as champion, Dana White said in his post-fight press conference that he hadn’t thought about the Brazilian’s first challenger.

But there will be no shortage of exciting fights in the 155lbs division as Justin Gaethje still hasn’t fought since his loss to Khabib, Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor will complete their trilogy at UFC 264 and there is the aforementioned surging Beneil Dariush.

Full Card Results:

Main card

Lightweight – Charles Oliveira def. Michael Chandler via TKO (Round 2 – 0:19)

Lightweight – Beneil Dariush def. Tony Ferguson via Unanimous Decision

Catchweight (137lbs) – Rogerio Bontorin def. Matt Schnell via Unanimous Decision

Women’s Flyweight – Katlyn Chookagian def. Vivianne Araujo via Unanimous Decision

Featherweight – Edson Barboza def. Shane Burgos via KO (Round 3 – 1:16)

Preliminary card

Middleweight – Andre Muniz def. Ronaldo Souza via Technical Submission (Armbar, Round 1 – 3:59)

Featherweight – Lando Vannata def. Mike Grundy via Split Decision

Middleweight – Jordan Wright def. Jamie Pickett via TKO (Round 1 – 1:04)

Women’s Flyweight – Andrea Lee def. Antonina Shevchenko via Submission (Triangle Armbar, Round 2 – 4:52)

Early preliminary card

Women’s Flyweight – Priscila Cachoeira def. Gina Mazany via TKO (Round 2 – 4:51)

Featherweight – Tucker Lutz def. Kevin Aguilar via Unanimous Decision

Lightweight – Christos Giagos def. Sean Soriano via Technical Submission (D’Arce choke, Round 2 – 0:59)

Five-star Chelsea Women secure back-to-back WSL crowns

Two goals and an assist for Fran Kirby saw her awarded the Player of the Match as Chelsea led from the first minute to the last to win their fourth league title.

This final day clash at Kingsmeadow was Chelsea’s chance to control their own destiny in the WSL title race as they welcomed Reading.

Emma Hayes’ side’s task was simple, win and they would be champions for the second successive season. And the importance of the game was apparent through the team selection as Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder returned to the starting eleven after both women started on the bench for their previous game against Tottenham.

Conversely, for Reading, it would be a farewell for a pair of key players as Fara Williams would be playing her last professional game as she had previously announced her intention to retire at the season’s end.

The Royals would also be saying goodbye to another key midfielder in Angharad James, after she agreed to join NWSL side North Carolina Courage.

Melanie Leupolz would give the London outfit the perfect start as just over a minute into the game, Jess Carter would fire a corner low towards the edge of the box.

Leupolz would strike towards goal first-time and Reading goalkeeper Grace Moloney couldn’t get down to her side to cover it quickly enough.

For much of the first half, the visitors were able to keep the game competitive, limiting Chelsea’s chances and having equally dangerous spells of possession.

On the stroke of halftime, though, the hosts would double their lead as the league’s premier partnership of Fran Kirby and Sam Kerr would strike again as Kirby would play Kerr in behind the Reading defence and despite gunning for the Golden Boot, given to the league’s top goalscorer, Kerr unselfishly squared across goal, back to Kirby, who fired into the top right corner of the goal.

At halftime, with Manchester City being held at the time by West Ham, the Londoners couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day, with the Citizens needing a dramatic turnaround to swing the title in their favour.

Coming out of the halftime break, it did not look impossible for the Berkshire side to find their way back into the fixture as they enjoyed a prolonged period of possession in the first ten minutes of the second half.

That spell was almost rewarded with a farewell goal for Fara Williams as Chelsea would clear a Reading corner, but the ball would be played back to Williams on the left wing.

Instead of crossing the ball back into the area, Williams spotted Chelsea ‘keeper Ann-Katrin Berger not covering her near post.

So, she would fire an effort towards goal, but her shot didn’t quite have the power behind it to catch out the German shot-stopper, who was able to dive down to her right and smother the shot to extinguish the attack.

Soon after, the difference in clinical finishing between these two sides was made apparent as a defensive clearance from the reigning champions would find Kerr in the Reading half.

Kerr would hold up the ball well for her teammates to get forward in support and it was no surprise that she would find Fran Kirby on the edge of the box.

Kirby would touch the ball onto her left foot, explode forward to prevent a block from the defender covering her, and fire across goal for another wonderful finish against her former side, a finish that would all but ensure that Chelsea would be crowned champions.

It was clear that Emma Hayes felt the same way, as before the game could be restarted following the goal, the Chelsea manager made a trio of substitutions, likely keeping one eye on the upcoming Champions League final against Barcelona.

Unlike their previous game against Tottenham, the multiple simultaneous substitutes did not disrupt the hosts’ momentum, if anything, they reinvigorated the London outfit as they enjoyed much more of the ball than they had in the second half to that point.

However, Reading would still look threatening as Brooke Chaplen would backheel a pass in the Chelsea penalty area to find the arriving Danielle Carter.

Carter would make a sharp turn, shifting the ball onto her left foot, away from Chelsea defender Jess Carter but the Reading striker would rush her effort and, as a result, she would not be able to keep her shot on target.

That missed opportunity would arguably be the last bright spot in the game for the Royals as with twenty minutes still to play, Chelsea would find their fourth.

Kirby would chip a pass in behind to Kerr, with the Australian international volleying past an onrushing and outstretched Grace Moloney to secure the Golden Boot for herself, after Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema failed to add to her tally against Aston Villa.

Four minutes later, the ruthless champions would put the icing on the cake as a corner would find the head of Kerr, forcing a save from Moloney, but she could only parry the ball out as far as Chelsea substitute Erin Cuthbert, with the Scotswoman scrambling the ball over the line to put her side five-nil up.

Despite piling further pressure on the Royals, five-nil was how the game would end and Chelsea could begin their celebrations, having become the most successful WSL side ever with their fourth league title, after previously being tied with Arsenal with three.

One of the biggest positives for Chelsea fans in the celebrations was seeing Maren Mjelde able to join in on the festivities, albeit on a crutch, after the Norwegian suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Continental League Cup final.

Elsewhere on the final day in the WSL, Manchester City were able to defeat West Ham one-nil thanks to a seventy-fifth minute strike from Ellen White, but it would of course not be enough to see them crowned champions.

And in the battle to avoid relegation, Bristol City would fall to Brighton by a score of three goals to one to confirm their relegation to the Championship, where they will be replaced in the WSL next season by this season’s Championship winners, Leicester City.

WSL final day preview: What’s still to play for?

As the curtain falls on another season of Women’s Super League football, this season could be remembered as one of the most influential ever, as next season will mark the beginning of the league’s landmark broadcasting deal with Sky Sports.

