AMANDA NUNES MADE UFC history on Saturday night with a stunning 51-second knockout of Cris Cyborg.
Nunes won the women’s featherweight championship with a first-round stoppage at UFC 232 and in the process became just the third fighter to hold two belts simultaneously, joining Conor McGregor and Daniel Cormier.
Defending 145lb champion Cyborg (20-2) and bantamweight titleholder Nunes (17-4) both came out swinging but the latter landed a flurry of blows, the last of which was a huge right hand to the temple.
The defeat was Cyborg’s first since May 2005, ending a run of 21 fights without a loss.
In the main event, Jon Jones (23-1, 1 NC) marked his return from a doping ban with a win, claiming the vacant UFC light-heavyweight championship by beating Alexander Gustafsson (18-5).
Fighting for the first time since July 2017, Jones won by TKO in the third round.
Jones, who also beat Gustafsson in September 2013, was on top for the most part before a crucial takedown in the third round led to the victory.
He landed multiple elbows before a flurry of punches to Gustafsson’s head led to the fight being stopped.
The event was moved from Las Vegas to Los Angeles due to a trace of banned substance turinabol being discovered in a test administered to Jones earlier this month.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said the small amount was from Jones’ “prior exposure for which he was previously sanctioned”. He has denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing substances.
Earlier, Australian Alexander Volkanovski (19-1) recorded a TKO win over Chad Mendes (18-5) in the second round of their featherweight bout.
Corey Anderson had a unanimous-decision win against Ilir Latifi at light-heavyweight, while Michael Chiesa registered a submission victory over Carlos Condit at welterweight.
UFC 232 main card results
- Jon Jones def. Alexander Gustafsson TKO3 (2:02)
- Amanda Nunes def. Cris Cyborg KO1 (0:51)
- Michael Chiesa def. Carlos Condit SUB2 (kimura, 0:56)
- Corey Anderson def. Ilir Latifi UD (29-28 x 3)
- Alexander Volkanovski def. Chad Mendes TKO2 (4:14)
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