UFC 235 Results: Jones vs. Smith

Jon Jones retained the light heavyweight championship and Kamaru Usman took the welterweight title from Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 on March 2, 2019. T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas area hosted twelve completed fights, including Ben Askren’s eventful UFC debut against Robbie Lawler and a first-round finish by Pedro Munhoz over Cody Garbrandt.

View the official UFC 235 event archive on UFC.com.

Jones wins despite an illegal-knee deduction

Jones controlled much of the five-round title fight against Anthony Smith, using varied strikes, clinch work and ground offense. In round four, an illegal knee to the grounded challenger resulted in a two-point deduction. Smith continued, allowing the contest to reach its sporting conclusion.

All three judges scored the fight 48–44 for Jones. The unanimous decision was a successful title defense, but the foul and Smith’s decision to continue remained important parts of the evening’s main-event story.

Usman dominates the welterweight championship

Usman applied pressure against Woodley for five rounds, combining wrestling with sustained work in close quarters. The defending champion struggled to establish the powerful counters and takedown defense that had supported his title reign.

Usman won a unanimous decision, becoming the first African-born UFC champion. His performance supplied the card’s championship change and began a new welterweight reign, while Jones remained the titleholder at 205 pounds.

Askren’s debut brings controversy

Lawler slammed Askren and landed damaging ground strikes early, but the newcomer recovered and secured a bulldog choke. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight at 3:20 of round one. Lawler immediately disputed the stoppage, although Askren’s technical-submission victory remained the official result.

Munhoz knocked out Garbrandt during their first-round exchanges, and Zhang Weili defeated Tecia Torres by decision. Preliminary highlights included quick stoppages by Johnny Walker and Edmen Shahbazyan, plus Diego Sanchez’s second-round finish of Mickey Gall. Those bouts gave the event considerable depth beyond its two championship fights.

Complete UFC 235 results

• Jon Jones defeated Anthony Smith — unanimous decision, round 5, 5:00; retained light heavyweight title.
• Kamaru Usman defeated Tyron Woodley — unanimous decision, round 5, 5:00; won welterweight title.
• Ben Askren defeated Robbie Lawler — technical submission (bulldog choke), round 1, 3:20.
• Zhang Weili defeated Tecia Torres — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Pedro Munhoz defeated Cody Garbrandt — KO (punches), round 1, 4:51.
• Zabit Magomedsharipov defeated Jeremy Stephens — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Johnny Walker defeated Misha Cirkunov — TKO (flying knee and punches), round 1, 0:38.
• Cody Stamann defeated Alejandro Perez — unanimous decision, round 3, 5:00.
• Diego Sanchez defeated Mickey Gall — TKO (punches), round 2, 4:13.
• Edmen Shahbazyan defeated Charles Byrd — TKO (strikes), round 1, 0:38.
• Macy Chiasson defeated Gina Mazany — TKO (punches), round 1, 1:49.
• Hannah Cifers defeated Polyana Viana — split decision, round 3, 5:00.

Sources

UFC 235 results and fight reports; Event results record.

Article Tags

UFC, UFC 235, Mixed Martial Arts