This will likely bring a lot more eyes to the women’s game and the performances and table finishes that these clubs can achieve on the final day could have a massive impact on the number of televised games a team could be given next season, along with the race to avoid relegation from the league altogether.

With plenty still to be decided on the final day, let’s take a look at all of the fixtures to be played on the final day and assess how they could affect the league’s standings.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa:

Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro will leave his post after this season content with the knowledge that he has left his side in a positive position for next season, having all but secured the final Women’s Champions League spot with Manchester United being three points behind the Gunners but possessing a vastly inferior goal difference to the Londoners.

Despite this, expect the home side to leave it all out on the pitch as it is likely that the players will want to send Montemurro off to his personal break on a high, having earned the respect of fellow managers around the league and even bringing home a WSL title for Arsenal in the 2018-19 season.

Conversely, the visitors will be desperate to come away from Meadow Park with a result as the razor-thin relegation battle over the last few weeks has been narrowed down to three teams, Villa, Birmingham City and Bristol City.

The West Midlands outfit will likely know that even if they are only able to salvage a point, that would probably be enough as they are already two points above bottom-side Bristol City, and the Robins would have to win their game by a margin of over twenty goals to overturn Villa’s goal difference advantage.

If the visitors were to lose, however, then Villa fans around the country will be praying that Bristol City fail to win their game, as it would send them back to the Championship after just one season in the top-flight.

Birmingham City vs Tottenham Hotspur:

SOLIHULL, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 04: Kit Graham of Tottenham Hotspur scores her sides first goal during the Barclays FA Women’s Super League match between Birmingham City and Tottenham Hotspur at Damson Park on December 04, 2019 in Solihull, United Kingdom. (Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)

A mere twenty-four hours ago, Carla Ward’s Birmingham City side would have looked at this game as an opportunity to give some developing prospects some experience having all but secured their safety in the WSL for next season, sitting three points above Bristol City with a drastically superior goal difference.

However, in another example of controversy surrounding this Birmingham team this season, they were deducted the one point that they earned in their one-one draw against Reading on the 25th of April as Ruesha Littlejohn was featured in the team, despite the fact that she should have been serving a suspension.  

That deduction now puts the Blues firmly back into the relegation dogfight, as they are now level on points with bitter rivals Aston Villa, with both sides sitting two points above Bristol City. This means that Birmingham could be relegated if they lose, Bristol win and Villa pick up points.

Tottenham will travel to Birmingham just looking for pride after a disappointing season has them languishing in eighth place. The visitors cannot mathematically climb any higher in the league’s standings, but they can prevent West Ham from overtaking them if they win.

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Bristol City:

Yana Daniels of Bristol City Women scores her sides first goal of the game – Mandatory by-line: Ryan Hiscott/JMP – 30/01/2021 – FOOTBALL – Twerton Park – Bath, England – Bristol City Women v Brighton and Hove Albion Women – FA Womens Super League 1

The final game of the final day that will affect the relegation battle is the fixture between the Seagulls and the Robins.

The home side don’t have much to play for, but are currently level on points with Reading, with the Royals only sitting above the Seagulls in sixth by way of goal difference.

If Brighton can better Reading’s result against Chelsea on Sunday, they will climb into sixth place, occupying the final spot in the top half of the table, which would be a massive achievement for Hope Powell’s side, having finished ninth in both of their first two seasons in the WSL.

However, they will definitely face some resistance as they welcome Bristol City to Broadfield Stadium.

In their last game, Robins fans were dealt a massive blow as they held Manchester United to a goalless draw for almost eighty minutes, until a Yana Daniels own goal denied the WSL’s bottom side an invaluable point.

Bristol’s task on the final day is simple, win at all costs. Anything less than a win will guarantee the Robins’ relegation to the Championship, regardless of the results elsewhere. If Bristol win, they will have to hope that results go their way to pull off the great escape.

West Ham United vs Manchester City:

A few weeks ago, West Ham looked to be another team locked in the relegation battle but after draws against Everton and two against Aston Villa in their last four games, Olli Harder’s side can breathe easy knowing that they have all but secured their status in the WSL for next season.

However, the visitors have a much more pressing issue on their hands as they are still in with a chance of winning the WSL title, sitting only two points behind Chelsea in second.

In order for City to win the league and avoid a fourth straight season as the WSL’s runner-up, they need Chelsea to drop points against Reading and they must win at Victoria Road.

If Chelsea draw against Reading, Manchester City would need to beat West Ham by a margin of at least three goals to topple the reigning champions.

Manchester United vs Everton:

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – JANUARY 31: Christen Press of Manchester United Women scores their second goal during the Barclays FA Women’s Super League match between Everton Women and Manchester United Women at Walton Hall Park on January 31, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

While the next game has no relative stakes behind it, and will not change either side’s league position, it is a final opportunity for both teams to cap off impressive seasons, which has left them both dreaming of chasing the ‘Big Three’ next season.

It will be difficult for Casey Stoney to be disappointed with this WSL campaign after securing a second successive fourth place finish in what is only Manchester United’s second season in the top-flight, and their first full season, after their maiden campaign was called off due to COVID.

However, with the Red Devils being so close to Arsenal in third place, it will be hard for fans to look at the costly losses to Reading and Brighton and not feel like their side could have secured Women’s Champions League football for next season.

Willie Kirk’s Everton team will likely be much more satisfied with their league position for this season, having finished tenth in 2018-19, sixth in the shortened 2019-20 season and securing fifth this season.

With a couple of quality acquisitions in the summer, we could see the Toffees begin to solidify themselves as the ‘best of the rest’ in the WSL for seasons to come.

Chelsea vs Reading:

Finally, Chelsea have the chance to retain their WSL crown for a second season and keep their hopes of an unbelievable quintet of trophies alive if they can beat Reading.

Reading have been one of the more confusing teams in the WSL this season, as Kelly Chambers’ side have seemed to play to the level of their competition throughout the season, notching a two-nil win away to Manchester United but suffering two brutal losses to Bristol City and West Ham, losing to the Hammers by a shocking five goals to nil at the Madejski Stadium.

The Royals cannot finish higher than their current league position but can prevent Brighton from bumping them down into seventh, which would be the Berkshire side’s lowest finish since 2016.

For Emma Hayes’ Chelsea team, they have the chance of completing a domestic treble ahead of their Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona, having already won the Community Shield and the Continental League Cup.

If Chelsea win, they are champions. If they draw, they will have to wait to see if Manchester City can beat West Ham and also overturn their advantage in goal difference. If the Londoners lose at Kingsmeadow, the window of opportunity for Gareth Taylor’s City team will be wide open.

