Australian ace Alex Volkanovski has successfully defended his UFC world title after a savage showdown with American Brian Ortega in Las Vegas.
The featherweight title fight, which headlined UFC 266, lived up to its top billing with the judges scoring Volkanovski a unanimous victor 49-46, 50-45 and 50-44.
It was his 20th consecutive win, including 10 straight in the UFC.
After two fairly even opening rounds it peaked in the third when Volkanovski miraculously managed to escape a full guillotine and then a triangle choke by Ortega, who is a jiu jitsu black belt.
Volkanovski was taken down for another guillotine attempt in the fourth round, but survived once again.
The 32-year-old from Wollongong then turned the submissions into a dominant performance, with Ortega showing his courage to go the distance in the five-round war of attrition.
With a cut eye and bloodied face from Volkanovski’s ground and pound, Ortega was checked by the fight doctor at the end of the third but allowed to continue.
With the fight rescheduled from March after the Australian contracted COVID-19, Volkanovski didn’t appear to tire and continued to move forward on the American throughout.
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
Volkanovski was immense, such conditioning and composure. I thought he was gone with the guillotine, only to get out and then find himself in a triangle. He didn't panic, and turned it into his advantage, to pound the daylights out of Ortega. To say the bell saved Ortega, is an understatement, he was out. The Doctor coming in gave him extra time to recover. It probably should've been stopped at that point. In the end there were two more rounds of carnage, it was a classic, a great fight. Hopefully 'The Great' will start getting the respect and accolades he's earned.