UFC Fight Night

2022 - 12 - 18

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Image courtesy of "The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship"

UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Strickland Results (The Official Website of the Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Results As They Happen, Winner Interviews And More From UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Strickland, Live From The UFC APEX In Las Vegas.

[Official Scorecards](https://www.ufc.com/news/official-judges-scorecards-ufc-fight-night-cannonier-vs-strickland) [UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Strickland](/event/ufc-fight-night-december-17-2022) took place live from the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on December 17, 2022. With the victory, Fakhretdinov collected his second consecutive UFC victory and extended his winning streak to 19 straight overall. After dropping her return to action in London in March, McKenna closes out her 2022 campaign with a second straight victory, halting Vlismas’ two-fight run of success in the process. The strawweights spent much of the opening stanza trading in space, but as soon as McKenna decided to grapple, she discovered she had an advantage and played to it for the remainder of the fight. [Cody Brundage](/athlete/cody-brundage) closed the distance and took Oleksiejczuk to the canvas almost immediately, settling into back mount. It was the same to start the second, with Green keeping his hands low and landing as Dober came forward, but the Nebraska native remained engaged and looking to land his power shots of his own. Just before the midway point of the third, Albazi caught Costa with a perfect right uppercut, sending him twisting to the canvas in a heap. Both men were patient and measured in the opening frame, throwing little and landing few blows, but Albazi dropped Costa with a clean one-two early in the second. All three officials scored the fight 49-46, with Cannonier landing on the happy side of the results to end the year by getting back into the win column. The final round of the year was similar, with Cannonier connecting with the bigger individual power shots, and Strickland countering with superior volume. The talented grappler from Armenia pressured Ismagulov throughout, forcing him to respect his striking with early connections early in each round before working into the clinch and pursuing takedowns. Both men worked as if they anticipated going into deep waters, remaining economical through the first two rounds, Cannonier doing well with heavy low kicks and Strickland working behind his always crisp jab.

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Image courtesy of "CBSSports.com"

UFC Fight Night results, highlights: Jared Cannonier wins tight split ... (CBSSports.com)

Scorecards were all over the place for Cannonier vs. Strickland in the final UFC fight of 2022.

Strickland dropped to 25-5, losing consecutive fights to Cannonier and UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira in the fight that preceded Pereira's title win. Cannonier improved to 16-6, bouncing back from a failed bid for the UFC middleweight championship against Israel Adesanya in July. Determining the winner in Rounds 1 and 2 primarily depended on how much judges weighed Cannonier's power leg kicks against Strickland's jab.

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Image courtesy of "Yahoo Sports"

UFC Fight Night 216 video: Hear from each winner backstage (Yahoo Sports)

Check out what the UFC Fight Night 216 winners had to say backstage at Saturday's event.

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Image courtesy of "Sports Illustrated"

Jared Cannonier Earns Split-Decision Win vs. Sean Strickland at ... (Sports Illustrated)

Cannonier moves one step closer to UFC middleweight title in the final headliner of 2022.

Despite the punishment, he timed out the attack from Green (29-14-1), then dropped him with a counterpunch in the second round. That ties Dustin Poirier for most knockouts in UFC lightweight history, and Dober (26-11, 1 NC) ends the year undefeated, winning all three of his fights in 2022. Only 26, Tsarukyan (19-3) is only a win or two away from the title. This is a second straight loss for Strickland (25-5). His leg kicks (27 for Cannonier to only one for Strickland) were the constant answer to Strickland’s jab. Jared Cannonier picked up a critical win against Sean Strickland in the Fight Night main event.

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Image courtesy of "Bleacher Report"

The Real Winners and Losers From UFC Fight Night 216 (Bleacher Report)

If nothing else, MMA fans ended the competitive year with a prodigious haul. The UFC's final card of 2022 wasn't crammed full of high-profile stars but it ...