Chelsea Women put one hand on WSL title after 2-0 win over Tottenham Women

Sam Kerr’s nineteenth and twentieth goals of the season were enough for Chelsea to secure a 2-0 win over their London rivals and put them in control of the title race going into the final day.

The final game before the final day of this current WSL season was a London derby as the reigning WSL champions Chelsea travelled to face Tottenham at The Hive.

This game would be invaluable to the Blues as it was their game in hand over title rivals Manchester City, who moved to the top of the WSL by one point, after a four-nil win over Birmingham City over the weekend.

If Chelsea were able to avoid defeat in this midweek clash, they would return to the summit of the WSL. Of course, Emma Hayes’ side would have been targeting a win above all as a draw would only take them ahead of City on goal difference.

Despite the importance of this game, it was clear that Hayes was keeping one eye on the final day of the season and Chelsea’s upcoming Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona as Fran Kirby and Pernille Harder would start on the bench for this game, these two of five changes from the side that triumphed over Bayern Munich in the UWCL semi-final second leg.

Conversely, Tottenham were looking to avoid continuing a torrid run of form that has seen them winless in nine WSL matches.

Despite this, Spurs would threaten almost immediately as a ball was played in behind to Rianna Dean, who could not challenge Ann-Katrin Berger in the Chelsea goal after pressure from Magdalena Eriksson.

Chelsea would dominate large spells of the first half thanks to the link-up play of Sam Kerr and Beth England as the two players up front and Guro Reiten’s excellent crosses coming from the left wing.

The reigning WSL champions would constantly carve out chances, forcing six saves from Tottenham goalkeeper Becky Spencer in the first half alone but it would take them over forty minutes to finally break the deadlock.

The ball was played back towards the halfway line to Millie Bright, who unleashed a perfect long ball that dropped perfectly for Reiten. The Norwegian international would play the ball across the face of goal first time, with her pass finding the onrushing Kerr at the back post.

Kerr would make no mistake in finding the net, putting herself definitively at the top of the WSL scoring charts with her nineteenth of the season, after coming into this game tied at the top with Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema, and giving Chelsea a one-nil lead at the break.

The Blues would almost double their lead immediately after the restart as a cross was played in low to Jonna Andersson as she ran into the penalty area, her first-time effort would rattle the crossbar before Tottenham were able to clear the ball to deny Kerr heading in the rebound.

Chelsea would establish a two-goal cushion just five minutes later as another dangerous Reiten cross would find the head of Kerr, but her effort was denied by Spencer. However, Spencer was only able to parry away Kerr’s header and it would fall right back into the six-yard box, with Kerr reacting the quickest to poke in her own rebound and give Chelsea complete control over the tie.

Soon after, Hayes would manage her side, clearly thinking about the two vital games to come and feeling confident that her side had done enough to win, she would sub off Reiten, Kerr and Drew Spence simultaneously, likely to preserve their energy.

The substitutes would hamper the visitors’ momentum as Tottenham were able to see much more of the ball as the half progressed, albeit mostly in their own half.

Chelsea would continue to pressure the hosts but would not be able to majorly challenge Spencer for the remainder of the half to improve their goal difference over Manchester City as they would secure a two-nil win to return to the league’s summit.

The result puts Chelsea in control of the WSL title race and on course for an outrageous quintet of trophies for the season, having already won the Community Shield and the Continental League Cup and going into the final day of the WSL season two points clear at the top, already securing their place in the final of the Champions League and still alive in the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup.

Chelsea being two points clear of Manchester City ahead of the final day means that they are firmly in control of the title race.

If the defending champions are able to beat Reading at Kingsmeadow on the final day, they will be champions again. If Chelsea battle to a draw, that could still be enough depending on if City are able to beat West Ham on the final day and can secure a victory steep enough to win the league on goal difference.

Tottenham’s final assignment of the season will be an away fixture at Birmingham City, a game that’s stakes have lower considerably as Birmingham are all but safe from relegation and Tottenham cannot climb any higher in the league table, they can only drop from eighth if they lose to Birmingham and West Ham beat Manchester City.

UFC Vegas 25 Fallout – Prochazka spins to win, Georgians impress

After the sensational event that was UFC 261, this fight card had plenty of expectations to live up to.

What occurred was almost the exact opposite of the UFC’s last pay-per-view offering as while UFC 261 had a breakneck pace with every fight on the main card being finished inside two rounds, every fight on this card before the co-main event was decided by the judges, aside from a controversial stoppage in the featured bout of the preliminary card.

Carolina triumphs in all-Brazil Flyweight clash:

An intriguing clash on the preliminary card on this event was the clash in the Women’s Flyweight division between the explosive Poliana Botelho and Dana White’s Contender Series alum, Luana Carolina, who would unfortunately miss weight for this bout.

The opening round was nothing but positives for Botelho. She would consistently find a home for her front kick to Carolina’s body from her rear leg and after a good combination, Botelho would land a solid takedown.

Botelho would finish the round by imposing excellent shoulder pressure on Carolina as she attempted to get past her guard, which she eventually did, ending the round in the mount position.

Carolina would come out for the second round much more aggressive, however, and after a period of clinching up against the cage, Botelho would shoot in for a takedown. Despite this, Carolina was able to reverse the takedown and land on top, in control.

Carolina would end the second round attempting to grind out Botelho and stifle her with her grappling.

The third round would play out much like the second, Botelho would shoot for another takedown and while it looked as if the two would land in side control with Botelho in the dominant position, Carolina was able to roll and reverse the takedown attempt again, landing in Botelho’s guard.

From that point, it would be almost complete domination on the ground for Carolina as she would pass guard and try to take Botelho’s back. Despite clocking over three minutes of ground control time in the third round alone, Carolina was not able to secure a submission and would be forced to settle for a split decision victory on the judges’ scorecards.

That being said, it could be considered as a curious performance for Botelho, as she was winning the striking exchanges but seemed to always be the one initiating the grappling exchanges, which would ultimately be her downfall as Carolina began to grow into the bout and Botelho fatigued.

A foul-ridden featured prelim:

The featured bout on the preliminary card was a fight in the Women’s Strawweight division between veteran Randa Markos and Luana Pinheiro.

Markos would explode out of the starting blocks, advancing towards Pinheiro, who would counter with a right hand and when Markos tried to push the Brazilian against the cage, Pinheiro would counter with a slick hip throw to send the Canadian to the canvas.

Pinheiro would continue to utilise her judo with a series of forceful takedowns throughout the opening round and would even show some skill in her striking, with a perfectly timed leg kick as Markos was loading up a strike of her own to sweep the leg out from under her opponent.

