Nunes narrowly keeps title; Dos Anjos steals the show

By. Yadevinder Bhullar

EDMONTON — Amanda Nunes retained her bantamweight title on Saturday night,scraping out a close split decision victory over ValentinaShevchenko in the main event of UFC 215 on Saturdaynight inside a sold-out Rogers Place.

Two judges scored it 48-47 in favor of Nunes while a third judge gave Shevchenko the nod, 48-47.

The 135-pound

Nunes, whose record improved to 15-4, also beat Shevchenko via unanimous decision last March 2016.

The Nunes-Shevchenko rematchwas elevated as the main event for UFC 215 when the original headliner, Ray Borg,
was forced to withdraw from his flyweight title fight against Demetrius Johnson due to a viral infection.

But Nunes-Shevchenko 2 provided a lot of fireworks a back-and-forth affair that saw Shevchenko land more strikes 104-85, according to Fightmeric. But Nunez, the 29-year old Brazilian, engaged her opponent several times and scored two takedowns.

“I didn’t think it was close. I thought it was a clear victory for me. She landed a few good punches but I dominated the rounds and, in the last round, I took her down and kept her there to seal the deal,” Nunes said after the

intensely tough fight.

However,

Shevchenko, the 29-year old pride of Kyrgyzstan, saw it the other way and told reporters, “I always respect the judges but I totally disagree with the decision tonight. I won rounds two, three and four and her takedowns were not effective. I will be back to fight for that belt again because that is my belt.”

Shevckenko said she will consider an appeal although she concedes that getting a reversal is pretty rare. So far, no word yet on whether a Nunes-Shevchenko 3 is in the making.

DOS ANJOS STRIKES AGAIN

. In search of another title in a different weight class, Rafeal Dos Anjos demolished Neil Magny in their 170-pound tussle. The end come via arm trianglechoke at the 3:43 mark of the opening round. It was dubbed as “the performance of the night.”

Dos Anjos, 32, improved to 27-9 while Magny dropped to 19-6.

“I’m the former lightweight champion and I’m coming for that welterweight belt,” said an ecstatic Dos Anjos.

In one of the most anticipated fights in the UFC 215 card, Canadian-Indian Anjar Bhullar won his debut by

beating Braliian Luis Henrique via unanimous decision. A former Olympic wrestler for Canada,the 31-year old
Bhullar remains unbeaten in seven fights.

UNDERCARD.. In other fights, flyweight Henry Cejudo (11-2) scored a second round knockout over Wilson Reis ( 22-8). Featherweight Jeremy Stephens (26-14) carded a 30-25, 30-26, 30-26 decision win over Gilbert Melendez (22-7).

In an exciting brawl between light heavyweights, Ilir Latifi improved to 13-5 after outpointing previously unbeaten Tyson Pedro (6-1), 30-27, 29-28, 29-28. In the other women’s battle, bantamweight Ketlen Viera submitted 36-year old Sara McMann in an upset.

Viera increased her unbeaten record to 9-0 while the veteran McMann suffered her fourth setback against 11 wins.