UFC 313 WRAP: Champ stunned in world title upset after ‘one of the best KOs’, Gaethje statement

AND NEW! Champ stunned in world title upset after UFC rocked by ‘one of the best KOs’

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UFC 313 has come and gone, with a new light heavyweight champion being crowned and one of the sport’s best ever knockouts being delivered.

Read on for a full wrap of all the fights and re-live all the action with our round-by-round updates in the live blog at the bottom of the page!

UFC 313: Pereira v Ankalaev | SUN 9 MARCH | Alex Pereira will put his light heavyweight title on the line for a fourth time against Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.| Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. Main Event on Kayo Sports and Foxtel is the exclusive home of UFC Pay-Per-View.

And new! Ankalaev stuns Pereira to claim world title

The UFC has a new light heavyweight champion.

Alex Pereira was dethroned as the light heavyweight champion, with Magomed Ankalaev winning via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47 x2) becoming the 18th division belt holder.

“It’s been such a long way, here’s my dream, it’s on my waist,” Ankalaev said post-fight.

“I’m really happy that I won, I’d like to say thank you to my team, to Russia, to Dagestan. Thank you, we have got another belt now.”

It was a leg-kicking battle in the opening round, with Pereira inflicting more damage as Ankalaev attempted a late takedown but failed to bring the champion to the ground.

That proved to be a consistent theme throughout the fight, with Pereira’s takedown defence stopping Ankalaev from ever taking the fight to the ground.

Ankalaev’s corner urged him to be more aggressive in the first round and the challenger did just that, piling on the pressure and landing a big left hand at one point.

“Ankalaev is landing,” Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said in commentary, calling him the most complete fighter Pereira has faced.

Then, only seconds later, Ankalaev caught the champion with another huge overhand left.

Pereira delivered a solid combination in the third round, but Ankalaev continued to walk forward, showing he was up to the task.

"One of the BEST KO'S I've EVER seen!" | 01:18

The fourth round was filled with grappling and was largely uneventful, but Ankalaev was able to control things in the clinch — or at least enough — to also take that round on the scorecards.

To close out the fight, Pereira got through with a head kick with two minutes left in the fight and seemed to have the bigger moments of the two but was unable to get the finish he ended up needing.

Post-fight, Pereira said: “I knew it would be a war, every fight of mine is a war... he put some pressure in the second round, I felt some strikes. But putting me up against the cage, it didn’t really do anything.

“We followed our strategy and we know he puts people against the fence. Giving him the win with a game plan like that, it incentivises people to do that.

“People may say it’s a boring style, but when someone gets a win others may want to do that too.”

Gaethje’s statement in thrilling co-main event

In the co-main event, No.3 lightweight contender Justin Gaethje secured a unanimous decision victory over No.11 Rafael Fiziev in a thrilling three-round slugfest.

The fight began with early intensity from Fiziev, who had two quick takedowns and was mixing in some nasty kicks to the body, before he suffered a cut to his toe which slowed him down.

Then in the second round, the American landed the biggest blows of the fight, responding to some Fiziev kicks with a huge upper cut.

Gaethje was able to drop his opponent with a mammoth uppercut, and somehow the Azerbaijani weapon recovered and remained in the fight.

The third round once again went to Gaethje who piled on the pressure, which ultimately led to his victory, bouncing back after a loss to Max Holloway in April 2024.

“Let’s never fight again, unless it’s for a belt and then we have to,” Gaethje said to his opponent.

“He’s a bad motherf****r man, he’s world class. 12 days notice, for him to not get completely exhausted he deserves so much credit.

“I don’t give a s**t how far down you are, it’s on you to get back on the f***ing horse.”

WILD WAR: Gaethje outlasts Fiziev again! | 05:18

Lightweight assassin’s stunning KO

Lightweight assassin Mauricio Ruffy stunned King Green with a devastating wheel kick that was labelled “perfect” by commentator Joe Rogan.

Ruffy collected Green’s temple in the first round in a statement victory, which marked his seventh win in-a-row.