The issues would start just halfway through the opening round as Pinheiro caught Markos with an eye poke while trying to throw a jab, and it looked for a moment that the cage side doctor would call the bout off there, as there was a lengthy check to see if Markos could continue, as Markos even suffered a cut to her eyelid because of the foul.

After being examined, the fight was allowed to continue and the fight would restart much like it did at the beginning of the fight, with Markos rushing in with aggression and Pinheiro countering with a throw.

Unfortunately, what was shaping up to be a statement performance for Pinheiro was halted as with just forty-five seconds left in the first round, Markos would land a kick from her back to Pinheiro, who was also grounded, making it an illegal strike.

The kick clearly rocked Pinheiro and it was judged that she could not continue, ruling the contest a bittersweet victory for the Brazilian via disqualification.

Cutelaba and Jacoby draw after weigh-in tussle:

One of the fights that benefitted from some last-minute hype going into this event was the Light Heavyweight bout between Ion ‘The Hulk’ Cutelaba and Dustin Jacoby. This was in no small part to their heated weigh-in stare down, at which Cutelaba grabbed Jacoby by the back of his neck before the two men were separated.

When the fight actually started, it was no surprise to see the Moldovan ‘Hulk’ start the fight immediately swinging for the fences.

The story of the opening round was just a swarming performance by Cutelaba, as the Moldovan utilised his combat Sambo background to continuously wrestle his American adversary to the ground.

While Jacoby was able to get to his feet quickly after each takedown, Cutelaba would not relinquish his grip and it was only a matter of time before he would attempt to drag Jacoby to the ground again.

Cutelaba would cap off a dominant first round with a flurry of brutal elbows with Jacoby pressed up against the fence, leading many, including Michael Bisping on commentary to believe that Cutelaba had done enough to secure a 10-8 round, putting him firmly in control of the bout.

In the opening round of the fight, Cutelaba landed eight takedowns, securing a personal best for the fighter.

However, in the opening two rounds, it was clear that Cutelaba had expelled a lot of his energy in the first and thus, the second and third rounds were considerably more competitive, with Jacoby able to defend Cutelaba’s takedowns much easier, sprawling out of the attempts and denying the Moldovan any more opportunities to impose his will on the fight.

The majority of the rest of the fight would play out on the feet, with the striking exchanges between the two men being too close to call, big shots being landed on both sides and both fighters showing impressive resilience.

As such, when it came time for the judges’ scorecards to be read, it wasn’t a shock to hear Cutelaba and Jacoby receive respective 29-28 nods by individual judges, with the third scoring the bout 28-28, ruling the fight a split draw.

A good night for Georgia:

In the opening fight on the main card, top fifteen ranked contenders in the Bantamweight division squared off as Merab Dvalishvili took on Cody Stamann.

Both men came into this fight with reputations as two of the division’s best wrestlers, with Dvalishvili holding the record for the most takedowns in Bantamweight history with forty-one.

It was clear that despite this, both men had adequately prepared for wherever the fight would take them as Stamann had the perceived boxing advantage but was still confident enough to grapple with the Georgian and Dvalishvili was utilising a strong uppercut to deter Stamann from changing levels instead of welcoming the grappling of the American.

That was not the only striking technique that Merab leaned on in this fight as in the second round in particular, he made a habit of throwing a jab-straight combination and then changing levels for a takedown.

Overall, the fight played out like a true advertisement of mixed martial arts, every discipline was in favour of and setting up the next attack, with both fighters transitioning between boxing and clinching, to kickboxing and judo seamlessly.

Ultimately, it would be Dvalishvili who would outlast Stamann, as his relentless pace and pressure proved to be too much to handle. Stamann tried to keep the fight standing for spells but Dvalishvili would always find a way to close the distance and initiate the grappling, landing a few highlight reel takedowns en route to a unanimous decision victory.

It would take Giga Chikadze considerably less time to secure his victory in his Featherweight co-main event against the revered Cub Swanson.

Swanson would start the bout by controlling the Octagon, putting Chikadze on the back foot and as noted by Bisping on commentary, putting himself in close range to nullify the kicks of the Georgian.

However, Chikadze would land a swift one-two to push Swanson back and almost immediately would throw a high kick to set up the finishing sequence.

Chikadze would then land a devastating liver kick that left Swanson doubled over and, after some follow-up strikes, referee Jason Herzog would be forced to stop the fight with just a minute gone in the first round.

In his post-fight interview with Paul Felder, Chikadze said that he would like to follow up his performance by being granted a bout against Max Holloway or the man that Holloway beat in his previous fight, Calvin Kattar.

Prochazka violently puts himself in title picture:

All that was left was the main event, between top-five ranked Light Heavyweights Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka. It was quite surprising to see Prochazka come into this bout as the favourite as while Reyes’ last two fights were for gold at 205lbs, this would be Prochazka’s second fight under the UFC banner altogether.

That being said, that could easily be attributed to the immediate intrigue that has surrounded Prochazka since he entered the UFC, with his unique style and propensity to push the pace in pursuit of the finish.

This was on full display in this bout as from the word go, Prochazka marched forward towards Reyes, keeping his hands low and backing Reyes up, forcing the former title challenger to go for a takedown two minutes into the opening frame.

In an impressive display of strength, as Reyes threatened to move into mount on the ground, Prochazka would explode his hips off of the canvas to push Reyes off of him and bring the fight back standing.

The Czech fighter would continue to be aggressive for the remainder of the round, keeping Reyes almost exclusively up against the cage and landing shots that would have finished a lesser man.

Prochazka would not slow his pace in the second round and Reyes would gradually try to land his counter left hook when Prochazka would get particularly aggressive. Eventually, Reyes found his mark, temporarily stunning his opponent, but as he advanced to try to capitalise, Prochazka shot in for a takedown.

Reyes would counter with a guillotine attempt, which Prochazka would escape, and the fight would move back to the feet once more.

Prochazka would again pressure Reyes up against the cage and after an exchange, would throw a right elbow, which would glance his opponent, before Prochazka would spin, using his momentum from the first strike to follow up with a spinning back elbow with his left to put Reyes out cold.

In terms of what is next for Prochazka after such a statement win, UFC President Dana White had previously announced his intention to grant the winner of this fight a title opportunity against whoever is still holding the UFC Light Heavyweight championship following UFC 266, as champion Jan Blachowicz is already scheduled to defend against number-one contender Glover Teixeira.

