Jon Jones made the third successful defense of his light heavyweight title this past Saturday night with a unanimous-decision victory over Rashad Evans. The bout served as the main event of UFC 145 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta.
Both men seemed hesitant to engage and both showed the respect they had for each other's skills. Jones got the better of the striking, rattling Evans at multiple times during the fight. Evans was not able to get the fight to the ground, and did not do enough damage standing to earn a victory.
Even though Jones said after the fight Evans wobbled him, the champion was in no real danger at any moment during the fight. The final scores were 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45, all for Jones. After the fight it was announced that Jones will face former Arizona State wrestler Dan Henderson in his next title defense.
The star of the night was 22-year-old welterweight Rory MacDonald, who dominated Che Mills en route to a TKO victory. In the first round, MacDonald got Mills to the ground and performed vicious ground and pound on the Englishman. The second round was much of the same, with MacDonald finishing the fight on top of Mills pounding away before the referee stepped in and ended the fight.
UFC 145 pulled an attendance of 15,545 for a live gate of 2.3 million. "Knockout of the Night" was awarded to heavyweight Ben Rothwell for his TKO of Brendan Schaub. "Submission of the Night" went to Travis Browne for his arm triangle submission of Chad Griggs. "Fight of the Night" went to featherweights Mark Hominick and Eddie Yagin, who engaged in a bloody batte over three rounds, with Yagin earning a split-decision victory.
Highlights of the main event of the evening
Video embedded from Youtube, courtesy UFC, Zuffa and Fox Sports
Full results:
- Jon Jones def. Rashad Evans via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) to defend title
- Rory MacDonald def. Che Mills via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 2:20
- Ben Rothwell def. Brendan Schab via KO (punches) - Round 1, 1:10
- Michael McDonald def. Miguel Torres via KO (punches) - Round 1, 3:18
- Eddie Yagin def. Mark Hominick via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Mark Bocek def. John Allesio via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
- Travis Browne def. Chad Griggs via submission (arm-triangle) - Round 1, 2:29
- Matt Brown def. Stephen Thompson via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
- Anthony Njokuani def. John Makdessi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Mac Danzig def. Efrain Escudero via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
- Chris Clements def. Keith Wisniewski via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Marcus Brimage def. Maximo Blanco via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)