Ruffy has a reputation as one of his division’s scariest striking weapons, and he cemented that belief on Sunday.

“A stunning spinning kick to fell the King,” Jon Anik said, before Joe Rogan added: “That was a switch spin... oh my goodness.”

The kick left all three commentators stunned, eliciting one of the best responses seen from the panel of Daniel Cormier, Rogan and Anik.

“My jaw is on the floor... that was always one of King Green’s biggest issues, keeping his hands down. You can’t do that with a guy like this in front of you,” Cormier said.

Rogan later said it was “one of the most beautiful wheel kicks I have ever seen inside the octagon”.

Following the fight, Ruffy called out ninth ranked Beneil Dariush.

King Green was knocked out.Source: FOX SPORTS

Bahamondes secures ‘slick’ victory

Lightweight weapon Ignacio Bahamondes secured a submission victory over Jalin Turner in the first round in a stellar performance.

The win for Bahamondes marks his sixth UFC victory in his eight appearances, with Turner unable to withstand his opponent’s triangle choke.

“Welcome to the top 15,” Jon Anik said.

“He has got submissions as well, maybe not the one fans were expecting tonight.”

Joe Rogan then added: “That was a slick triangle... that speaks a lot to his skillset being able to pull that off against a guy like Turner.”

For Bahamondes, he revealed he “had a dream” he was going to submit Turner, who is renowned for his jiu-jitsu skills on the canvas.

“Whatever, I honestly haven’t talked to my team... I need to go back to the gym and start training, I’m going to go back on Monday to train,” he said post-fight.

Lemos barely breaks a sweat in UD win

Amanda Lemos defeated Iasmin Lucindo in their strawweight bout, which was largely contested on the canvas.

Lemos controlled the uneventful bout’s first two rounds without having to do too much as Lucindo failed to record a single significant strike in the first round.

Lucindo’s desperate corner urged here to show more fight and energy in the third round, which she did, landing her first real impactful strikes of the fight, before taking her opponent However, she never really looked likely to get the submission, with Lemos instead getting back to her feet and securing a takedown in a quiet fight.

The fight was scored 29-28, 29-28, 29-28.

Amanda Lemos celebrates after defeating Iasmin Lucindo. Ian Maule/Getty Images/AFPSource: AFP

PRELIMINARY CARD WRAP

Controversy as fighters slam ‘clear robbery’

The preliminary card kicked off with controversy as Mairon Santos claimed a split decision victory over American Francis Marshall

Santos had a 15-1 MMA career before Sunday’s fight, with his only loss coming to Dan Argueta at LFA 123, and was the more efficient striker of the two but Marshall as a whole had the bigger moments.

“It was a bad decision,” Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier said in commentary.

“Even in the third round, he lost the third round. I don’t have anything against the kid. He lost that fight.”

Santos conceded after the fight that Marshall landed some big shots in the first round, but after that?

“Hhe did take me down but he didn’t do anything with it,” Santos added as boos rained down.

“His face was bleeding, I was doing a lot more damage with the jabs, and after the first round, he didn’t do anything. Those takedowns that he landed were just to stop the fight, not to do real damage. So I think I won fair and square.”

Mairon Santos won the fight.Source: FOX SPORTS

Marshall immediately dropped Santos with a heavy leg kick to open the fight, although the Brazilian was quick to his feet, later responding with a big leg kick of his own.

Marshall then landed a left hook as the fight passed the halfway mark in the first round, only for Santos to respond with a big left hand before mixing in a few nice leg kicks.

Santos seemed to be warming into the fight until Marshall had the biggest moment of the round as he landed a big left hook that rocked Santos late in the piece, with the Brazilian just hanging on until the bell.

Santos looked to have recovered by the time the second round got underway, landing a nice right hand to open things before Marshall connected with a left in response.

Marshall later scored the first takedown of the fight and was able to quickly transition to get Santos’ back, although not much came of it in the end, seeing the bout go to a third and final round.

