Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Live, blow-by-blow updates for today’s UFC 248 preliminary 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 preliminary portion of the card. The featured bout on the prelims will see Sean O’Malley making his return against Jose Alberto Quinonez in a bantamweight scrap.
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.
Gerald Meerschaert vs. Deron Winn
Round 1 – Meerschaert with a body kick. He lands the next kick to the cup. Winn takes about a minute before the restart. Meerschaert with three straight lefts. Winn with a hard right. Meerschaert with a combo. Winn gets a takedown right into side. He stands up immediately. Okay. Meerschaert gets back to his feet. Winn with a knee to the body and an uppercut. Body kick from Meerschaert. Nice left from Meerschaert. Winn lands a slapping head kick. Meerschaert with a straight left again. Another. Knee. Another left. Meerschaert with an uppercut. Winn with a hard right against the cage. They trade leather. Right scores for Winn. 10-9 Meerschaert.
Round 2 – Meerschaert with a left. They both land at the same time. Winn goes body-head. Winn misses with a home run shot. Meerschaert with a leg kick. Another left from Meerschaert. Inside leg kick from Winn. Head kick now. Another nice left from Meerschaert. Body kick. Jab from Meerschaert. Another left. Winn with a glancin left. Meerschaert goes to the body. Winn is circling away. Body kick from Meerschaert. Jump knee to the body. Jabs and a left. 10-9 Meerschaert.
Round 3 –
Jamall Emmers vs. Giga Chikadze
Round 1 – Chikadze throws a spinning back kick immediately, which misses. Low kick from Chikadze. Chikadze tags Emmers coming in with a left and drops him to a knee! He’s back up and circling. Not a lot going on. Low kick from Emmers. Slapping body kick from Chikadze. Chikadze puts his hands up basically asking Emmers to fight. Emmers with a long right. Chikadze presses and lands a couple of shots. Straight left from Chikadze. Leg kick. Emmers fires back with his own. They both throw spinning back fists at the horn. 10-9 Chikadze.
Round 2 – Emmers with a nice right. Knee to the body. Front kick from Chikadze. Emmers with a huge takedown. He moves to half, but Chikadze. Eye poke from Chikadze. They only stop for a few seconds. Body kick from Chikadze. Short left from Chikadze staggers Emmers. He clinches and lands to the body. Chikadze spins away. They trade low kicks. Emmers with a hard right. Body kick from Chikadze. 10-9 Emmers.
Round 3 – They trade shots early. Chikadze with a counter. He stuffs a shot. Chikadze with a long left. Emmers with a quick jab. Overhand right from Chikadze. Short right from Emmers. They trade hard shots again. Two lefts from Chikadze. He’s pressing. Emmers back to the jab. Nice right from Emmers. A left as well. Emmers with the jab again. Chikadze with a looping right. Emmers responds. Emmers with two counters and gets a takedown. Chikadze looks for a triangle but there’s nothing there. Emmers lands a couple of big shots. 10-9 and 29-28 Emmers.
Giga Chikadze defeated Jamall Emmers via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Danaa Batgerel vs. Guido Cannetti
Round 1 – Batgerel gets chopped down quick with a leg kick. He pops right back up. They both throw leather but don’t connect. Batgerel with a nice right. Two leg kicks and a body kick from Cannetti but he eats a right. Big shot from Cannetti but he eats a counter. He again chops him down briefly with a leg kick. Batgerel back up with a nice combo. Huge left hook from Batgerel and Cannetti eyess roll back as he collapes to the mat! He jumps on Cannetti with GnP and it’s over!
Danaa Batgerel defeated Guido Cannetti via KO (strikes), 3:01 of round 1
Preliminary card (8pm ET)
Sean O’Malley vs. Jose Quinonez
Mark Madsen vs. Austin Hubbard
Rodolfo Vieira vs. Saparbek Safarov