Winners, scoreboards, highlights and bonus money

Jon “Bones” Jones added another page to his historic mixed martial arts career on Saturday night.

After being sidelined from the Octagon for more than three years, Jones successfully moved up to heavyweight as he captured the vacant division title with a dominating first-round victory over Cyril Gane in the UFC main event. 285 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. .

Jones needed just two minutes and four seconds to knock out the highly touted Frenchman. The former light heavyweight champion walked through the Octagon, took down Gane, pressed him against the fence, locked him in the guillotine to induce the submission win and Jones’ second championship in as many weight classes.

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If it sounded easy, that’s because that’s how Jones made it seem.

Here is a preview of the finish:

The win took Jones’ record to 27-1 overall and he remains undefeated in championship bouts. Gane, who also lost his previous attempt to win the heavyweight crown in January 2022 against Francis Ngannou (who vacated the title when he left the promotion), had bounced back and earned that opportunity with a knockout victory over Tai Tuivasa in September 2022.

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Gane is now 11-2 overall.

After the fight, a July championship defense against Stipe Miocic was mentioned to Jones as the camera panned to the first in the crowd.

Jones took the opportunity to call out Miocic and the latter accepted the challenge, seemingly setting the stage for a monumental main event in July.

Jones became only the second fighter in UFC history to hold both the light heavyweight and heavyweight championships in his career. His dominance at 205 pounds and now his heavyweight crown solidifies his case as a GOAT in all of mixed martial arts.

Here’s a look at all the results from Saturday night.

• Jon Jones won. Cyril Gane by first-round submission (guillotine)
• Alexa Grasso won. Valentina Shevchenko via fourth-round submission (rear naked choke)
• Shavkat Rakhmonov defeats. Geoff Neal via third-round submission (rear naked choke)
• Mateusz Gamrot defeated. Jalin Turner via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Bo Nickal beats. Jamie Pickett via first-round submission (arm triangle)
• Cody Garbrandt beats. Trevin Jones by unanimous decision (29-28×3)
• Dricus DuPlessis defeated. Derek Brunson by second-round TKO (corner throws in the towel)
• Amanda Ribas defeats. Viviane Araujo via unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-27)
• Marc-Andre Barriault defeated. Julian Marquez by TKO in the second round
• Ian Garry beats. Kenan Song by TKO in the third round
• Cameron Saaiman beats. Mana Martinez by majority decision (29-26, 28-27, 28-28).
• Tabitha Ricci defeats. Jessica Penne by second round submission (arm bar)
• Farid Basharat defeated. Da’Mon Blackshear by unanimous decision (29-28×3)
• Loik Radjabov defeated. Esteban Ribovics by unanimous decision (29-28×3)

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Grasso dethrones Shevchenko

As Jones cemented his greatness, another all-time great suffered a rare defeat. Valentina Shevchenko lost her women’s flyweight title to Alexa Grasso in the co-main event via fourth-round submission.

The two women fought in a back-and-forth affair before an errant back kick put Shevchenko in a compromising position in the fourth round. Grasso quickly took the champion’s back, locked in a rear naked choke (which was actually more of a face crank) to force submission.

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Grasso became the third Mexican UFC champion, joining Brandon Moreno and Yair Rodriguez. The loss not only cost Shevchenko his title, but it also ended his undefeated streak at flyweight. It was her first loss overall since dropping a split decision to Amanda Nunes at bantamweight in September 2017.

Shevchenko has demanded and is likely to get an immediate rematch with Grasso given the competitiveness of their fight and her long reign as champion entering the bout.

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Bo Nickal makes a splash in his UFC debut

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Rarely will you see a fighter make his UFC debut on a main pay-per-view card, let alone one as big as the event that welcomes a star like Jones to the Octagon. This is where former collegiate wrestling champion Bo Nickal was on Saturday night. After a pair of impressive performances on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender series, Nickal brought his talents to the big show and he did not disappoint.

After an awkward and possibly nervous kick attempt in the opening seconds, Nickal’s world-class wrestling skills proved too much for Jamie Pickett. Nickal quickly took Pickett’s back and worked patiently to secure a submission victory via a triangle arm choke.

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Here is a preview of the finish:

Pickett suggested an illegal hit led to Nickal gaining the advantage which led to the submission. These images would apparently support his claim.

It would be a surprise if the outcome of the fight changed or if that was enough to slow Nickal’s hype train. Nickal improved to 4-0 with the win and the competition numbers to go steeper in his next fight.

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Bonus winners

Jones and Grasso weren’t just the biggest winners atop the card, the two newly crowned champions also earned $50,000 in Performance of the Night bonuses for their wins.

Additionally, Geoff Neal (who lost weight on Friday) and Shavkat Rakhmonov each took home $50,000 for Fight of the Night.