The Octagon landed on the South Garden of the White Home because the UFC took middle stage with a particular one-off occasion, UFC Freedom 250, in Washington DC.
Listed here are our energy rankings for the night time’s prime 5 greatest winners at UFC Freedom 250.
UFC Freedom 250 Energy Rankings
1. Justin Gaethje
There can solely be one man within the prime spot this week. Justin Gaethje all the time delivers thrilling, fan-friendly performances, however on the White Home, “The Spotlight” claimed the most important spotlight win of his profession as he dethroned the beforehand undefeated Ilia Topuria to unify the light-weight title.
Gaethje was a sizeable underdog forward of his bout with Topuria, and within the second spherical, these odds would solely have gotten larger, because the Spanish champion appeared near ending Gaethje to register the primary protection of his 155-pound title.
However Gaethje is product of stronger stuff, and fought by the ache barrier to ultimately flip the tables on Topuria and drive his nook to drag him out of the battle after the fourth spherical.
It meant that Gaethje lastly captured undisputed champion standing, and secured him a chunky double-bonus payout within the course of.
2. Ciryl Gane
France’s Ciryl Gane reunited with the interim heavyweight championship after welcoming former middleweight and lightweight heavyweight champion Alex Pereira to the heavyweight class with a second-round TKO end.
A lot was product of Pereira’s punch energy, and whether or not his knockout contact in MMA gloves would carry as much as the heavyweight division. However because the battle progressed, it was Gane who was touchdown the leather-based rather more steadily, and precisely, because the Frenchman loved a massively encouraging first spherical.
Gane then adopted up within the second as he related with massive photographs on “Poatan” to ultimately cease him 87 seconds into the second stanza.
It gave Gane a large victory, put a championship belt round his waist, and cemented him because the division’s clear number-one contender to face Tom Aspinall when the Englishman returns from double eye surgical procedure later this yr.
A title unification bout with Gane, both within the UK, or in Paris, France, appears doubtless.
3. Josh Hokit
His post-fight feedback about Michelle Obama could have been the one actual damaging on an in any other case unbelievable night time for the UFC, however regardless of his polarizing strategy to interviews and battle promotion, there’s no debating Josh Hokit’s expertise contained in the Octagon.
Hokit confronted knockout artist and former title challenger Derrick Lewis, and calmly picked him aside with strikes earlier than ultimately claiming a second-round TKO stoppage. His grappling may want a tune-up – his armbar try appeared good on digital camera, however wasn’t utilized appropriately to drive a faucet from Lewis – however that apart, Hokit’s efficiency was nothing wanting wonderful.
With Pereira shedding out to Gane on the identical card, and given Hokit’s choice to trash discuss “Poatan” all through the build-up to this occasion, a matchup between the pair now makes loads of sense, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see the pair matched for a numbered UFC battle card later within the yr.
4. Sean O’Malley
Sean O’Malley referred to as his shot, then made it occur. “The Suga Present” spoke in pre-fight interviews about visualizing touchdown a fight-ending punch, then punctuating a walk-off victory with a salute. Remarkably, that’s precisely how his battle with Aiemann Zahabi panned out.
O’Malley stays one of many UFC’s most enjoyable fan-favorites, and his win now places him proper again into the championship dialog at 135 kilos. He earned his first shot on the bantamweight title by defeating Petr Yan, and now, with Yan the present champion, O’Malley desires one other assembly with “No Mercy” and, after a win like that, he’s proper within the combine to get it.
5. Mauricio Ruffy
Brazil’s Mauricio Ruffy has been constructing his expertise and rising his resumé within the UFC as he appears to be like to construct himself right into a championship contender at 155 kilos, and on Sunday night time he made one other leap up in school has he defeated former Bellator light-weight champion and former UFC title challenger Michaal Chandler.
Ruffy’s spectacular putting proved an excessive amount of for Chandler as he related with a wheel-kick to the top, then adopted up with strikes to say a first-round end.
Ruffy added to the big day by proposing to his girlfriend – apparently she stated sure – however in profession phrases, his victory over Chandler offers Ruffy the possibility to face somebody higher-ranked subsequent day trip.
