It looked like Jose Aldo might have done enough to win his bantamweight debut tonight at UFC 245, but Marlon Moraes walked away with a split decision win.
Moraes grazed Aldo with a winging, head kick moments in and then planted a hard punch. Aldo scored a nice straight right not long after. Moraes continued to fire big punches and just missed with another kick. Aldo ramped up the pressure later in the frame and he cracked Moraes with a nice right late. Aldo landed another couple of hard shots, but Moraes countered with a nice sweep before the round ended.
Moraes planted a nice right shortly into round two and Aldo countered with a leg kick. Aldo continued to press forward and Moraes looked to counter. Aldo started going to the body of Moraes more often and he scored with a nice uppercut too. Aldo scored with some punches but Moraes landed a hard counter. Aldo stayed busy with his jab and a small cut was opened by Moraes’ left eye. The former featherweight champ continued to pressure through Moraes’ counters and the latter also had a hematoma by his left eye at the end of the round.
Aldo pressed forward once again in round three and he continued to work behind his jab. Moraes scored with a couple of rights and continued to move laterally. A few boos started to ring out as the striking volume slowed. Aldo planted a nice straight right later in the round and Moraes returned fire with one of his one not long after. Moraes scored with a hard left hand that Aldo ate and the latter resumed pressuring. Both men winged some big shots before the final horn went. Close fight.
After the bout, it was announced two of the three judges scored the fight for Moraes. Here are the results so far for UFC 245, which is taking place in Las Vegas.
Marlon Moraes def. Jose Aldo via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Petr Yan def. Urijah Faber via KO (headkick) R3, 0:43
Geoff Neal def. Mike Perry via TKO (kick & punches) R1, 1:30
Irene Aldana def. Ketlen Vieira via KO (punches) R1, 4:51
Omari Akhmedov def. Ian Heinisch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Matt Brown def. Ben Saunders via KO (punches) R2, 4:55
Chase Hooper def. Daniel Teymur via TKO (strikes) R1, 4:34
Punahele Soriano def. Oskar Piechota via KO (punches) R1, 3:17
Jessica Eye def. Viviane Araujo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Brandon Moreno def. Kai Kara-France via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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