Full Card Results:

Main card

Light Heavyweight – Jiri Prochazka def. Dominick Reyes via KO (Round 2 – 4:29)

Featherweight – Giga Chikadze def. Cub Swanson via TKO (Round 1 – 1:03)

Light Heavyweight – Ion Cutelaba and Justin Jacoby fought to a split draw

Middleweight – Sean Strickland def. Krzysztof Jotko via Unanimous Decision

Bantamweight – Merab Dvalishvili def. Cody Stamann via Unanimous Decision

Preliminary card

Women’s Strawweight – Luana Pinheiro def. Randa Markos via Disqualification (Round 1 – 4:16)

Featherweight – T.J. Brown def. Kai Kamaka via Split Decision

Catchweight (128.5lbs) – Luana Carolina def. Poliana Botelho via Split Decision

Women’s Strawweight – Loma Lookboonmee def. Sam Hughes via Unanimous Decision

Middleweight – Andreas Michailidis def. KB Bhullar via Unanimous Decision

Featherweight – Felipe Colares def. Luke Sanders via Unanimous Decision

Arsenal Women in pole position for UWCL after 2-0 win against West Ham Women

Goals from Vivianne Miedema and Kim Little helped the Gunners take advantage of their game in hand over Manchester United Women, opening up a three point gap between the two with two games to go.

This midweek fixture in the WSL presents two sides fighting for results at opposite ends of the table. Arsenal came into this game level on points with Manchester United in the race for the final Women’s Champions League place, with this being their game in hand over the Red Devils.

While West Ham travelled to Meadow Park knowing an upset win would all but secure their safety in the WSL but whatever result they would be able to get would only be as important as the Second City derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa taking place alongside this game.

On paper, it would appear to be an uphill battle for the Hammers to grind out a result against their fellow Londoners as Arsenal welcomed West Ham for this game off of the back of a six-game winning streak in the WSL, with zero goals conceded over those games.

Early on, Arsenal would try to break down their opponents by patiently playing out from the back, but West Ham would press the Gunners well, and the hosts were seemingly left to resort to playing multiple lofted through balls for their high-flying attackers to run onto.

It was not a fruitless strategy however, as the trio of Caitlin Foord, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema looked threatening in their ability to create space but were foiled repeatedly by the well-timed interceptions of West Ham’s centre-halves, particularly Hawa Cissoko.

Miedema would almost create the opening goal however, as with less than ten minutes played, she would chip a cross towards the carving run of Katie McCabe. The Irish international would not get the connection that she would have wanted on the volley though and it would fly past the far post.

Throughout the first half, Miedema would try to create space from the visitor’s defence in the box, but as a result, she wasn’t able to generate the necessary power on her strikes to trouble West Ham goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.

That would change just after the half hour mark as a throw-in on the right wing would find the Dutch international and she would run the ball towards the centre of the pitch outside the area and unleash a long-range effort off of her left foot that beat Arnold and gave Arsenal a deserved one-nil lead.

The goal was Miedema’s eighteenth of the season and draws her level in the golden boot race with Chelsea’s Sam Kerr.

The visitors would not be out of this game however, as their high press would trouble the Gunners at points when they were playing the ball from their defence and on the stroke of halftime, they almost found an equaliser as a cross would find Dagny Brynjarsdottir wide open at the back post, but she couldn’t steer her header on target, leaving West Ham trailing at the break.

The Hammers would come out of the break with vigour, however, putting much more pressure on Arsenal at the back and trying to get to the subsequent loose balls.

The hosts would always seem to recover their possession though, Joe Montemurro’s side playing with the defensive discipline that has seen them not concede in the WSL since the tenth of February.

The Gunners would soon have a ten-minute period where they had three clear chances to double their lead. The first came just before the hour mark as a cross from the left wing found Mead inside the six-yard box, but her effort would be saved at close range by Arnold, who also drew a free kick from the Englishwoman in the process.

The second would come from some excellent hold-up play from Miedema as she would find Mead with a through ball, bearing down on goal. Mead would elect to try to square the ball for Foord at the other side, but Arnold was again equal to it, latching onto the pass and leaving the hosts empty-handed again.

Just a matter of minutes later, it would be Foord who was played in behind, but the pass was just ahead of her and despite the fact that she tried to slide to flick the ball ahead of Arnold, the Australian goalkeeper had the effort covered to deny Arsenal once more.

However, with just ten minutes to play, Arsenal would finally establish a two-goal cushion over their opponents as captain Kim Little received the ball just outside of the penalty area as a result of a Beth Mead dummy.

Little would bring the ball into the box, hold off the challenge of a West Ham defender and strike her effort just inside the far post to put her side in complete control.

Similarly, to the end of the first half, West Ham would threaten late as two of Olli Harder’s substitutes almost set up a nervy finish. Anouk Denton would cross into the area and would find the head of the Hammers’ top scorer Martha Thomas; Thomas’ header would be parried away by a perfectly-timed diving save from Arsenal ‘keeper Lydia Williams.

Arsenal would secure a two-nil win, a result which puts them three points ahead of Manchester United in fourth with two games to go, leaving the Gunners in control in the race for the final Women’s Champions League spot.

Conversely, after the events of this game and the Second City derby, West Ham drop below Birmingham into tenth after the Blues salvaged a very late draw against rivals Aston Villa.

The Hammers are only two points ahead of Bristol City at the bottom of the WSL and play Villa in their next game, knowing victory would secure their safety but a loss would leave them with the Robins breathing down their necks going into the final day.

UFC 261 Fallout – An explosive main card to welcome fans back

The UFC’s latest pay-per-view offering was the first to welcome fans back into the arena and they truly spared no expense to make it a memorable event, with three title fights topping the billing.

Weili Zhang and Rose Namajunas met in the co-main event in a fight that could decide the best Strawweight on the planet, Valentina Shevchenko was faced with arguably the toughest test of her Flyweight title reign in former Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade and Kamaru Usman looked to secure the second longest undefeated streak in UFC history when he settled a grudge in his rematch with Jorge Masvidal.

Brown lassoes the ‘Cowboy’ with one arm:

Apr 24, 2021; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Alex Oliveira (Red Gloves) fights Randy Brown (Blue Gloves) during UFC 261 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The featured fight on the preliminary card was a Welterweight bout, pitting the fan-favourite veteran, Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira against Randy Brown.

‘Cowboy’ would begin the fight trying to attack the legs of Brown in an attempt to limit the impact of Brown’s height and reach advantage. The strategy looked as if it was paying dividends as with just over a minute gone, Oliveira caught Brown with a lead leg kick as ‘Rudeboy’ was advancing, which momentarily buckled the American.

Moments later, Oliveira would again throw the same lead leg kick, but this time Brown would anticipate it and looked to throw a right hook to counter but was off target. Then, seconds later, Brown would throw the right hook again and it landed flush, dropping the Brazilian.