And given that he connected on 40 strikes to Dober's 17 in the first round, it was happening a lot. Vlismas was also 2-1 in the UFC after her own Contender Series stint and fared well early against McKenna with 17 significant strikes in an opening five minutes fought primarily at a distance. She finished 2022 with two straight victories after losing her first fight of the year by split decision to Elise Reed in March. "I have to credit my old trainer," said Caceres, who maintained his balance as he missed the punch and fired the kick in one motion. It was second straight loss after a six-fight win streak and his fifth in 17 fights in the UFC. "He is tougher than the guys in the top five. One of the answers that was working for us. Cannonier dropped a five-round decision to then-champ Israel Adesanya atop UFC 276 in July and Strickland hadn't fought since the same night when he was vaporized in barely more than half a round by Alex Pereira. I deserve a fight with someone in the top five. "(Kicking) was definitely one of the answers to his jab. Sal D'Amato was exactly the opposite, giving Strickland the first, second, fourth and fifth. He landed occasional volleys of power shots but was often stopped by Strickland's persistent left jab and subtle foot movement.

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Image courtesy of "MMA Junkie"

UFC Fight Night 216 bonuses: Drew Dober, Bobby Green take final ... (MMA Junkie)

Check out which fighters took home a bonus for their performance in the final UFC event of 2022.

[The spectacular finish](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/12/ufc-fight-night-216-video-alex-caceres-vs-julian-erosa-knockout-video) earned Caceres the seventh bonus of his 26-fight UFC career. [Bobby Green](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/tag/bobby-green) and [Drew Dober](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/tag/drew-dober) turned in an all-action fight that produced a definitive second-round finish. Dober walked through fire to [land a fight-ending left hand](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/12/ufc-fight-night-216-results-drew-dober-vs-bobby-green-knockout-video) to win by knockout, putting an end to an exciting one in the lightweight division midway through the second round. Oleksiejczuk walks away with his sixth UFC win and his second bonus with the promotion. [Alex Caceres](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/tag/alex-caceres) added Julian Erosa to his highlight reel at UFC Fight Night 216. After dealing with early grappling troubles from Cody Brundage, Oleksiejczuk reversed position and began letting his heavy hands fly.

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Image courtesy of "ESPN"

Jared Cannonier pulls out UFC Fight Night win over Sean Strickland (ESPN)

The UFC's final fight of 2022 came down to the scorecards on Saturday, as former middleweight title challenger Jared Cannonier defeated Sean Strickland via ...

Cannonier lost four of five rounds to Adesanya and would have been facing a potentially lengthy road back to a title, however Adesanya suffered an upset knockout loss to [Alex Pereira](https://www.espn.com/mma/fighter/_/id/4705658/alex-pereira) last month at UFC 281. He was able to maintain a good distance and not just walk forward like a zombie." He never came close to a finish, but he did hurt Strickland with strikes along the fence in the fourth round. Cannonier also targeted the body and legs with kicks, which he felt was a strong deterrent for Strickland's notoriously accurate jab. "I thought I had it [three rounds to two]," Cannonier said. "I wouldn't say he was tricky, but he's got a very good eye for that distance," Cannonier said.

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Image courtesy of "MMA Junkie"

5 biggest takeaways from UFC Fight Night 216: Sean Strickland's ... (MMA Junkie)

Thoughts and analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC Fight Night 216, which took place Saturday in Las Vegas.

After delivering a stinker with then-champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 276 in July, Cannonier (16-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) needed to show he can still be a contender people are excited about. He gets some mulligans here given the level of competition, but unless he wants to be permanently trapped outside the top fights, he needs to make some adjustments. If Pereira defends, however, Cannonier has a new lease on life and a decent chance of being one fight away from an opportunity. It makes it much harder to tolerate the wild, offensive stuff that comes out of his mouth when he’s not giving back any upside. Strickland showed horrendous fight IQ, standing directly in front of the kickboxing standout without attempting a single takedown. Beating him is a huge win for Tsarukyan’s resume and puts him in position to get another high profile fight. With 20 UFC fights under his belt, it’s fair to say at this point that Dober has entrenched himself among the most reliable action fighters not only at 155 pounds, but but in all of the promotion. Since then Makhachev has evolved into the man who now holds UFC lightweight gold, while Tsarukyan is a contender on the rise. He hasn’t earned those guys yet, and both of them deserve better at this stage. Fakhretdinov (20-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) extended his winning streak to 19 fights when he completely overwhelmed Bryan Battle for 15 minutes, even taking a pair of 30-25 scorecards, which are very rare. However, it seems to be a truly beneficial driving force. There’s a lot of dangerous rising talent at 170 pounds such as Khamzat Chimaev and Shavkat Rakhmonov, to name a few.

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