UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal (also known as UFC Fight Night 147 or UFC on ESPN+ 5) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on March 16, 2019 at The O2 Arena in London, England.[2][3]
| UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | March 16, 2019 | |||
| Venue | The O2 Arena | |||
| City | London, England | |||
| Attendance | 16,602[1] | |||
| Total gate | $2,400,000[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background edit
A welterweight bout between former UFC Welterweight Championship challenger Darren Till and Jorge Masvidal served as the event headliner.[4]
Alessio Di Chirico was expected to face Tom Breese at the event. However, Di Chirico pulled out of the fight in early January citing an undisclosed injury and subsequent surgery.[5] On January 8, it was reported that The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil middleweight winner Cezar Ferreira would be his replacement. Ferreira and Breese were expected to meet at UFC Fight Night: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio in November 2018, but Breese pulled out due to injury.[6] In turn, Ferreira withdrew from the bout on February 1, citing a knee injury.[7] Breese was expected to face Ian Heinisch.[8] However, the fight was cancelled on the day of the event due to undisclosed health issues for Breese.[9]
Gökhan Saki was scheduled to face Saparbek Safarov at the event. However Saki pulled out of the fight in late February due to an undisclosed injury.[10] He was replaced by promotional newcomer Nicolae Negumereanu.[11]
At the weigh-ins, Jack Marshman weighed in at 188 lb, 2 pounds over the middleweight non-title fight limit of 186 lb. He was fined 20% of his fight purse and his bout against John Phillips proceeded at catchweight.[12]
During the main card broadcast, the UFC announced that former UFC Middleweight Champion Michael Bisping (also The Ultimate Fighter 3 light heavyweight winner) will be inducted in the UFC's Hall of Fame during "International Fight Week" in July, a day before UFC 239.[13]
Post-Fight Altercation edit
The event was marked by a brief backstage altercation between Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards as Masvidal was conducting a post-fight interview with ESPN reporter Laura Sanko.[14] The altercation, broadcast by ESPN resulted in an open cut under the left eye of Edwards and received coverage under specialized media outlets. In posterior interviews, each of the fighters have diverging accounts of the events.[15] Edwards declined to press charges. UFC President Dana White did not manifest sanctions to either of the fighters, however has blamed his own staff.[16]
Results edit
| Main Card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Jorge Masvidal | def. | Darren Till | KO (punches) | 2 | 3:05 | |
| Welterweight | Leon Edwards | def. | Gunnar Nelson | Decision (split) (29–27, 29–28, 28–29) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Dominick Reyes | def. | Volkan Oezdemir | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Bantamweight | Nathaniel Wood | def. | José Quiñónez | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 2:46 | |
| Welterweight | Cláudio Silva | def. | Danny Roberts | Submission (armbar) | 3 | 2:37 | |
| Catchweight (188 lb) | Jack Marshman | def. | John Phillips | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary Card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Featherweight | Arnold Allen | def. | Jordan Rinaldi | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Marc Diakiese | def. | Joseph Duffy | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Saparbek Safarov | def. | Nicolae Negumereanu | Decision (unanimous) (29–26, 29–26, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Featherweight | Dan Ige | def. | Danny Henry | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 1:17 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Molly McCann | def. | Priscila Cachoeira | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Mike Grundy | def. | Nad Narimani | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:42 | |
- ^ Safarov was deducted a point in round 1 for continuously grabbing the cage.
Bonus awards edit
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses:[18]
- Fight of the Night: Jorge Masvidal vs. Darren Till
- Performance of the Night: Jorge Masvidal and Dan Ige
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b Staff (17 March 2019). "UFC London draws announced 16,602 fans for $2.4 million live gate". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
- ^ Staff (4 November 2018). "UFC announces 2019 first quarter schedule: ESPN debut Jan. 19 in Brooklyn". mmajunkie.com. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
- ^ Staff (2 November 2018). "UFC set to return to London's O2 Arena on 16 March 2019". bbc.com. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
- ^ Brett Okamoto (16 January 2019). "Darren Till, Jorge Masvidal to meet in main event of UFC Fight Night". espn.com. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ Tudor Leonte (2 January 2018). "Alessio Di Chirico withdraws from UFC Fight Night London bout vs. Tom Breese". sherdog.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
- ^ Peter Carroll (8 January 2018). "Tom Breese gets new UFC London assignment as Cezar Ferreria replaces Alessio Di Chirico". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ MMA Fighting Newswire (1 February 2019). "Cezar Ferreira announces withdrawal from UFC London". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
- ^ Alexander K. Lee (7 February 2019). "Ian Heinisch steps in to fight Tom Breese at UFC London". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
- ^ Peter Caroll (16 March 2019). "Tom Breese withdraws from UFC London bout against Ian Heinisch". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ Marcel Dorff (28 February 2019). "Gökhan Saki injured, will not fight in London" (in Dutch). mmadna.nl. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- ^ Marcel Dorff (4 March 2019). "Nick Negumereanu makes UFC debut against Saparbek Saforov during UFC London" (in Dutch). mmadna.com. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ Staff (15 March 2019). "UFC London weigh-in results: Till vs. Masvidal set, one main card fighter misses weight". mmaweekly.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
- ^ Marc Raimondi (16 March 2019). "Michael Bisping to be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame". mmafighting.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
- ^ Simon Samano (17 March 2019). "Jorge Masvidal: Leon Edwards 'put his hands up' before punches thrown backstage in London". USA Today. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Greg Rosenstein (19 March 2019). "Edwards disputes Masvidal's account of melee". ESPN. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Adam Guillen Jr. (19 March 2019). "Dana White won't punish Jorge Masvidal for backstage brawl with Leon Edwards – 'I blame my staff'". MMAMania. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal". Ultimate Fighting Championship. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
- ^ Staff (16 March 2019). "UFC London bonuses: Jorge Masvidal banks an extra $100K". lowkickmma.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.