Jon Jones Stops Alexander Gustafsson, Reclaims Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 232

UFC 232 is now available on Amazon Prime.

It was nowhere near as brutal and thrilling as their first fight, but the result was still the same: Jon Jones toppled Alexander Gustafsson.

This time around, though, in the main event of UFC 232 at the Forum just outside Los Angeles, Jones stopped the Swede. Jones and Gustafsson fought a tactical, measured battle for the first two rounds, but once “Bones” scored a takedown early in the third, it was all but over. Jones (23-1) pressed all his weight on “The Mauler,”eventually seized his back and from there, the Albuquerque fighter unloaded a lethal stream of punches.

Gustafsson (18-5) had nowhere to go and after he absorbed a few too many unanswered punches to the head, referee Mike Beltran had choice but to intervene, ending the fight at 2:02 of the third. The win allowed Jones to recapture the vacant Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title.

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Nunes Destroys Cyborg

All it took Amanda Nunes to change the landscape of women’s MMA was 51 seconds. “Lioness” did what only a handful of MMA experts predicted, which was beating Cristiane Justino.

But Nunes didn’t just beat “Cyborg,” she knocked her face first onto the canvas. The Brazilians came out of their respective corners and swung wildly, both gunning for an early knockout. However, Nunes (17-4) threw straighter, shorter punches and ended the champ’s reign. Nunes landed a left and right to the head, shattering Cyborg’s equilibrium. From there, Cyborg refused to take a step back and ate several more missiles until a final right to the jaw knocked her (20-2) out cold.

The win allows Nunes, the defending UFC women’s bantamweight champion, to wrest Cyborg’s featherweight title and become only the third fighter in promotion history to simultaneously hold world titles in two weight classes.

Chiesa Taps Condit

Michael Chiesa made quite a statement on Saturday by scoring an impressive submission win over longtime veteran Carlos Condit. The two welterweights put on an mixed martial arts-themed jiu-jitsu clinic, scoring takedowns, attempting an assortment of submissions and escapes, but it was “Maverick” who reigned supreme.

After taking “The Natural Born Killer” down early in the second, Chiesa (15-4) seized Condit’s back. From there, Chiesa stayed heavy on Condit (31-12), moved to side control and when Condit tried escaping, he applied a textbook kimura. Condit again tried to snake his way out of it, but Chiesa used only his left hand to extend the Albuquerque fighter’s arm, forcing the tap. Condit bowed out just 56 ticks into the second frame, giving Chiesa one of the biggest wins of his career.

Anderson Decisions Latifi

Light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson seemingly had a stoppage in the bag against Sweden’s Ilir Latifi (14-6), but he wound up going the distance. “Overtime” wore down his Swedish counterpart with timely kicks and punches to the body and Latifi withered before his eyes.

But even with his corner imploring him to continue to wreck the Swede’s body, Anderson (12-4) appeared eager to play it safe and pick his foe apart from a safe distance. In the end, Anderson did more than enough in rounds two and three to win a unanimous decision via tallies of 29-28 across the board.

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Volkanovski Wrecks Mendes

Former professional rugby player Alexander Volkanovski nabbed the biggest win of his career in vanquishing veteran Chad Mendes in the second round.

Volkanovski (19-1) was rocked by a right and left hook to the head early in the second frame, but the Aussie shook it off and waged a memorable, though short-lived, war with his American counterpart. With blood streaming from a cut around his left eye and from his nose, “The Great” survived two takedowns, both of which came after he wobbled Mendes’ knees with power punches to the dome.

After escaping a Mendes rear-naked choke threat, Volkanovski exploded to his feet and buckled Money’s knees with a left hook to the head. From there, the Aussie dug a left to the body and then a right to the temple, destroying Mendes’ equilibrium.

Mendes (18-5) collapsed against the cage, ate a left hand for good measure and had to be rescued by referee Mark Smith, officially ending the sensational brawl at the 4:14 mark, giving Volkanovski his 16th straight win.

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