UFC is looking to end the year with a bang, and the promotion has certainly put forth a good effort with the UFC 245 card. Saturday night in Las Vegas, the loaded event will see three championships defended as we get set to enter the next decade.
UFC struggled to book a fight between welterweight champ Kamaru Usman (15-1) and top challenger Colby Covington (15-1) to headline UFC 244 on Nov. 2 in Madison Square Garden. It did, however, manage to get the two biter rivals to agree to step into the cage at UFC 245 to settle their score in the main event. Covington earned his opportunity at gold by roundly dominating Robbie Lawler at UFC on ESPN 5 while Usman has not defended his title since winning it in a dominating performance against Tyron Woodley at UFC 235 in March.
Plus, featherweight champion Max Holloway returns to action when he battles top contender Alexander Volkanovski in the co-main event. The pair of fighters have been on unbelievable runs in UFC with the lone slip up between the two since 2013 (!) was Holloway dropping a decision to Dustin Poirier in April in his attempt to move up to lightweight for the interim title.
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In the third title fight on the stacked card, two-division champ Amanda Nunes (18-4) puts her featherweight title on the line against Germaine de Randamie (9-3). Nunes rose to become arguably the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time with her lighting-quick victories over legends Cris Cyborg and Ronda Rousey. In de Randamie, she rematches a woman she defeated in 2013 but also someone who has not lost a fight since and now rides a five-fight winning streak.
This has plenty of names that fight fans should be getting fired up to see in the Octagon once again, including some legends in Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber. There's also some fan favorites in Mike Perry and Matt Brown. And some up-and-comers in Geoff Neal and Chase Hooper.
Below is the complete fight card for Saturday night as well as everything that happened this week in the lead up to the event that you need to catch up on. CBS Sports will be with you throughout the night with updates, results and recaps for all the action in Las Vegas. Check back in on this page to keep track.
UFC 245 card/results
Kamaru Usman (c) def. Colby Covington via fifth-round TKO (punches)
Alexander Volkanovski def. Max Holloway via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 50-45)
Amanda Nunes (c) def. Germaine de Randamie via unanimous decision (49-44, 49-46, 49-45)
Marlon Moraes def. Jose Aldo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Petr Yan def. Urijah Faber via second-round TKO (head kick)
Geoff Neal def. Mike Perry via first-round TKO (punches)
Irene Aldana def. Ketlen Viera via first-round KO (Punch)
Omari Akhmedov def. Ian Heinisch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Matt Brown def. Ben Saunders via second-round TKO (elbows, punches)
UFC 245 countdown
- Complete fight predictions and expert picks
- All main card fighters on weight for Saturday night
- Column: Covington's chance to cash in on his cringeworthy ruse
- Fight purses and salaries for six fighters in title bouts
- Five biggest storylines to watch in Las Vegas
- Breakdown of every fight on the card
- Usman brushes off Covington's PED accusations
- Aldo not concerned about weight cut to 135 pounds
- Volkanovski thinks he has the gameplan to stop Holloway