Jan Blachowicz and Israel Adesanya battled for five rounds in the main event at UFC 259 for the light heavyweight championship. Israel Adesanya losing out on his chance to become an esteemed UFC double-champion, as the Polish-born champion Jan Blachowicz used a mix of wrestling and strong strikes to defend his UFC title. Fighting the full five rounds we turn to the judges scorecard for a decision.
Official UFC 259 Main Event Scorecards
Judge Sal D’Amato scored only a single round for the challenger, Nigerian-born, Israel Adesanya, and the other four scored for the champion Jan Blachowicz, the total being 49-46.
Similarly, Judge Derek Cleary scored a single round 3 for Adesanya, and all four other rounds were scored for Blachowicz. However, Cleary judged the final round a 10-8 in favor of Blachowicz, the total becoming 49-45.
The third judge, Junichiro Kamijo, dissented with the other two judges and score round 3 for Jan Blachowicz but instead gave round 2 for Adesanya, and all others to Blachowicz. Judge Kamijo also scored the final round a 10-8 in favor of Blachowicz.
The dissenting rounds had some interesting statistics. Round 2, in which one judge alone gave to Adesanya, was extremely close. Adesanya landed 21 significant strikes to Blachowicz’s 23. Blachowicz also had one failed take-down attempt. The other split round was round 3, which saw Blachowicz land 24 significant strikes to Adesanya’s 21, however, Blachowicz was able to earn a takedown and maintain control.
Round 5, two judges gave a 10-8 in favor of Blachowicz in which he out-landed the challenger Adesanya 28 to 12. But the real story of round 5 is Blachowicz’s singular takedown in which he was able to maintain control, able land ground and pound, for 50% of the entire round. Adesanya on the bottom was unable to get out.
According to the unified rules of MMA a 10-8 round is used for, “One fighter wins the round by a large margin…10 – 8 does not require a fighter to dominate their opponent for 5 minutes of a round…one fighter has dominated the action of the round, had duration of the domination and also impacted their opponent with either effective strikes or effective grappling maneuvers.”
Here are the UFC 259 main event scorecards.
UFC 259 was a memorable night of 15 fights taking place at the UFC Apex. Its main event saw two champions battle for five rounds which concluded with a memorable set of scorecards from the three judges, split dissenting rounds and 10-8’s. Blachowicz keeps his light heavyweight title defending against the middleweight champion Adesanya.
What are your thoughts on the UFC 259 main event scorecards?
UFC 259 Results – Main Card
Jan Błachowicz def. Israel Adesanya for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-45)
Amanda Nunes def. Megan Anderson for the UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship via submission (inverted triangle armbar) at 2:03 of round 1
Aljamain Sterling def. Petr Yan for the UFC Bantamweight Championship via DQ (Illegal Knee) at 4:29 of round 4
Islam Makhachev def. Drew Dober via submission (arm triangle choke) at 1:37 of round 3
Aleksandar Rakić def. Thiago Santos via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
UFC 259 Results – Preliminary Card
Dominick Cruz def. Casey Kenney via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Kyler Phillips def. Yadong Song via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Askar Askarov def. Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Kai Kara-France def. Rogério Bontorin via TKO (right uppercut and right hook) at 4:55 of round 1
Tim Elliott def. Jordan Espinosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg via TKO (right hook and ground-and-pound) at 3:19 of round 2
Sean Brady def. Jake Matthews via submission (arm triangle choke) at 3:28 of round 3
Amanda Lemos def. Livinha Souza via TKO (jab) at 3:39 of round 1
Uros Medic def. Aalon Cruz via TKO (ground-and-pound) at 1:40 of round 1
Trevin Jones def. Mario Bautista via TKO (right uppercut and ground-and-pound) at 0:40 of round 2
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