LAS VEGAS -- Going into Saturday's UFC Fight Night, the MMA world was abuzz over a featherweight co-main event between Josh Emmett and Shane Burgos. And boy, did it live up to the hype.
Emmett (16-2) and Burgos (13-2) combined for an incredibly entertaining affair inside the UFC's Apex facility, with Emmett ultimately pulling off a unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 29-28 for Emmett, following an exhilarating third round in which he knocked Burgos down twice.
All fights from UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Volkov will be available to watch on ESPN+.
Curtis Blaydes vs. Alexander Volkov Josh Emmett vs. Shane Burgos Raquel Pennington vs. Marion Reneau Lyman Good vs. Belal Muhammad Jim Miller vs. Roosevelt Roberts Clay Guida vs. Bobby Green Tecia Torres vs. Brianna Van Buren Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Oskar Piechota Cortney Casey vs. Gillian Robertson Frank Camacho vs. Justin Jaynes Roxanne Modafferi vs. Lauren Murphy Austin Hubbard vs. Max Rohskopf
Watch the complete card on ESPN+
The result was especially impressive, considering Emmett appeared to injure his left knee in the opening minute of the fight. Emmett, 35, was a little unstable on his left leg from that moment on, but that did not prevent him from throwing his signature power punches throughout all three rounds.
Burgos, of New York, wore Emmett's shots well -- almost unbelievably well -- during the first and second rounds. He routinely walked through Emmett's overhand right to apply pressure and land his own offense. Burgos might have noticed Emmett's compromised knee, as he targeted his legs with low kicks. He also popped him multiple times with a quick, clever lead right hand Emmett didn't see coming.
According to UFC Stats, Burgos actually out-landed Emmett in total strikes 155 to 121, although Emmett's appeared to cause more damage. He knocked Burgos down with a short left hand just moments into the third round, and again at the end of the round with another left hook. Burgos survived the two knockdowns, even smiled during the first one, but they definitely cost him the round.
"I was so close in 2018, I was ranked fourth in the world, I had a small hiccup [loss to Jeremy Stephens] and had to reset, restart and work my way back up," Emmett said. "I was one shot away from the title. I feel like I'm there right now, I feel like my next fight could be for a title eliminator, get a big win there and then I'll fight for the title. That's what I'm gunning for. I want to fight one more time this year at least and then really make a run at that title in early '21.
"I said I'm willing to go through anything just to get my hand raised, and I mean it. I think a lot of people in my position, what I just experienced, would have just quit. In the first like 45 seconds, I think I blew my ACL and it was just giving out, I've never experienced anything like that. It was painful, but the first thing in my mind was I just have to adapt to it and fight on one leg. I'm not going home with half a check, so I'm going to bite down on my mouthpiece, dig deep and that's exactly what I did. I just felt like I kinda stood there. You watch a lot of my fights, I use a lot of movement and lateral movement, I felt like I just couldn't so I had to stand there and play sock 'em, rock 'em robots."
Emmett hopes to get an MRI as soon as Monday.
Fighting out of Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, Emmett has now won five of his past six bouts, three via knockout.
Burgos saw his three-fight win streak snapped.
-- Brett Okamoto
Curtis Blaydes' nickname is "Razor." But there was nothing close about his fight with Alexander Volkov, especially early on.
Blaydes used takedown after takedown to ground the much taller Volkov in a unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-46) victory Saturday night in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. The bout was a pivotal one in the UFC's heavyweight division.
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Women's bantamweight: Raquel Pennington (11-9, 8-5 UFC) defeats Marion Reneau (9-6-1, 5-5-1 UFC) by unanimous decision
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Raquel Pennington lays down a variety of punches against Marion Reneau in the third round Saturday.
Pennington got stronger as the fight wore on, and her work against the cage -- knees to the midsection from a Thai clinch, mostly -- sapped the strength of Reneau and secured the victory.
Reneau, fighting on her 43rd birthday as the oldest competitor on the card, had her moments, scoring a couple of takedowns and landing some shots from distance. But as the fight wore on, and it became a close-range battle, Pennington showed off her strength. She out-landed Reneau in the clinch by a 42-12 margin, and she built a 44-17 edge in body strikes.
These blows slowed the reaction time of Reneau, allowing Pennington to score with punches to the head as well.
