Recap: UFC Fight Night 251 Main Event

Image courtesy of Zuffa LLC

The main event that UFC Fight Night 251 was built around as expected absolutely delivered. Jared Cannonier welcomed Gregory Rodrigues to his first main event fight by forcing him to fight beyond the third round for the first time in his UFC career.

The first round started with a little feeling out, with both fighters trading kicks. Once they began to engage, it was obvious the power that Rodrigues possessed, and it got Cannoniner's attention very early. Rodrigues landed a great combo and then followed it up with a 1-2 that put Cannonier on the ground.

Cannonier was able to use some grappling to get his mind right and then get to his feet. Cannoniner's conditioning was top-notch as he recovered very quickly and started to find his own range.

Rodrigues was still in control however, landing body shots and then executing a beautiful single-leg takedown. It was obvious Cannonier spent a lot of his training camp preparing for Rodrigues' grappling, as he was able to get right to his feet.

The problem for Cannonier was that you can't prepare for those power 1-2s that Rodrigues was still unloading, which sent Cannonier down for a second time. Again, he was able to recover very quickly and turned in a great double leg of his own. The first round was a decisive Rodrigues round.

At the start of the second round, it was clear that Cannonier was the fresher fighter. He was landing his kicks and loading up on his right hand. Cannonier used leg kicks, grappling against the cage, and other veteran moves to slow Rodrigues down and neutralize his power.

A big moment in the round was a slip by Cannonier that turned into a grappling exchange, which was eventually controlled by Cannonier to end the round. The second round was a decisive Cannonier round.

The third round started with pressure from Cannonier and was met with much more urgency from Rodrigues. He really caught his second wind for most of the third. A big difference in the fight was that Cannonier used some wrestling to set up some great punches out of the exchanges, while Rodrigues had half-hearted grappling attempts and missed on the follow-up shots.

Rodrigues started to find his mark again and looked to be winning the round with the harder shots, but Cannonier landed a short elbow that floored Rodrigues and ended the round with some good ground and pound. Rodrigues was slow to get up and looked very gassed heading to the stool. Round 3 was much closer, but it was a 10-9 to Cannonier.

Not sure what Jared's coach told him in between rounds, but it obviously lit a fire as he shot out of a cannon to start the round and absolutely overwhelmed Rodrigues, eventually dropping him to the mat. He wasted no time following up and ending the fight with some nasty ground and pound.

I would imagine this was exactly how the coaches drew it up for Cannonier: overcome the power of Rodrigues early, use kicks and grappling to slow and wear him down and be accurate with his own shots.

If Rodrigues may find himself wondering why he didn't try to take advantage of some grappling exchanges and change the tide by making Cannonier carry his weight for a period of time with his own wrestling.

Instead, Cannonier snapped a two-fight losing streak and will probably want to fight someone in the top 10 after this. Could a rematch with Israel Adesanya be next in line, or possibly someone new like Roman Dolidze, who is currently ranked #10?

Whatever is next, Cannonier will have some serious momentum heading into it.

All photos used are from Zuffa