UFC 239 results – Jones vs. Santos, Nunes vs. Holm
The Ultimate Fighting Championships hosts its blockbuster summer event, UFC 239 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view card streams on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Two titles were on the line as arguably the best to ever compete in professional mixed martial arts, Jon Jones, defended his light heavyweight title against Brazilian challenger, Thiago Santos.
“Marreta” Santos entered the championship headliner riding a four-fight win streak inside the UFC octagon. Although Santos has lightning quick speed, it may not be enough to dethrone the most dominant champion in UFC history. Jones comes into the fight with just one loss, a disqualification due to illegal strikes 10 years ago. UFC President Dana White recently stated that he seeks to have the decision overturned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
25-minutes of action, and the fight never once went to the ground. Back and forth, the champion and the challenger threw strikes. Santos hurt his knee mid fight and it played a factor in the later rounds. The fight was extremely close but it was Jones who edged out a split decision victory to retain the title.
In the co-headliner, two-division women’s titleholder Amanda Nunes put her women’s bantamweight strap up for grabs against former women’s bantamweight champ Holly Holm. Nunes, who earned the bantamweight title at UFC 200 when she defeated then champion Miesha Tate, recently garnered a second title by taking down the featherweight queen in Cris Cyborg back in December. Holm returned to 135-pounds to challenge for the belt, coming off a win over Megan Anderson at 145-pounds. Tonight Nunes claimed another victim as she retained her title with a head kick knockout of Holm.
Super impressive and dominant performances on the early prelims as Julia Avila and Chance Rencountre steamrolled their opponents to earn unanimous decision wins over Pannie Kianzad and Ismail Naurdiev. Despite both winning fighters looking fantastic, Edmen Shahbazyan looked even more impressive in his 72-second win over former Cage Warriors champion Jack Marshman.
It only took 72 seconds! @EdmenShahbazyan improves to 10-0 at #UFC239 with the first round stoppage! pic.twitter.com/dHhBOjkBS4
— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2019
Song Yadong took out the number 13 ranked bantamweight in Alejandro Pérez with a massive first round knockout. Yadong floored Alejandro Pérez with a big right hand, ending the fight just slightly over the two-minute mark.
The right hand puts Perez away in the FIRST ROUND!
Wow! #UFC239 pic.twitter.com/bbnxvMBpYI
— UFC (@ufc) July 7, 2019
Claudia Gadelha defeated Randa Markos in a very lackluster strawweight fight that didn’t impress the fans and likely won’t do much for her as far as inching towards a title shot is concerned.
Michael Chiesa looked extremely dominant tonight at welterweight where he took the fight to Ultimate Fighter season 1 winner, Diego Sanchez, from bell to bell.
Jan Blachowicz took out the former middleweight champion who recently moved up to 205-pounds in Luke Rockhold. Blachowicz threw a head kick at the end of the first round that landed after the buzzer. Rockhold stumbled and struggled to stand, but the fight move to the second frame where he would later be finished by way of strikes.
Jorge Masvidal did the unthinkable in knocking out the previously undefeated Ben Askren in just 5 seconds. Masvidal is now the record holder for the fastest knockout victory in UFC history.
UFC 239 results:
UFC 239 Pay-Per-View Card (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
Jon Jones defeated Thiago Santos via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Amanda Nunes defeated Holly Holm via KO (head kick) – Round 1, 4:10
Jorge Masvidal defeated Ben Askren via KO – Round 1, 0:05
Jan Błachowicz defeated Luke Rockhold via KO – Round 2, 1:39
Michael Chiesa defeated Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Preliminary Card ( 8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Arnold Allen defeated Gilbert Melendez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Marlon Vera defeated Nohelin Hernandez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:25
Claudia Gadelha defeated Randa Markos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Song Yadong defeated Alejandro Pérez via KO – Round 1, 2:04
Early Prelims (6:15 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
Edmen Shahbazyan defeated Jack Marshman via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:12
Chance Rencountre defeated Ismail Naurdiev via unanimous decision (29-27, 39-28, 30-27)
Julia Avila defeated Pannie Kianzad via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