Two judges scored the fight 29-28 and one had it 30-27, completing a clean sweep for the Colorado couple of Pennington and Tecia Torres. Earlier, Torres won her strawweight bout with Brianna Van Buren, also by unanimous decision. It was the first time Pennington and Torres had competed on the same UFC card since 2016.
Pennington is just 6-5 in the UFC, but all of the losses came against reigning or former UFC champions. Despite entering the Octagon having dropped three of her previous four, she is No. 8 in the ESPN women's bantamweight rankings.
Reneau has dropped her past three fights.
-- Jeff Wagenheim
Welterweight: Belal Muhammad (17-3, 7-3 UFC) defeats Lyman Good (21-6, 3-3 UFC) by unanimous decision
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Belal Muhammad and Lyman Good land punch combinations on each other in Round two.
Sometimes the most effective weapon for a fighter is the ability to adjust.
Good landed a huge combination in the third. Muhammad was hurt, on wobbly legs. The end seemed to be near.
"We were going according to plan until he rocked me," Muhammad said. "Sometimes we have to go to Plan B."
That turned out to be leaning on his wrestling. Muhammad was able to weather Good's storm, take him down, get his back and ride out the rest of the final round. Muhammad held on to win by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a hard-fought battle.
Muhammad's footwork and diversity were the key in the first two rounds. Good walked him down, but Muhammad never let him cut off the cage and mixed in combinations to keep the power puncher at bay. Good seemed frustrated that Muhammad wouldn't stay in place long enough for him to land a big shot. Meanwhile, Muhammad was able to land combinations and kicks in winning those two rounds.
Good finally caught up to Muhammad in the third round. He got him against the cage and landed a hard combination that put Muhammad in trouble. But Muhammad was able to stay on his feet, then eventually get Good down with wrestling.
Afterward, Muhammad called out ranked welterweights Santiago Ponzinibbio and Rafael dos Anjos. Muhammad joked that Ponzinibbio is still ranked despite not having fought in "25 years." Ponzinibbio hasn't fought since December 2018 due to injury and illness.
Muhammad, 31, has won three straight and seven of his past eight. The only opponent he has lost to in that time is Geoff Neal, with whom he trained during this camp at Fortis MMA in Dallas. Muhammad, a Chicago native, is tied for third for most wins (8) in the UFC welterweight division since 2016, per ESPN Stats & Info. Only Vicente Luque (10) and champion Kamaru Usman (9) have more.
Good, 35, came into this fight dealing with the recent death of his father, Lyman Good II. Good was initially supposed to fight Muhammad in April, but Good tested positive for COVID-19. He fully recovered by late April, but was the first UFC fighter to announce that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
-- Marc Raimondi
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Catchweight (160 pounds): Jim Miller (32-14 1 NC, 21-13 1 NC) defeats Roosevelt Roberts (10-2, 4-2 UFC) by first-round submission
For real, who doesn't love them some Jim Miller?
The 12-year UFC veteran earned his 21st win inside the Octagon by submitting Roberts via armbar, just 2:25 into their 160-pound catchweight bout. The win moved Miller into third on the UFC's all-time win list, trailing only Demian Maia (22) and Donald Cerrone (23).
Miller, 36, put Roberts in a tough position in the opening seconds, as he swept the young prospect off his feet with a leg kick. Miller, who now has 18 submission wins on his rsum, moved into top position and then transitioned to an armbar when Roberts attempted to scramble from the bottom. It is the first time Roberts has been finished in his career.
Saturday also marked Miller's 35th fight in the UFC, which moves him into a tie for the all-time record with Cerrone. Additionally, Miller holds the record for most first-round submission wins in the UFC's modern era, with nine. All four of his most recent wins have actually come via first-round submission.
"It means the most to me, it really does," Miller said. "I feel the weight on my shoulders to do the right things and live my life like that and keep that respect because I've earned it by the way I carry myself. When guys who have worn the belt around their waist and have been perennial contenders and coaches who have coaches against me come up to me and show me that respect, it's amazing. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
"I feel like I have a responsibility to the Roosevelts, the guys coming up. I'm not perfect, I don't do everything perfect and that's obvious, but I do this with the utmost respect for the athletes that share the Octagon with me. I feel like we need it, especially with the way things are going right now in 2020. Just showing some respect for people that are grinding right alongside you and their grind might be a little bit different, their path might be a little bit different, but everyone is dealing with things.
