UFC 263 results: Israel Adesanya gets unanimous decision victory over Marvin Vettori to retain middleweight title
Israel Adesanya is back. After a fight week of palpable animosity, the bitter rivalry and rematch between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori ended with a unanimous decision victory and another middleweight title defense for ‘Stylebender’ in the main event of UFC 263.
Adesanya had the edge in striking throughout the entire fight despite Vettori’s refusal to give in in the stand up department. While Vettori was relatively successful when he ventured into his wrestling advantage.
With his first victory of 2021, Adesanya is back on track after he suffered the first loss of his professional MMA career to Jan Blachowicz in an attempt to go up and challenge the Polish powerhouse for the light heavyweight championship.
Adesanya advances to 21-1 with his victory and remains undefeated in the middleweight division.
UFC 263 results: Brandon Moreno finishes Deiveson Figueiredo/Brandon Moreno in flyweight title rematch
Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno ran it back for the flyweight title after their fight of the year contender at UFC 256 and it did not disappoint. Figueiredo and Moreno again put on a show, with Brandon Moreno walking out victorious, winning by way of submission in the third round in the co-main event of UFC 263.
The fight was contested at a rapid pace with momentum swaying to both sides despite Moreno appearing to have the edge throughout the fight. Between striking exchanges and grappling exchanges, there was not a moment of dullness in the flyweight title fight.
The finish came in the third round, after Moreno took Figueiredo’s back and secured a rear-naked choke and made the reigning champ tap.
As a result of his co-main event victory, Moreno became the first Mexican born UFC champion in the promotion’s history.
UFC 263 live results: Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori
UFC 263 results: Leon Edwards shines with impressive decision win over Nate Diaz
After an incredibly unlucky year in 2020 and an unfortunate no contest result in his first fight in 2021 against Belal Muhammad, Leon Edwards got back on track with an impressive decision victory against one of the UFC’s brightest stars, Nate Diaz.
Edwards looked sharp throughout the entire fight, and primarily utilized his prowess of the feet to beat Diaz throughout five rounds. Edwards also was successful in the wrestling department as well, as he landed several takedowns as well.
In the leadup to this fight, UFC president Dana White said the winner of this bout will be in line for a title shot behind no. 1 ranked welterweight contender Colby Covington. As a result, Edwards can expect a title fight for his next bout assuming he does not take a fight before his shot at welterweight gold
With this victory, Edwards advanced to 19-3 and stretched his winning streak to nine. That is the third highest winning streak in the welterweight division history, only trailing Georges St-Pierre and Kamaru Usman.
UFC 262 results: Paul Craig puts away Jamahal Hill in the first round with TKO victory
Jamahal Hill and Paul Craig kicked off the UFC 263 main card with a grudge match that ended rather quickly. The two jawed at each other throughout the entire fight week, and their animosity culminated in the pay-per-view opener.
The two briefly exchanged on the feet before Craig drowned Hill into his guard. From there, ‘Bearjew’ transitioned into several submission attempts, eventually finding an armbar where he gruesomely snapped Hill’s right arm.
Somehow, Hill refused to tap and Craig subsequently rained elbows and strikes from guard while still having control of Hill’s arm and the referee had no choice but to stop the fight.
With his first round stoppage, the no. 14 ranked light heavyweight contender advanced his record to 15-4-1.