Oliveira would defend himself and prevent the referee from stopping the fight but in his efforts to recover, he would give up his back to his opponent. The veteran then used the cage to climb back to his feet, but Brown remained on his back and after some hand-fighting, he was able to slip his arm under Oliveira’s chin and begin to initiate the choke.

Instead of utilising the conventional rear-naked choke, and using his other arm to stabilise the arm under the chin and deepen the choke, Brown simply reached behind Oliveira’s shoulder and used that to keep the choke in. Seconds later, Brown would drag his opponent to the ground, leaving Oliveira no choice but to tap out with just under three minutes gone in the opening round.

Don’t mess with leg kicks:

The trend of the leg kick, in particular the calf kick, has been a recent revelation in the world of MMA and the usefulness and danger of these techniques was made apparent in the first two fights on the main card.

The curtain-puller on the main card was a Light Heavyweight matchup between Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith and Jimmy Crute.

Smith would begin by fighting behind a solid jab, fighting on the outside and catching Crute whenever he tried to advance. Crute would respond by investing heavily in leg kicks to Smith’s lead leg, in an attempt to gradually make it difficult for Smith to generate power from his punches as he wouldn’t have that strong foundation under him to throw his punches forward with more venom.

In a cruel twist, however, with a minute left in the first round, ‘Lionheart’ would execute a perfectly placed leg kick right behind the knee of Crute and immediately, the Australian’s leg was compromised, as he fell down to a knee as he tried to put his weight down on his foot.

Crute would push through the pain and land a pair of takedowns as Smith rushed in to try to capitalise but before the second round could begin, the cage-side doctor would evaluate Crute’s walking and judge that he could not continue with the injury and Smith was subsequently awarded the victory via doctor’s stoppage.

Apr 24, 2021; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Jimmy Crute (Blue Gloves) reacts to a leg injury in his fight against Anthony Smith (Red Gloves) during UFC 261 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The second fight on the main card would leave a much more bitter taste in the mouth of fight fans as the scheduled Middleweight rematch between Uriah Hall and former UFC Middleweight champion Chris Weidman would barely even start as just ten seconds into the bout, Weidman would throw a leg kick that was checked by Hall, the check appeared to completely break Weidman’s leg, stopping the fight immediately.

Once the unsettling nature of the injury had somewhat subsided, focus was drawn to the unfortunately coincidental circumstances of Weidman breaking his leg in almost the same way that Anderson Silva infamously did in his Middleweight title rematch with Weidman, in addition to the fact that Hall was Silva’s last opponent.

Hall appeared visibly shaken by the events and the only update that was given on the extent of Weidman’s injuries towards the end of the broadcast was that he would undergo surgery the following morning.

Valentina dominates again:

The first scheduled title fight of the night featured dominant UFC Women’s Flyweight champion Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko defending her title against former UFC Women’s Strawweight champion Jessica Andrade.

In the build-up to the fight, much was made of the explosive knockout power of Andrade, with many tipping her to be Valentina’s biggest challenge as champion.

What played out on the night, however, was an absolutely flawless performance by the ‘Bullet’ as when the fight was on the feet, Shevchenko was patient, and utilised her lauded striking accuracy to pick off Andrade with counters and quick jab-straight combinations to keep the Brazilian challenger on the outside, making Shevchenko’s reach advantage an even bigger factor.

And when Andrade was able to close the distance, Valentina would secure the body lock and take her to the ground with ease, landing five takedowns inside the opening frame, with three of them coming in a sequence as Andrade would do well to work back to her feet but the champion would not relinquish the grip on her opponent and would drag her to the ground again.

While it was clear that Shevchenko was winning the round, it was equally clear that Andrade was not being discouraged by the champion’s relentless grappling as she would repeatedly fire punches to the body of the ‘Bullet’, in an attempt to sap the gas tank of the champion in the later rounds.

Unfortunately for Andrade, the fight would not make it to the later rounds as in the second, Valentina would land a further two takedowns, tying the record for the most landed in a Women’s Flyweight fight with seven and after some solid grappling, would transition into a crucifix hold and would rain down strikes on the defenceless challenger until referee Dan Miragliotta was forced to call for the stoppage.

In her post-fight interview, Valentina would sum up the thoughts of fight fans around the world when she said, ‘And for everyone out there searching for my weakness, don’t waste your time, because there are none’.

‘Thug’ Rose shakes up the world again with emotional win:

The co-main event was a hotly anticipated fight for the UFC Women’s Strawweight championship pitting current champion Weili Zhang against a former champion in Rose Namajunas.

The excitement for this fight was at a fever pitch as in recent history, the Women’s Strawweight division in the UFC had been dominated by four women, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jessica Andrade, Weili Zhang and Rose Namajunas and over the past few years we had seen every possible matchup between these four women, except for Weili vs Rose.

In the pre-fight video package, focus was drawn to Rose’s mentality after her shocking and violent loss to Jessica Andrade, where she lost the UFC Strawweight championship and the stark honesty of Rose saying that at that point, she was relieved to no longer be champion.

It was clear that ‘Thug’ Rose was ready to hold the gold again however, as while she made her walk to the Octagon, she was seen repeatedly saying ‘I’m the best’ to herself.

And it would not take long for her to prove it as just a minute into the fight, Rose would find her mark with a picture-perfect left high kick that knocked the champion out and helped Rose become the only woman in UFC history to recapture a championship.

With the support and encouragement from her partner, and Heavyweight fighter Pat Barry in her corner and the image of Rose in tears while cradling the title around her waist, it made for an extremely satisfying and emotional comeback for ‘Thug’ Rose.

Usman definitively ends Masvidal rivalry with KO:

All that was left to decide was the main event for the UFC Welterweight championship, the rematch between champion Kamaru Usman and challenger Jorge Masvidal.

The intrigue of this fight mainly came as a result of the circumstances surrounding the first meeting between the two at UFC 251. Usman was originally scheduled to fight Gilbert Burns but after Burns was forced out of the fight due to COVID-19, Masvidal stepped up on six days’ notice to fight Usman.

While the first meeting between the two ended in a dominant decision victory for the champion, there were questions about how the fight would look if Masvidal had had a full training camp to prepare and manage his stamina, especially because of the promise he showed in the opening round and the impressive takedown defence on show in the first fight with Usman.

It was clear that the Nigerian champion was keen to erase any asterisk that people had put over his victory over Masvidal as during the pre-fight introductions, Usman walked right up to the challenger as the two continued to exchange words.

Round one played out very patiently from both fighters, with neither man looking eager to take the risk of over-extending and getting punished by their opponent.

Masvidal looked to attack the lead leg of the champion but found himself on his back after he jumped in for a flying knee attempt and Usman took the opportunity to grab hold of the challenger and wrestle him to the ground.

