Remember what happened in the UFC between May and August 2019. Photo: Montagem / SL MMA Press
In the second quarter of 2019, Ultimate promoted big surprises for MMA fans. The strawweight division found a new champion, the company gained another athlete who holds two titles, there was almost a historic upset and a former number one regained his reign.
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In the second part of the '2019 Retrospective', the SUPER FIGHTS selected facts that marked the world of Ultimate between the months of May and August.
Among the four chosen scenes, three title changes took place and a surprise worried a sports legend.
May: Show in Rio de Janeiro
On May 11th, the 'Marvelous City' received a true constellation of athletes who performed on the card of the UFC 237. With illustrious presences such as those of Anderson Silva e José Aldo, the one who really shone was Jessica Stacker, which surprised the champion Rose namajunas and won the strawweight title (up to 52,7kg) in front of his audience.
'Bate-Estaca' took to the octagon like a great 'zebra' to face the charismatic Rose namajunas, who became champion of the division after beating Joanna Jędrzejczyk, in 2017. Without provocation from either side and a lot of respect, Jéssica took the challenge seriously and raised the public's spirits by delivering a brutal knockout to her rival with the blow she carries as her nickname.
Jéssica pins Namajunas to the ground and wins by knockout. Photo: instagram @ufc
The party was not complete because the public witnessed the defeat of the idols. Anderson Silva e José Aldo.
The former middleweight champion (up to 83,9kg), could not stand the force of Jared Cannonier and ended up succumbing to a powerful leg kick, which led to the legend being knocked out in the first round.
Aldo, in turn, had a warm fight against the Australian Alexander Volkanovsky. Far from presenting himself as the 'People's Champion' that the public has become accustomed to seeing, the man from Manaus was defeated after three rounds in a unanimous decision by the judges and walked away from a new chance to try and regain his old belt.
June: Cejudo, the 'Triple C'
Cejudo (left) beats Marlon (right). Photo: Reproduction / Facebook @ufc
With a champion's bench and a legend's strength, Henry Cejudo he used 2019 to promote himself within Ultimate. Challenging icons of the sport and with undisputed performances, Henry had the chance to fight for the bantamweight title (up to 61,2kg), 'abandoned' by TJ Dillashaw after the doping scandal, and being able to confirm himself as one of the company's greatest current athletes.
The duel took place against the Brazilian Marlon moraes and represented the main fight of the UFC 238, in Chicago (USA). In the fight, the Friborg native scared the North American with good attacks, throwing good sequences of punches and kicks. Cejudo, however, managed to understand the Brazilian's strategy in time and reversed the result, achieving a knockout at the end of the third round.
With the result, Henry dominated himself as 'Triple C', in reference to the three important titles of his career. In addition to the UFC flyweight and bantamweight belts, the North American was also the Beijing Olympic champion in 2008.
July: The Jon Jones scare
T. Marreta (left) hits J. Jones (right) in the UFC 239. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook @UFC
Undefeated for over 10 years and considered a legend of the sport, Jon Jones returned to the octagon to defend his belt approximately five months after beating Anthony Smith. In the main fight UFC 239, 'Bones' faced an opponent who had recently moved up a division.
Thiago Marreta He climbed into the octagon like a big zebra, but almost surprised him. With the fate of considering the champion invincible, the Brazilian needed to find a way to decipher the secret of how to defeat Jones. He almost made it.
With a lot of determination and aggression, the fighter from 'Cidade de Deus' (RJ) presented the most difficult fight of the North American's career to date. There were five rounds of a real battle with a chance of winning for both sides. After the timer for the last round reset, there was uncertainty about the winner, until Bruce Buffer announced Jon as champion in a split decision by the judges.
August: The redemption of Miocic and Valentina undeniable and the fall of 'Bate Estaca'
S. Miocic (photo) with the UFC belt. Photo: Reproduction/Twitter @ufc_brasil
In August, Ultimate promoted three title fights across its four cards. On the 17th, in Anaheim (USA), MMA fans were able to watch a long-awaited rematch in one of the company's most competitive categories. In this ocasion, Stipe Miocic went up to the octagon to try to regain his belt against Daniel Cormier, who had beaten his rival just over a year ago.
In the confrontation, Cormier proved why he is considered one of the best athletes in the history of the sport. With a dominant performance, the combatant seemed to easily win the duel until, in the third round, after changing his strategy, Miocic began to grow in the fight, abusing body blows that hurt his opponent.
Visibly shaken, Cormier began to demonstrate his weakness and ended up falling after a sequence from Stipe in the fourth round. It was the end of a brief reign.
A week before the rematch between Stipe and DC, Valentina Shevchenko went to Uruguay and starred in the company's first event in the country.
Veteran Liz Carmouche was the fighter responsible for trying to end the Kyrgyzstani's reign in her second title fight. Against the American, however, Valentina proved that she can become a fighter with an extensive resume of title defenses.
With a dominant performance, Shevchenko defeated Liz and beat her rival in a unanimous decision by the judges.
On the last day of the month, Jessica Andrade wanted to repeat the kindness of Namajunas, who accepted the challenge of putting her title up for grabs in her rival's country and went to China to face a fighter, until then, little known by many MMA fans. With confidence and courage, the woman from Paraná agreed to star, together with Weili Zhang, the main event of UFC Shenzhen.
Certain that she would perform well again, the Brazilian ended up surprised by the strength of her opponent, who took no notice of the then champion and delivered a brutal knockout at the beginning of the first round. With the triumph over 'Bate-Estaca', Zhang became the first athlete from China to hold a UFC title.
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