UFC 224 Results: Nunes vs. Pennington

UFC 224 brought Amanda Nunes back to Brazil for a bantamweight title defense against Raquel Pennington on May 12, 2018. At Rio de Janeiro’s Jeunesse Arena, the champion delivered the closing finish on a 13-fight card that also featured Kelvin Gastelum’s narrow victory over Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and a spectacular knockout from Lyoto Machida.

View the official UFC 224 event archive on UFC.com.

Nunes controls the championship fight

Nunes attacked Pennington’s legs and used her strength in the clinch to establish an advantage. Pennington had moments of resistance, but the champion consistently forced her to work from difficult positions. In the fifth round, Nunes brought the fight to the canvas and finished with strikes at 2:36, securing her third successful bantamweight title defense.

The matchup also marked the first UFC championship fight between two openly gay athletes. Its sporting conclusion was decisive: Nunes retained the belt through a stoppage rather than leaving the outcome to the judges.

Gastelum edges Souza; Machida lands a familiar finish

Gastelum and Souza supplied the competitive contrast to the main event. Souza’s grappling tested Gastelum, while Gastelum’s striking kept him in the contest. After three rounds, a split decision went to Gastelum, a meaningful win over an established middleweight contender.

Machida’s front kick knocked out Vitor Belfort one minute into round two. John Lineker added another main-card knockout against Brian Kelleher. Mackenzie Dern submitted Amanda Cooper, but their fight took place at catchweight after Dern weighed 123 pounds for a scheduled strawweight contest.

A card rich in finishes

The preliminaries contributed much of the evening’s action. Alexey Oleynik used an Ezekiel choke against Junior Albini, Cezar Ferreira finished Karl Roberson with an arm-triangle, and Jack Hermansson stopped Thales Leites in round three. With only Gastelum–Souza and Ramazan Emeev–Alberto Mina reaching decisions, eleven of the thirteen completed bouts ended inside the distance.

Complete UFC 224 results

• Amanda Nunes defeated Raquel Pennington — TKO (strikes), round 5, 2:36; retained women’s bantamweight title.
• Kelvin Gastelum defeated Ronaldo Souza — split decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Mackenzie Dern defeated Amanda Cooper — submission (rear-naked choke), round 1, 2:27; catchweight.
• John Lineker defeated Brian Kelleher — KO (punch), round 3, 3:43.
• Lyoto Machida defeated Vitor Belfort — KO (front kick), round 2, 1:00.
• Cezar Ferreira defeated Karl Roberson — technical submission (arm-triangle choke), round 1, 4:45.
• Alexey Oleynik defeated Junior Albini — submission (Ezekiel choke), round 1, 1:45.
• Davi Ramos defeated Nick Hein — submission, round 1, 4:15.
• Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos defeated Sean Strickland — KO (kick and punches), round 1, 3:40.
• Warlley Alves defeated Sultan Aliev — TKO (corner stoppage), round 2, 5:00.
• Jack Hermansson defeated Thales Leites — TKO (punches), round 3, 2:10.
• Ramazan Emeev defeated Alberto Mina — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Markus Perez defeated James Bochnovic — submission (rear-naked choke), round 1, 4:28.

Sources

UFC 224 official results; Event results record.

Article Tags

UFC, UFC 224, Mixed Martial Arts