That was the only fight on the card I was iffy about. Not a great stylistic match up for Pereira. I thought there was a good chance Gane would be able to stick and move for five rounds, but an early KO was pretty surprising! Makes me hyped for the Aspinall rematch (which I think Gane also takes due to Aspinall’s inevitable ring rust).
Oh my god. That was insane. Ilia is still on the stool. He was obviously in terrible shape at the end of that round but I think that last knee to the body took him completely out. I can’t believe Gaethje finally got this belt. Two failed attempts before and he finally gets it done as he’s talked about retiring. Absolutely wild.
just catching up now. Oh my would not want to be ilia tomorrow. Ilia got so close in round 2 with the body work Gaethjes game plan was sick. stick the jab and grab the collar tie for the upper cut in close. Great fight would love to see a rematch
Islam defended his lightweight belt between 4 and 8 months apart each time (and then vacated so Charles and Ilia could fight for it 6 months later). The main hang up at Welterweight was mainly Belal's injuries. This time it'll have been about 10 months since Islam won it, but a lot of the blame is on the UFC for stringing him along trying to sort out the White House card and Ilia potentially moving up.
That is tough. Dude obviously has a problem if he’s an angry drunk like that. Makes me worry about CTE as well. It also Ruins that kind off pure image he had going on for him.