Kamaru Usman returned to the win column Saturday night time in the primary occasion of UFC Struggle Night time in Atlanta, Ga., securing a unanimous determination over Joaquin Buckley 49-46, 49-46, 48-47.
“Those knockouts will come,” Usman mentioned after the win. “I just needed to get that monkey off my back.”
The primary two rounds of the headline welterweight attraction noticed Usman (21-4 MMA) pitch the equal of a shutout, effortlessly taking Buckley (21-7 MMA) down and using his ground-and-pound to out-strike the St. Louis native 16-0 within the vital strikes class.
Spherical 3 began sturdy for Buckley as he discovered his placing vary earlier than Usman discovered his third takedown in 4 tries.
The previous champion stored Buckley there for the ultimate two minutes, briefly securing the mount place because the seconds ticked down.
Spherical 4 was totally on the toes, as Buckley discovered his finest mixtures of the combat however couldn’t discover a comeback end.
Usman took Buckley down once more, securing the again mount place because the spherical ended.
Spherical 5 noticed each males commerce blows, but it surely was too little, too late for Buckley, who had a six-fight unbeaten streak snapped. It was Usman’s first win since he held the title in Nov. 2021.
Buckley was gracious in defeat, struggling his first loss at welterweight.
“We’re just getting started, baby,” Buckley mentioned. “We’ll be back.”
The co-main occasion additionally wanted the playing cards, as former two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas earned a extremely aggressive unanimous determination, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 over Miranda Maverick.
Namajunas (15-7 MMA) overcame adversity, practically getting submitted by arm-triangle in Spherical 2.
Namajunas has received three of her final 4. She nonetheless seeks a belt in a second division, this time at flyweight. Maverick (17-6 MMA) had a four-fight successful streak snapped, courting to July 2023.
A recurring theme continued: middleweight Edmen Shahbazyan practically completed TUF alumnus Andre Petroski with a would-be third-round TKO earlier than strolling away with a unanimous determination, 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.
The win marked Shahbazyan’s first stretch of back-to-back wins since 2019, his first determination win since 2018.
Shahbazyan (15-5 MMA) had little bother controlling the Pennsylvania native in Petroski (13-5 MMA) in all elements, who has misplaced two of his final three fights.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt fell brief towards Raoni Barcelos in a lackluster affair by unanimous determination, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28. Barcelos (20-5 MMA) has received three in a row, as Garbrandt (14-7 MMA), who received the title in December 2016, has received simply three of his final 20 appearances.
Barcelos practically secured a late third-round rear-naked choke, however Garbrandt was in a position to fend it off earlier than touchdown just a few strikes to shut the combat.
In middleweight motion, Mansur Abdul-Malik earned a technical determination over Cody Brundage 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.
Abdul-Malik practically had a third-round TKO 36 seconds in, however an unintentional conflict of heads modified the route of the combat, thus needing the judges to intervene.
Abdul-Malik (9-0 MMA) moved to 3-0 within the promotion, whereas Brundage (11-7 MMA) dropped beneath .500 within the UFC and nonetheless seeks his first string of back-to-back wins in practically three years.
The UFC Atlanta predominant card started with Alonzo Menifield incomes a unanimous determination over Oumar Sy in a light-weight heavyweight bout, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28.
Menifield (17-5-1 MMA) handed Sy (11-1 MMA) his first MMA loss, which snapped a two-fight UFC stint since making his debut final Could. Menifield, in the meantime, has received two straight.
The UFC’s schedule goes worldwide with a Struggle Night time installment every week from Saturday in Azerbaijan, headlined by a light-weight heavyweight non-championship five-rounder between former champion Jamahal Hill (12-3 MMA) and ex-title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr. (14-6 MMA).