Santos had his moments in the third round, landing a big right hand with just over three minutes left and continuing to hunt for the finish in the closing stages.

But Marshall mixed in some nice combinations to back Santos up and scored another late takedown to seemingly seal his second-straight victory, only to be denied by the judges.

Cody Durden described it as a “clear robbery” on X, while Renato Moicano agreed and Derek Brunson wrote it was an “awful decision”.

Statement TKO win brings card to life

Up next, Carlos Leal put the welterweight division on notice as he disposed of Alex Morono to score a first-round stoppage.

Leal was absolutely unloading and somehow Morono stayed on his feet, even as the Brazilian mixed in some brutal knees to the body and then went upstairs with a series of right hands.

Eventually it was too much as the referee was forced to step in, seeing Leal bounce back after a controversial unanimous decision loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC 308.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m 2-0,” Leal told Joe Rogan through a translator post-fight.

“I know this, you know this, my former opponent knows this. Right now, I’m 2-0 in the UFC.”

Volk hilariously channels his inner emo! | 00:28

Ferreira shows off complete skillset in win

Generally, when Brunno Ferreira wins, he wins fast. The Brazilian has 13 finishes to his name from 13 victories in the MMA, with nine coming via knockout and four by submission.

On Sunday, it was another submission for Ferreria as he caught Armen Petrosyan with an armbar to claim a second-round win.

Ferreira landed a big left hook to rock Petrosyan early in the first round before the Armenian found himself in hot water for a pair of low blows, deducted a point by Marc Smith.

It was still a relatively even first round, and when the action got back underway in the second it didn’t take long for Ferreira to again connect with the left hand.

Petrosyan was having success in the striking exchanges, but Ferreira’s power remained a threat, even as the Brazilian started to run into problems with his right eye.

Ferreira quickly proved a busted eye wasn’t going to stop him from getting the 13th finish of his career as he took Petrosyan down and eventually was able to transition into a position to lock in the armbar.

Van continues to rise

Rapidly rising flyweight prospect Joshua Van improved his record to 6-1 in the UFC with a clinical unanimous decision victory (30-27 x3) over Rei Tsuruya to close out the preliminary card.

Van dominated the opening round, looking comfortable in the pocket as he outpointed Tsuruya in striking exchanges while also showing off strong takedown defence.

Midway through the second round Van had defended 10 of Tsuruya’s 13 takedowns and even when he did find himself on the canvas, the American hardly looked panicked and did well to limit any damage.

In fact, Van was the one inflicting the damage as he landed a big right hand and knee through the middle in the latter stages of the second round, although Tsuruya had a nice moment himself with a spinning elbow.

As a whole though, it was Van who outclassed Tsuruya, landing a big left hand late in the final round as he claimed a unanimous decision win.

FULL CARD RESULTS

Main card (on Main Event from 2pm AEDT)

Magomed Ankalaev def. Alex Pereira via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47 x2) for the UFC light heavyweight title

Justin Gaethje def. Rafael Fiziev via unanimous decision (29-28 x3) - Lightweight

Ignacio Bahamondes def. Jalin Turner via submission (triangle choke) - Lightweight

Amanda Lemos defeats Iasmin Lucindo via UD (29-28 x3) - Strawweight

Mauricio Ruffy def. King Green via first-round KO - Lightweight

Prelims (on Fox Sports and Kayo from midday AEDT)

Joshua Van def. Rei Tsuruya via UD (30-27 x3) - Flyweight

Brunno Ferreira def. Armen Petrosyan via submission (armbar) - Middleweight

Carlos Leal def. Alex Morono via first-round TKO - Welterweight

Mairon Santos def. Francis Marshall by SD (29-28 x2, 27-30) - Featherweight

Early prelim

Osman Diaz def. Djorden Ribeiro dos Santos via UD (29-28 x3) - Middleweight

Cancelled due to ilness:

Chris Gutierrez vs. John Castaneda - Featherweight

Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev - Heavyweight

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