"I did deal with lyme disease for a few years and I fought some guys who went on to fight for title and were former champions when I was dealing with it and I wouldn't take it back. I wouldn't take any of it back because I've seen the other struggles that other fighters have had to deal with, just because mine is different doesn't mean that mine is any tougher. I love this sport, I miss the fans, it sucks not having that. Anybody that's willing to bust their ass and get inside the Octagon and earn that spot, nobody is given it, you have to earn it and come out here and compete. It's not easy, it's not an easy lifestyle and I have a ton of respect for anyone that does it."
-- Okamoto
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Lightweight: Bobby Green (25-10-1, 6-5-1 UFC) defeats Clay Guida (35-16, 15-13 UFC) by unanimous decision
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Clay Guida musters enough strength to lift Bobby Green off the mat to slam him down, and the two then continue to grapple.
Green walked out of the Octagon with a decision in his pocket, but his fighting style even in victory made one understand why he had walked into the cage with just one win in his previous seven fights.
While Guida was perpetual forward motion for three rounds, Green stood motionless, hands at his side, for extended stretches, relying on his fast hands and strong defensive wrestling to pick off Guida's entries. Green earned the nod of the judges -- two scored it 29-28 and the third had it 30-27 -- by out-landing Guida by a huge margin. He landed 85 significant strikes to Guida's 23. But Green had out-landed both of his past two opponents, yet lost both fights.
Green, whose disappointment with judges' decisions played a factor in him retiring from the sport in 2018, had to fight from his back after the relentless Guida landed three takedowns. But Green fended off nine other attempts, and even when he was caught on the canvas, he absorbed zero strikes from Guida.
While Green seemed lackadaisical from distance, he did some of his best work from the clinch, landing 16 strikes from that position. Guida landed zero.
For Guida, it was his 14th UFC loss, second most in history behind Jeremy Stephens' 17. Guida, 38, was fighting in his 29th UFC bout, seventh most ever.
"To fight a legend, I beat a Hall of Famer," Green said. "That's awesome.
"To be honest, I always try to keep my numbers higher than the other fighter [but] he was able to get those takedowns going, so I wasn't sure how they were going to judge things. They look like they could tell he's not doing anything with them, he's moreso holding me and it's not even a good position. He's not scoring off of it, so thank God they were able to see those things."
-- Wagenheim
Strawweight: Tecia Torres (11-5, 7-5 UFC) defeats Brianna Van Buren (9-3, 1-1 UFC)
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Tecia Torres overwhelms Brianna Van Buren with multiple punches in the second round of their bout.
On at least two previous occasions, it seemed Torres would fight for the UFC women's strawweight title -- if not become the division's champion. That's how highly people thought of her at the launch of the women's 115-pound weight class in 2014.
On Saturday, Torres showed the version of herself that had people thinking gold. Torres flashed brilliance in a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) win over Van Buren to snap a four-fight losing streak.
Van Buren controlled the early going of the first round, pushing Torres against the cage and looking for takedowns. It was clear that Van Buren, who trains with the likes of Daniel Cormier at American Kickboxing Academy, wanted to take things to the ground. Torres never let that happen with any consistency.
By the end of the first, Torres had her groove, stuffing Van Buren's takedown attempts and letting her limbs -- all of them -- fly in the striking department. She hurt Van Buren with combinations while breaking out of a clinch toward the end of the first and really never looked back after that.
Torres' hands and kicks were simply too quick. In the second, she landed a big flurry and solid left hands with Van Buren coming in. Torres let her kicks go in the third, finding a home for the left body kick and front kicks to the body. Van Buren had no answer for the quickness while in the middle of the cage.
Torres, 30, had not won since beating Michelle Waterson at UFC 218 on Dec. 2, 2017. During that four-fight losing skid, Torres fought current champion Zhang Weili and former champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jessica Andrade. The Massachusetts native, who lives and trains in Colorado, now has seven UFC wins at strawweight, tied for second in division history with four others.
Van Buren, 26, came in on a six-fight winning streak. The California native won the Invicta FC women's strawweight title in May 2019 by winning a tournament after fighting three times in a single night.
"I'm coming off some tough losses, they weren't bad losses, they're against champions," Torres said. "If you are in there against champions and you do what I did and you didn't get the s--- beat out of you I think you still need to be talked about. I wanted that win, I need that win kind of and I got it.