The challenger would utilise the cage to get back to his feet and escape the champion’s clutches, but the round was clearly won by Usman, who even looked comfortable on the feet, finding his mark multiple times with the straight right hand.

That technique would prove to be the decider as just over a minute into the second round, Usman landed a stiff right hand that immediately saw Masvidal fall limp and, after some follow-up strikes to make sure, the referee stopped the fight.

The win extends Usman’s undefeated streak in the UFC to fourteen, good enough for second place in the all-time rankings, just two behind Middleweight legend Anderson Silva with sixteen.

What’s next?

The UFC’s next pay-per-view offering, UFC 262 is scheduled to feature two major lightweight bouts and a first-time ever clash in the co-main event.

Tony Ferguson will look to bounce back from his two-fight skid against Beneil Dariush, Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler will clash in the main event for the vacant UFC Lightweight championship and Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz will face off in the first ever non-title, non-main event five round fight.

In terms of what’s next for the fighters that featured on this card, in his post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White was clear that a rematch between Kamaru Usman and number one ranked Welterweight contender Colby Covington is the fight to make at 170lbs.

He also said a rematch between Namajunas and Zhang would ‘make a lot of sense’, he shot down the idea of a third fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Amanda Nunes saying, ‘they should have their own legacies’ and revealed that he was meeting with Nick Diaz, who was in attendance for the event, to discuss a potential comeback fight.

Diaz hasn’t fought since a decision loss to Anderson Silva in 2015 that was overturned to a no-contest when both fighters tested positive for banned substances.

Full card results:

Main Card

Welterweight – Kamaru Usman (c) def. Jorge Masvidal via KO (Round 2 – 1:02)

Women’s Strawweight – Rose Namajunas def. Weili Zhang (c) via KO (Round 1 – 1:18)

Women’s Flyweight – Valentina Shevchenko (c) def. Jessica Andrade via TKO (Round 2 – 3:19)

Middleweight – Uriah Hall def. Chris Weidman via TKO (Round 1 – 0:17)

Light Heavyweight – Anthony Smith def. Jimmy Crute via TKO (Round 1 – 5:00)

Preliminary Card

Welterweight – Randy Brown def. Alex Oliveira via Submission (Rear-naked choke, Round 1 – 2:50)

Welterweight – Dwight Grant def. Stefan Sekulic via Split Decision

Middleweight – Brendan Allen def. Karl Roberson via Submission (Heel hook, Round 1 – 4:55)

Featherweight – Pat Sabatini def. Tristan Connelly via Unanimous Decision

Early Preliminary Card

Bantamweight – Danaa Batgerel def. Kevin Natividad via TKO (Round 1 – 0:50)

Lightweight – Rodrigo Vargas def. Rong Zhu via Unanimous Decision

Flyweight – Jeff Molina def. Qileng Aori via Unanimous Decision

Women’s Strawweight – Ariane Carnelossi def. Na Liang via TKO (Round 2 – 1:28)

Bristol City Women strike late again at Aston Villa Women to keep pace at the bottom.

Goals from substitutes Faye Bryson and Ella Mastrantonio helped Bristol City complete another dramatic comeback to keep the relegation scrap at the bottom of the WSL razor thin.

The early kick off for this weekend of WSL football was another key clash at the bottom of the table between Aston Villa and Bristol City.

Both sides came into this game equal on points at the very bottom of the league, with Bristol occupying the only relegation spot by a margin of goal difference.

The game would be equally as tight to predict as both sides came into this fixture winless in their last four league games, but despite having a much worse goal difference, Bristol City actually have scored more goals than their opponents this season.

The consensus for this matchup being that if Aston Villa could improve their accuracy in front of goal, they would have the best chance to win but Bristol City have made a habit of catching teams on the break.

The story of the first half was Aston Villa looking to attack predominantly by crossing the ball, a tactic that would immediately bear fruit for the hosts as with only three minutes played, a cross was played into Bristol’s back post, where it was headed across goal by Shania Hayles.

The header forced a good save from Robins’ goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley, but the parried ball would fly into the body of Bristol centre-half Meaghan Sargeant, who couldn’t prevent herself from turning the ball into her own net to gift Aston Villa with a one-nil lead.

Bristol would struggle to gain a foothold in the tie for much of the first half as the Villains were doing an admirable job in isolating Bristol’s star player Ebony Salmon, keeping multiple defenders marking her and pressing Bristol deep into their own half to make it harder for the visitors to find Salmon on the counter.

Just after the half hour mark, Villa would double their lead from an incredibly well-worked corner routine as Mana Iwabuchi would play the ball towards the corner of the penalty area to Anita Asante, who laid the ball back to a more central midfield position to Elisha N’Dow.

N’Dow would fire forward a perfectly weighted cross towards the back of the box, where it was met by the head of Natalie Haigh, her effort looping over the top of Baggaley and nestling in the far side of the goal to take Villa to the break with a two-nil lead.

The hosts would explode out of the blocks for the second half as the ball would immediately be played in high to Hayles, who did well to control the ball with her head before letting it drop, then spinning away from her marker and firing an effort at goal.

Her shot would whistle just past the far post, denying her what would have been an exceptional goal.  

Ten minutes later, Chloe Arthur found herself in space around twenty-five yards out and would unleash a long-range effort that beat the diving Sophie Baggaley but rattled off of the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.

Aston Villa clearly were looking to put this game beyond Bristol City as they continued to press, causing the visitors to get a bit careless in defence, with plenty of nervy moments and mistakes that had to be cleaned up with a scrappy clearance or a brave challenge by Baggaley.

The WSL’s bottom side would be given a lifeline with less than twenty minutes to play after some inspired substitutions by Matt Beard in the Bristol dugout.

A cross would come into the Aston Villa penalty area from the left wing but would be deflected and bounce up into the box, the ball would be met by substitute Faye Bryson who, with her first touch of the game, would execute a well-hit volley to beat Villa ‘keeper Lisa Weiss and find the top left corner to bring the Robins within striking distance.

Bristol City would fight back in the dying embers of the game, substitute Ella Mastrantonio bundling in a free kick in the fourth minute of added time to steal an invaluable point away from home and keep the Robins’ survival hopes alive.

That late goal denies Aston Villa what would have been their first win in seven WSL matches and might be a major knock to the Villains morale ahead of the vital Second City derby with bitter rivals Birmingham City on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, despite the positive result for Bristol, they are still left with plenty of work to do to avoid the drop.

They have the least number of games remaining amongst the sides fighting to avoid relegation and their remaining two games are against Champions League-chasing Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, who have surprised and impressed many with their performances this season.

