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UFC 259 is in the books, and as one of the most highly anticipated UFC shows in some time, it lived up to the hype. There were plenty of explosive moments on tap at UFC 259, but surprisingly enough, the main event didn’t really provide one of them.
Jan Blachowicz was undoubtedly the night’s big winner, as he out-pointed Israel Adesanya in said main event to hand the UFC Middleweight champ his first-ever loss.
But as his victory came via a largely wrestling-based decision, none of his moments make this list. However, there was still plenty to enjoy here.
Here are the five most explosive moments from UFC 259.
#1 Petr Yan loses his UFC title in explosive fashion
The most explosive moment of UFC 259 was comfortably its most controversial, too.
Petr Yan was looking likely to retain his UFC Bantamweight title against Aljamain Sterling as the fight moved into the fourth round. Sterling had started strongly but appeared to be fading, while No Mercy looked like he was just moving through the gears.
Incredibly though, the Russian made an all-time great UFC gaffe and landed a blatantly illegal knee to the head of the challenger, knocking him silly with just 30 seconds to go in the round.
It was quickly decided that Sterling couldn’t continue, and incredibly, moments later, the fight was called.
With the decision, The Funk Master became the first fighter in UFC history to win a title via disqualification.
The UFC will likely book an immediate rematch between the two, and it’ll probably be one of 2021’s most highly anticipated bouts given how good the action we got last night was.
However, Yan’s knee was still a massive reminder of how explosive and brutal No Mercy can be.
This shot was completely illegal, and the Russian was rightfully disqualified. But could we see him knock Sterling out legally next time? It’s definitely possible.
#2 Amanda Nunes remains the best female fighter in UFC history
Amanda Nunes came into her UFC Featherweight title defense against Megan Anderson as a big betting favorite last night.
And just moments into the first round, it became painfully clear why that was the case.
The Lioness smashed into Anderson with some brutal strikes, stunning her badly and causing her to drop to the ground. And from there, Nunes wasted no time in locking up a beautiful triangle/armbar combination to submit the Australian.
Most impressive was the fact that after seeing her crush opponents with her strikes for so long, this was a nasty reminder that Nunes is a truly phenomenal grappler, too.
After The Lioness put on a pretty dull fight in her last octagon outing against the equally overmatched Felicia Spencer, it was nice to see a return to her best form last night.
Basically, there’s no female fighter in the UFC that can touch her right now.
#3 Makhachev shows why he’s considered the heir to Khabib’s throne
Islam Makhachev came into UFC 259 with plenty of hype. In fact, a lot of fans – as well as his fellow fighters – were crowning him as the heir to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s throne in the UFC Lightweight division.
Rather than collapsing under the pressure, though, Makhachev proved exactly why he’s so well-renowned in his clash with Drew Dober.
An excellent striker who Joe Rogan described as one of the UFC’s most underrated fighters, Dober came into the fight in phenomenal shape. But he simply wasn’t in the same league as Makhachev.
The Dagestani took Dober down with ease and worked him over on the ground like he was an amateur. Makhachev then finished Dober in the third round with an arm-triangle choke.
This choke was so good that Makhachev didn’t even need to slide out to the side of his opponent to finish it – instead just using sheer strength and shoulder pressure.
Hopefully, the win now leads to Makhachev taking a step up the ladder in his next fight, as he’s clearly ready.
#4 Kara-France pulls off a rare walk-off KO at Flyweight
UFC 259’s prelim card was filled with some pretty great fights.
But with respect to the Carlos Ulberg/Kennedy Nzechukwu war, the craziest moment came in the Flyweight bout between Kai Kara-France and Rogerio Bontorin.
Bontorin looked like he was on his way to a comfortable win in the early going. The Brazilian treated Kara-France like a grappling dummy, taking him down, dominating him, and coming close to finishing with a choke.
Somehow though, Kara-France survived. And when he got to his feet, he unleashed hell.
A massive combination dropped Bontorin, and Kara-France didn’t even need to follow up. Like a tiny version of Mark Hunt, he knew the fight was over and simply walked away.
We’ve seen plenty of knockouts at Flyweight before, but there haven’t been many walk-off knockouts like this one. Kara-France gained an extra $50k for his work, and he undoubtedly deserved it.
#5 Medic brutalizes Cruz in criminal fashion
While the ending of the Yan vs. Sterling fight had plenty of controversy around it, the worst stoppage of UFC 259 came in the card’s second bout.
Uros Medic basically brutalized Aalon Cruz, knocking him all around the Octagon with some vicious strikes.
Once Cruz went down, Medic continued to unload on him with bombs, never letting up for a second.
Somehow though, referee Mark Smith decided he hadn’t seen enough and allowed Medic to continue to smash Cruz needlessly for what felt like an age.
When he finally called the fight, Cruz had taken countless numbers of blows that he didn’t need to take.
All that the fight needed to add to the spectacle was the famous meme from The Simpsons – the one that goes, “Stop, stop! He’s already dead!”
This was an explosive debut from Medic, no doubt, and he should rightfully get plenty of hype in his next fight. He even received a $50k bonus for his work last night.
However, that didn’t make the whole thing less disturbing to watch.
