Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)

UFC 208 main card

- By ADAM HILL Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjour­nal.com or 702277-8028. Follow @adamhilllv­rj on Twitter.

Women’s featherwei­ght, Germaine de Randamie def. Holly Holm, unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47), to win inaugural title.

Middleweig­ht, Anderson Silva def. Derek Brunson, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

Middleweig­ht, Ronaldo Souza def. Tim Boetsch, submission (kimura), 3:41 (Round 1).

Light heavyweigh­t, Glover Teixeira def. Jared Cannonier, unanimous decision (3026, 30-26, 30-26).

Lightweigh­t, Dustin Poirier def. Jim Miller, majority decision (30-27, 29-28, 2828).

UFC legend Anderson Silva still believes he got robbed by the judges when he lost a fight against Michael Bisping in London last year.

He might have been the recipient of some karmic payback at UFC 208 on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.

Silva recorded his first official victory since 2012 with a unanimous decision over middleweig­ht Derek Brunson in a fight that lacked excitement but ended in controvers­y.

“I am so happy because I worked very hard for this fight,” Silva said through tears. “I wanted to give my best for my fans and for New York. I am sorry for being so emotional, but it is just because I am happy to be here. Next, I just want to go home and look at what will be the next challenge for me.”

Silva last won when he knocked out Stephan Bonnar in 2012. He lost the belt to Chris Weidman in his next fight and missed a year after suffering a gruesome leg injury in the rematch.

Silva defeated Nick Diaz in 2015, but the result was overturned after a positive drug test.

The former champion lost the close decision to Bisping in early 2016 and was dominated as a late-notice replacemen­t against Daniel Cormier in July.

There was plenty of drama Saturday as the scorecards were read. According to FightMetri­c, Brunson outlanded Silva 20-8 in significan­t strikes in the first round and kept Silva on his back for the final 90 seconds of a third round in which the striking stats were even.

Silva landed 10 strikes to Brunson’s nine in the second round as both fighters were hesitant to engage. Brunson completed two of 10 takedown attempts.

“Everyone is telling me that I won,” Brunson said. “I feel terrible. It’s not Anderson’s fault or the UFC’s fault. I took this fight on short notice and, to have this happen, is just crazy to me. I take this seriously. This is my job. I put everything into this, and I got robbed. It sucks.”

The Review-Journal scored the fight 30-27 for Brunson.

Top contender Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza probably secured a middleweig­ht title shot by stopping Tim Boetsch at 3:41 of the first round.

Souza, a former Strikeforc­e champion, is 7-1 since arriving in the UFC in 2013.

One of the top grapplers in the sport, he mounted Boetsch quickly after a midround takedown and submitted him with a kimura.

Light heavyweigh­t contender Glover Teixeira grinded out all three rounds to win a unanimous decision over Jared Cannonier. Teixeira neutralize­d Cannonier by consistent­ly taking him to the mat to stifle his offense.

Dustin Poirier won for the fifth time in six fights since returning to lightweigh­t by taking a majority decision over Jim Miller in a slugfest.

All five fights on the preliminar­y card also went to the scorecards.

Featherwei­ght Rick Glenn rallied late to win a split decision over Brooklyn native Phillipe Nover in the most competitiv­e of the bouts.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States