Berger saves Chelsea Women’s title retention in 2-2 draw with Manchester City Women

An incredible save from Ann-Katrin Berger denied Lauren Hemp’s influential second half performance and kept Chelsea in pole position to retain the WSL title.

This was undoubtedly the biggest game of the season as both sides came into this fixture with only two points between them at the top of the WSL with only three games to play, including this one.

The winner of this game would likely decide the title race and the stage was set for a massive clash as both sides came into this game having not lost or conceded in their last six league games, with City looking to break the record of the largest winning streak in WSL history, this would have been their 13th successive victory.

The home side looked more dangerous early on, with Sam Mewis pulling the strings in the middle of the park, allowing Chloe Kelly a lot of freedom on the Manchester right wing.

It would be the defending champions that would take the lead with just over twenty minutes played as Millie Bright played a ball over the top to Sam Kerr, who couldn’t keep herself centred to challenge Ellie Roebuck, and the ball would go out for a corner.

Kerr would immediately make amends from the set piece though, getting in front of her marker and heading a powerful effort towards the near post that Alex Greenwood couldn’t deflect out, giving Chelsea a one-nil lead.

The goal would ignite the game as the Londoners almost doubled their lead immediately after as the familiar sight of Fran Kirby playing a ball behind for Kerr almost came off, but the Australian international would fire wide with her first-time effort.

The title chasers would respond instantly as Lauren Hemp would run down the left wing and put a low cross in for Kelly at the back post to tap in and level the tie at one-apiece.

Chelsea would quickly restore their lead, however as Kerr went on a mazy run, and tried to dribble the ball past City ‘keeper Ellie Roebuck but would be brought down and referee Rebecca Welch would signal to the spot, awarding Chelsea with a penalty.

Star signing Pernille Harder would step up and coolly roll the ball down the middle to beat Roebuck from the spot and put the league leaders back in front.

With less than ten minutes to play in the half, City would almost equalise again as a free kick would bounce into the Chelsea penalty area, allowing Lucy Bronze to turn and volley, but her effort would be tipped over the bar by Ann-Katrin Berger to preserve her side’s two-one lead going into the break.

The second half began with Emma Hayes’ side looking eager to protect their lead and frustrate Manchester City. The league leaders would sit a lot deeper in defence than they had in the first half and looked to attack City on the counter with the pace of Kerr and Kirby.

A large portion of the half was spent with City struggling to penetrate Chelsea’s back line, with Lauren Hemp providing being the catalyst for the majority of the hosts’ offensive efforts with her weaving runs.

The game would reignite once again as an uncharacteristic error from Fran Kirby allowed the Manchester outfit to equalise once again.

A loose back pass from Kirby was closed down by Kelly and she would play a ball into the box meant for substitute Rose Lavelle, but Millie Bright’s mishit clearance knocked the ball into the path of Hemp, who beat Berger at the bottom-right corner to bring the score to two-two.

The urgency of the game would be clear as Manchester City would have known that one more goal would put them in pole position for the title and five minutes later, they almost completed the comeback as a corner would find the head of Hemp, but an absolutely incredible reaction save from Berger would tip the effort onto the crossbar and out of trouble, a save that could win the title for her side.

Chelsea would manage to control the rest of the game and despite pressure from City, and a late header from Bronze that just flew wide of the near post, they were able to secure a two-two draw that was clearly treated like a win for the Londoners after their post-match celebrations.

The draw leaves Chelsea still at the top of the WSL by a margin of two points with two games to play.

Manchester City will hope for Chelsea to slip up in one of their remaining two games against Tottenham and Reading, while they will absolutely have to win their remaining games against Birmingham and West Ham.

West Ham Women and Aston Villa Women play out goalless draw in relegation six-pointer.

Impressive defensive performances for both teams left the attackers frustrated in this tie at Victoria Road as the race to avoid relegation in the WSL remains too close to call.

As this WSL season rapidly reaches its conclusion, sides at both ends of the table will be becoming increasing desperate to notch those last few points needed to reach the expectations held for the club at the beginning of the campaign.

Few sides would have felt this pressure more than today’s opponents, West Ham United and Aston Villa. With both sides currently in the bottom three and only two points separating them, this had all the makings of a relegation six-pointer.

The game would be a difficult one to predict as despite the fact that West Ham came into this game clearly on better form, notching an upset 5-0 win over Reading in their last WSL game and an 11-0 thumping of Chichester & Selsey in the FA Cup over the weekend, the Hammers hold the joint-worst home record in the league, only scoring two points over eight games.

Conversely, the visitors would look at this game as a great opportunity to reverse their torrid run of form that has sunk them to the foot of the league, five defeats in a row for Villa and a demoralising 8-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup on Saturday.

The first half played out in almost a complete stalemate. Both sides were resolute in defence and managed to cut out any chances before their opponent would be able to find a clear shot on goal.

Aston Villa’s biggest spark would predictably come from their most high-profile acquisition, World Cup winner Mana Iwabuchi, who utilised her quick feet on multiple occasions to skip past players in claret and blue but would never be allowed enough space to set up a teammate, largely thanks to a smart first-half performance by Kate Longhurst.

The hosts would almost find daylight on the stroke of halftime thanks to a momentary lapse by the Villa defence. A moment of hesitation allowed Dagny Brynjarsdottir to attack a loose ball, but the visitors were able to clear before the Icelandic international was able to lash an effort towards goal.

The visitors would start the second half much brighter and would almost be rewarded for their efforts as West Ham goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan came far out of her goal to defend a free kick coming into the penalty area and while she was successful, she was left out of position when the ball was brought immediately back in.

The ball would fall over her head but Hawa Cissoko was on the line to thwart what looked to be the opening goal of this razor thin game.

The Londoners would carve out the biggest chance of the game after the hour mark as some good work in a crowded Aston Villa box by Emily van Egmond fell to Katerina Svitkova, whose shot was parried away at the bottom left corner by Lisa Weiss.

Unfortunately for West Ham fans, Svitkova would not be able to build on her close effort as she would be forced off by an injury just ten minutes later, an extremely troubling sign for Hammers fans at such a critical point of the season as the Czech striker looked in considerable pain.

Despite ending the game putting on immense pressure, the hosts were not able to put many of their shots on target to further challenge Weiss in the Villa goal and thus, the game ended goalless.

The result lifts West Ham above Birmingham by they are by no means safe as there are now only two points between Bristol City in twelfth and West Ham in ninth.

The Hammers also will be left anxious by an extremely difficult set of games remaining to secure safety, facing Everton, Arsenal, Villa again and Manchester City on the final day.

Conversely, Aston Villa arguably have a favourable run in as three of their four remaining games are against their direct rivals in the relegation scrap with the West Midlands outfit facing Arsenal on the final day.

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