Colby Covington smothered Jorge Masvidal for 25 minutes at UFC 272 Saturday night.
In a meeting of top welterweight contenders, it was Covington coming out on top. The former interim champion claimed a decision victory live in the main event from the T-Mobile Arena just outside Las Vegas.
While it might not have featured many fireworks, it was a one-sided performance in favor of Covington. A former wrestling standout, he used those skills to negate the power of Masvidal.
Just once did Masvidal catch Covington, but by that point in the match, he had little to follow up with.
Rafael dos Anjos took down Renato Moicano in a five-round co-main event. Moicano stepped in on short notice for the bout, which took place at 160 pounds.
All three judges clearly sided with dos Anjos, as the former champion dominated from the outset. Moicano replaced Rafael Fiziev in the fight just four days ago.
Bryce Mitchell continued his featherweight climb, handling Edson Barboza. Mitchell dominated the fight, even earning a 30-25 scorecard.
The pay-per-view main card kicked off with Sergey Spivak knocking Greg Hardy out. Spivak caught the former NFL standout in the opening round, ending the fight with under a minute to go.
Jalin Turner sent the crowd into a frenzy to end the prelims, finishing Jamie Mullarkey. Just as the second round started, Turner ended it, flooring Mullarkey and pouncing.
The spectacular finish came after back-to-back split decisions that went in the favor of Marina Rodriguez and Nicolae Negumereanu. Rodriguez topped Yan Xiaonan and Negumereanu bested Kennedy Nzechukwu.
Maryna Moroz submitted Mariya Agapova with an arm-triangle choke in the second round to kick things off.
On the early prelims that aired on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+, Umar Nurmagomedov, Tim Elliott, L’udovit Klein and Dustin Jacoby were winners. Nurmagomedov submitted Brian Kelleher while the other three won via decision.
UFC 272 Results
Colby Covington def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision
Rafael dos Anjos def. Renato Moicano via unanimous decision
Bryce Mitchell def. Edson Barboza via unanimous decision
Kevin Holland def. Alex Oliveira via TKO (elbows) at :38 of Round 2
Sergey Spivak def. Greg Hardy via TKO (strikes) at 2:16 of Round 1
Jalin Turner def. Jamie Mullarkey via TKO (strikes) at :46 of Round 2
Marina Rodriguez def. Yan Xiaonan via split decision
Nicolae Negumereanu def. Kennedy Nzechukwu via split decision
Maryna Moroz def. Mariya Agapova via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:27 of Round 2
Umar Nurmagomedov def. Brian Kelleher via submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:15 of Round 1
Tim Elliott def. Tagir Ulanbekov via unanimous decision
L’udovit Klein def. Devonte Smith via split decision
Dustin Jacoby def. Michal Oleksiejczuk via unanimous decision
