Next up on the UFC 251 main card is a title fight for the vacant bantamweight strap between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo.
Round 1: Aldo starts off with a jab. Yan returns his own and lands a leg kick. Yan hits the body. Aldo blocks a switch head kick. Yan swings but Aldo avoids it both times. Yan lands a huge right. Aldo certanily felt that but he’s not in danger. Aldo drops Yan with a leg kick. Yan returns with a left hook. Yan sees his headkick blocked. Yan blocks Aldo’s headkick this time. Aldo misses a leg kick. Yan lands a body shot. Aldo lands a heavy leg kick. Yan partially lands a big right that Aldo eats. Yan lands a body kick. Aldo goes for the takedown but now pulls guard as Yan looks to land ground and pound. Aldo seems to have been hurt but makes it to the end of the round.
Round 2: Aldo lands a jabbing front kick to Yan’s body. Yan is moving forward. Aldo lands an inside leg kick. Aldo lands a nice body kick. Yan charges and swings with two big strikes but Aldo avoids it before landing another leg kick. Yan lands to the body. Aldo responds with a leg kick. Aldo attacks the other leg as well. Yan responds with some kicks of his own. Aldo lands a nice body kick which might have been partially blocked. Aldo is turning it on now with a variety of different strikes. Probably a round for Aldo after Yan edged the first.
Round 3: Aldo lands two nice body kicks. Both men starting to exchange more. Aldo lands nice body shots. He continues to rip the body. He lands an uppercut and Yan responds with a calf kick. Yan seems to be hurt as Aldo charges forward but “No Mercy” seems to be fine in the end. Yan lands a nice uppercut. Aldo lands a knee to the body. Yan responds with some jabs. Aldo lands a body shot. Yan respond with some body shots of his own. Aldo shows great head movement. Yan is landing a bit more but Aldo is also dodging plenty of strikes. Yan lands a body kick. A very even round.
Round 4: Aldo comes out with strikes in the fourth round. Aldo lands a body kick. Yan lands a straight left. They clinch up before separating. Yan lands a leg kick and follows with a stinging body kick. Aldo lands a body shot. Aldo lands another but Yan counters with a big strike. Aldo lands a big knee to the stomach. They are exchanging a lot more strikes as they go toe to toe. Yan nearly trips Aldo but Aldo stays on his feet. Aldo might be slowing down as he usually does in the championship rounds. However, he has just surpassed his most significant strikes in a fight (102). Aldo is bleeding from his nose, however. Yan is advancing and landing more. Yan lands two huge uppercuts before tripping Aldo. Yan looks to finish the fight with ground and pound but is in Aldo’s guard. Yan gets up and lands some nice strikes. However, Aldo survives. Clearly a Yan round.
Round 5: Yan lands a huge 1-2 that has Aldo hurt. Aldo goes to the ground but is still in this. Aldo retains half-guard. Yan has Aldo’s right arm trapped and lands a number of big strikes and elbows. Yan looks to get the crucifix position but Aldo is still surviving. Aldo is bleeding badly. Yan is landing plenty of ground and pound. Aldo isn’t fighting back. The referee isn’t stopping this for some reason. Finally, the referee stops it. Yan is the new bantamweight champion.
Official result: Petr Yan defeats Jose Aldo via TKO (R5, 3:24).