"I really thought she would try to take me down and grab me the entire time, and that's what she did, I don't think she wanted to strike with me. No question about being done, I'm still relatively young, I've been in the sport for a long time, but I'm 30 and my body is able. I want to go for that title shot, I want to be champion. I truly believe that I can be champion. It's just me having me perform."
-- Raimondi
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Middleweight: Marc-Andre Barriault (12-4, 1-3 UFC) defeats Oskar Piechota (11-4-1, 2-4 UFC) by third-round TKO
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Marc-Andre Barriault lands a right hand on Oskar Piechota in the first round.
It took him much longer than he would have liked, but Quebec's Barriault finally has his first win in the UFC.
The Canadian middleweight finished Piechota via TKO at 4:50 of the second round, after hurting him with an uppercut and right cross along the fence. Piechota eventually went down to one knee, and then fell over onto his back, prompting referee Chris Tognoni to step in. It's Barriault's first victory in four trips to the UFC's Octagon.
It was obvious Barriault wanted to pressure Piechota from the opening bell, and he did so effectively. He found a consistent home with the right hand, and mixed in elbows when the action was in close. Piechota really didn't have much of an answer. He landed a couple of uppercuts of his own, as well as an occasional jab to try to slow Barriault's pressure, but spent the most of the bout with his back near the fence.
Barriault, 30, records his first win since September 2018. Piechota's misery in the UFC continues, as he has been finished in four consecutive bouts.
"Like I said before, during all this crazy time, I just work on myself, I reconnect with my old route, so here I am with my old team, the best version of me, so tonight you saw everything," Barriault said. "I worked a lot on my mindset, just to reconnect my body and my mind. Just to be me during the moment, just float with everything, not thinking too much, just all action.
"I felt he was strong during the first round, so he hit me with a couple of good shots, but I stayed composed and I just worked the game plan. The game plan was just to let everything loose, be confident, just work the timing and let the hands go, so that's what I did.
"If the UFC gives me this type of guy, of opponent, I will put on a very good show. My past three fights, those guys were kind of, they taste my power right away so they just wrestle me. Right now, I want to fight, I want more, let's go."
-- Okamoto
Watch this fight on ESPN+.
Women's flyweight: Gillian Robertson (8-4, 5-2 UFC) defeats Cortney Casey (9-8, 5-7 UFC) by third-round rear-naked choke
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Things heat up in the second round as Gillian Robertson and Cortney Casey exchange blows then transition to the ground for intense grappling.
It looked as though the fight would go into the books as three lookalike rounds with Robertson dominating Casey with ground control but little threat of finishing her. Then, as the final seconds ticked down, Robertson suddenly seized a rear-naked choke and got the tapout at 4:32 of Round 3.
Thus, Robertson continued her run of finishing every one of her seven UFC bouts. It was her fourth submission, the most in UFC women's history. According to ESPN Stats & Information, it also was the latest stoppage in UFC women's history, coming with 24 seconds left on the clock.
Before the choke, all three rounds played out almost identically. In Rounds 1 and 2, Robertson absorbed a couple of crisp right hands before taking Casey to the canvas before the round was a minute old. Robertson took a little more time to get to the mat in Round 3, but just like in the first two rounds, she maintained top control the rest of the way.
Robertson advanced her position again and again, and the best Casey could do for the most part was regain full or half guard. She did attempt an armbar midway through the final round, but Robertson did not appear to be in trouble. Then Robertson seized control again and finished the job.
"I actually saw a chart saying that I was equal with Ronda Rousey last week [in submissions], and I was like, holy s---, that's awesome," Robertson said. "So, now to see that I have the most submissions in women's UFC history, it's mind-blowing right now, it's just the beginning of my career. I'm going to set that record and I'm going to push it even farther so that no one can break it.
"I definitely knew that arm bar would be dangerous and she was going for it the whole fight, I felt her keep on attempting it. When she did actually go for it, she had her fingers on the inside of my glove here, so she was pulling my arm in more by pulling my glove. So that's why I said something to the ref, but obviously it doesn't matter in the end, I'm still there to fight, I'm there to fight to the death, so I'm content with that and I'm just going to go for the throat consistently until then."
-- Wagenheim
Watch this fight on ESPN+.
When Jaynes woke up three days ago, he wasn't even on the UFC roster. With very few MMA events being held right now outside the UFC due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said he was just sitting around "all depressed."
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UFC Fight Night -- Josh Emmett, Shane Burgos live up to the hype with epic brawl - ESPN
