Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Live, blow-by-blow updates for today’s UFC 248 main card from Vegas.
Join us today on Bloody Elbow for live results, discussion, round scoring, and play-by-play as UFC 248 goes down in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The main event will be a middleweight title fight between champ Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero. The co-main is for a belt too, with Weili Zhang putting up her women’s strawweight belt against former champ Joanna Jedrrejczyk.
This post will cover the main PPV card.
We’ll start on Fight Pass and ESPN+ at approximately 7pm ET with two fights. The card then moves to ESPN at 8pm ET for four more bouts, then onto the main PPV card at 10pm ET. The full lineup and schedule follows. The main card and main event will be covered in separate posts.
Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
Round 1 –
Round 1 – Jingliang lands first. They are both throwing but not connecting much. Low kick from Magny. Magny gets the Thai clinch but can’t land a knee. Jingliang looking for a takedown. Jingliang with a huge right on the break! Magny begs off. He’s looking for a takedown now, and gets Jingliang down. He’s up fast but Magny is holding onto him. They jockey for position against the fence, and finally break with 90 seconds left. Jab from Magny and he clinches again. Hard knee to the body from Magny. Jingliang with a takedown. Magny launches him off and gets up right away. Magny with some rights and knees to the body. Hard jab. 10-9 Jingliang.
Round 2 – Magny with the pressure right away. Jingliang clinches. Magny reverses position and almost gets a body lock takedown. Magny lands a bunch of short punches. Jingliang is warned a couple of times for grabbing the fence. Magny looks for a piledriver! Can’t get it though. Magny gets a brief takedown. Jingliang lands a couple of punches and Magny resets. Jab and he clinches. He lands some elbows on Jingliang. Big knee and two punches. Jingliang is moving his head. Magny is starting to land hard though. Big shot! He takes him down. 10-9 Magny.
Round 3 – Outside leg kick from Magny. Jingliang charges in but misses. Two jabs and a right from Magny. Jingliang wades in. Magny looks for a takedown and they battle in the clinch. Jingliang spins around to his back, releases him, and just misses with a head kick. Magny keeps landing the jab. He checks a low kick from Jingliang. They both swing and miss. Magny with a trip takedown. Magny grapevines the legs and lands a few punches. He takes the back. Knees to the butt. Sure. Jingliang is back to his feet but it’s too late. 10-9 and 29-28 Magny.
Neil Magny defeated Li Jingliang via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Round 1 – Grifffin gets after it right away. Front kick from Oliveira. Oliveira lands a right and Griffin clinches. Oliveira holds him against the fence. They break. Another front kick followed by a right. Nice jab from Griffin. Griffin lands hard. He gets a takedown. He gradually moves Cowboy over against the fence. Not much else going on though. He’s looking for an arm triangle but there isn’t enough room. Cowboy back up with 30 seconds to go. Griffin stays on him and drags him down, but Oliveira gets up and lands a couple of shots before the horn. 10-9 Griffin.
Round 2 – Griffin with an immediate jab. Oliveira with two low kicks. Griffin with a punch to the chest. Griffin is bleeding. Jab from Griffin. They clinch. Cowboy is looking for a takedown. They break and the ref calls for time for a doctor to come in and look at Griffin’s cut. It appears to be on the eyelid, but the doc lets him continue. Low kick from Oliveira. Another hard one. Goes to the inside of the leg now, and cracks Griffin with a right hook. Griffin changes in looking fora takedown, but comes up empty. Cowboy spins. Another takedown attempt, but Oliveira stops him again. Lots of blood. They work against the fence. Oliveira scoops a single but can’t do anything with it and they break. Griffin with a counter left. Front kick to the body from Cowboy. Griffin spins and misses. 10-9 Oliveira.
Round 3 – Left from Griffin. Oliveira back to the front kick. They battle on the fence. Elbows to the back of the head from Oliveira. The ref warns him. Griffin just stalling. Looking for a takedown but it’s not happening. They break. Oliveira immediately looks for his own takedown and gets it. He takes the back. He’s basically in mount, but Oliveira settles for half against the fence. Oliveira goes to the back and looks for a choke but he slips off. Griffin is on top now with two minutes left. He lands some punches and the crowd is behind him. Short elbow. Cowboy is trying to lock him down. Few light rights. Elbows. Very close. I’ll go 10-9 and 29-28 Griffin, but it could go either way.
Alex Oliveira defeated Max Griffin via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Main card (10pm ET)
Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero
Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk