DANIEL CORMIER RETAINED his light heavyweight title with a submission victory over Anthony Johnson at UFC 210 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York last night.
Johnson’s attempts to out-wrestle his rival failed to pay dividends, as he suffered a second loss to Cormier, having tapped out as a result of the same rear-naked choke two years previously.
The beaten fighter announced his retirement in the immediate aftermath of last night’s main event.
Cormier could next fight either Jimi Manuwa or Jon Jones, with the latter’s one-year suspension from the US anti-doping agency set to end in July.
Elsewhere on the card, Gegard Mousasi earned a controversial TKO victory against Chris Weidman, as there were doubts over whether at least one of the victor’s knee strikes were legal.
MMA rules dictate that knee strikes are illegal and can result in disqualification when the opponent is not grounded, and that appeared to be the case last night.
However, the referee paused the fight and allowed the cageside doctor to assess Weidman.
It was ultimately decided, however, that the strikes were legal and the bout was awarded to Mousasi, much to the dismay of his opponent’s camp.
Meanwhile, in the other fights on last night’s main card, Cynthia Calvillo defeated Pearl Gonzalez via submission, Thiago Alves earned a unanimous decision over Patrick Cote and Charles Oliveira caused Will Brooks to tap out with a rear-naked choke.
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