This Is How The MMA World Reacted To UFC Norfolk
UFC Norfolk went down on Saturday night at the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. It was the first ever UFC event held on a February 29th. The last time a leap year fell on a Saturday, the UFC had yet to be created. In the main event, Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo competed, with the UFC flyweight title at stake, which was vacated by Henry Cejudo in December.
The flyweight title remains vacant however, after Figueiredo beat Benavidez, via a second round TKO. Because the Brazilian missed weight on Friday, he was ineligible to win the belt. Had Benavidez won, he would have been crowned the new UFC 125lbs champion.
Elsewhere on the UFC Norfolk card, Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson were both looking to impress in the hope that they would be next in line to challenge Amanda Nunes for the women’s featherweight title at UFC 250. And impress they did, after both scoring impressive first round finishes against Zarah Fairn dos Santos and Norman Dumont Viana, respectively.
In the most bizarre moment of the night, referee Kevin MacDonald awarded Magomed Ankalaev a knockout win against Ion Cutelaba in the very first minute, when there appeared to be nothing wrong with ‘The Hulk’.
You can see the full results from UFC Norfolk here and the Performance of the Night bonus winners here.
This is how the MMA world reacted to UFC Norfolk:
Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo:
Felicia Spencer vs Zarah Fairn dos Santos:
Ion Cutelaba vs Magomed Ankalaev:
Megan Anderson vs Norma Dumont Viana:
Next up, the UFC heads back to Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC 248. In the main event, Israel Adesanya defends his middleweight title against Yoel Romero. While Zhang Weili defends her strawweight title against the former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, in the co-main event.
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