UFC 229 Results: Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor

Khabib Nurmagomedov retained the lightweight championship against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 on October 6, 2018. Their fourth-round submission finish at T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas area capped twelve fights, although the post-fight altercation overshadowed an event that also included Tony Ferguson’s return and Derrick Lewis’s dramatic comeback.

View the official UFC 229 event archive on UFC.com.

Nurmagomedov wins the championship fight

Nurmagomedov imposed his grappling early, keeping McGregor occupied with takedowns and pressure on the ground. He also landed a significant right hand during the standing exchanges. McGregor found more room to work in the third round, but could not sustain that momentum through the fourth.

The champion took McGregor’s back and forced the submission at 3:03 of round four. The commission recorded the finish as a rear-naked choke; the hold is also widely described as a neck crank. Nurmagomedov improved to 27–0 with his first successful defense of the undisputed lightweight belt.

An altercation interrupts the celebration

After the finish, Nurmagomedov left the cage and an altercation broke out involving members of the fighters’ teams. The usual championship presentation did not take place in the Octagon. Those incidents became a major part of the event’s aftermath, but they did not change the official result of the title fight.

Ferguson returns; Lewis finds a late knockout

Ferguson defeated Anthony Pettis after two action-filled rounds. Pettis’s corner stopped the contest between rounds, giving Ferguson a TKO victory. Lewis produced an even later turnaround, knocking out Alexander Volkov with eleven seconds remaining in the final round.

Dominick Reyes and Michelle Waterson won decisions on the main card. The preliminaries supplied finishes from Vicente Luque, Aspen Ladd, Scott Holtzman, Nik Lentz and Tony Martin. Together, those bouts made UFC 229 more than its heavily promoted rivalry, even though the championship fight and its aftermath dominated public attention.

Complete UFC 229 results

• Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Conor McGregor — submission (rear-naked choke/neck crank), round 4, 3:03; retained lightweight title.
• Tony Ferguson defeated Anthony Pettis — TKO (corner stoppage), round 2, 5:00.
• Dominick Reyes defeated Ovince Saint Preux — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Derrick Lewis defeated Alexander Volkov — KO (punches), round 3, 4:49.
• Michelle Waterson defeated Felice Herrig — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Jussier Formiga defeated Sergio Pettis — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Vicente Luque defeated Jalin Turner — KO (punches), round 1, 3:52.
• Aspen Ladd defeated Tonya Evinger — TKO (punches), round 1, 3:26.
• Scott Holtzman defeated Alan Patrick — KO (elbows), round 3, 3:42.
• Yana Kunitskaya defeated Lina Lansberg — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Nik Lentz defeated Gray Maynard — TKO (head kick and punches), round 2, 1:19.
• Tony Martin defeated Ryan LaFlare — KO (head kick and punches), round 3, 1:00.

Sources

UFC main-event report; Event results record.

Article Tags

UFC, UFC 229, Mixed Martial Arts