In perhaps the most shocking upset in UFC history, Justin Gaethje defeated Ilia Topuria after Topuria’s corner stopped the fight at the end of the fourth round to win the lightweight championship and cap UFC Freedom 250 at the White House lawn in Washington on Sunday night.
Gaethje (28-5) put together a stunningly dominant performance, battering a fighter in Topuria (17-1) who was widely considered the sport’s pound-for-pound best. The fight was nearly stopped by the doctor between the third and fourth round on account of severe swelling in Topuria’s eyes, but the ultimately decisive blow was a knee to the ribcage at the end of the fourth round that left Topuria unable to go out for the fifth round.
To put the upset into context, many predicted that Gaethje would get knocked out in the first round. Not only did Gaethje set the tone early in the fight unlike any of Topuria’s recent legendary opponents, but he never relinquished it and had Topuria in danger for the entirety of the fight — even after Topuria seemingly had Gaethje where he wanted him in Round 2.
Frenchman Cyril Gane earned the UFC interim heavyweight title for the second time, spoiling Alex Pereira’s attempt at becoming the first three division champion in UFC history with a stunning finish at 1:27 in the second round.
Gane (14-2) hit Pereira (13-4) with a jab that essentially knocked Pereira out on his feet, though referee Herb Dean was reluctant to call the fight which only subjected Pereira to more punishment. It’s the definitive moment in Gane’s UFC career, as he’s often been considered the bridesmaid and never the bride in the heavyweight division until today.
Sean O’Malley backed up his status as America’s most popular mixed martial artist, defeating Aiemann Zahabi with a walk-off knockout that will be a staple of UFC highlight reels for years to come.
O’Malley, always the showman, gave a military-style salute to the crowd of service members and the president’s invitees as Zahabi (14-3) was falling to the canvas. The win puts O’Malley (20-3) firmly back into bantamweight title contention and he’ll likely be next up for champion Petr Yan, whom he called out in his post-fight interview.
Josh Hokit continued his rise up the heavyweight division, backing up his viral and controversial fight-week antics by finishing the UFC’s knockout king, Derrick Lewis, with an extended combination of punches at 4:09 in the second round.
It was a dominant performance from Hokit through and through, as he nearly finished Lewis (29-14) multiple times in the first round as well to improve to 10-0.
Mauricio Ruffy of Brazil’s esteemed Fighting Nerds registered another statement performance, stopping 40-year-old Michael Chandler at 4:29 in the first round of their lightweight bout. Ruffy (14-2) hurt Chandler (23-11) with a stunning roundhouse kick and ended the fight with a handful of finishing blows to Chandler’s head.
The fight could very well be the end of Chandler’s UFC career and essentially diminishes any chance he had at fighting Conor McGregor in the future, whom he was reportedly in line to face with a victory.
Bo Nickal earned his second straight victory, finishing fellow American Kyle Daukaus with a vicious right followed by a series of elbows at 4:34 in the first round in their middleweight fight. Nickal (9-1), a former All-American wrestler at Penn State, has now finished three of his six wins in the UFC by KO/TKO and is 6-1 in the UFC since his 2023 debut. Daukaus fell to 17-5.
After an hour-long delay due to rain, Brazilian featherweight Diego Lopes knocked out Albuquerque’s Steve Garcia with an explosive combination of punches at 2:42 in the second round. It was an impressive come-from-behind effort by Lopes (28-8), who was unquestionably losing the featherweight fight before Garcia (19-6) made the decision to trade punches with him.
–Field Level Media
