No. 3 ranked middleweight contender Jared Cannonier was successful in his first fight in 2021, as ‘The Killa Gorilla’ defeated Kelvin Gastelum by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Vegas 34.
Despite all of the judges scoring the fight for Cannonier, the fight was closer than it may appear when one looks at the results.
According to ufcstats.com, Gastelum outlanded Cannonier 89 to 81 in significant strikes and arguably won some rounds as well.
Perhaps the most pivotal moment of the fight was when Cannonier dropped Gastelum in the third round. It looked like Cannonier could have finished the fight, but Gastelum recovered quickly.
With this victory, Cannonier will likely see an opponent in the top five for his next contest. One could argue that ‘The Killa Gorilla’ could even be one fight away from fighting for the UFC middleweight championship.
UFC Vegas 34 full results: Jared Cannonier vs. Kelvin Gastelum
UFC Vegas 34 results: Mark O. Madsen gets split decision nod over Clay Guida in co-main event
Mark O. Madsen remained undefeated Saturday night, as the Danish lightweight narrowly defeated UFC legend Clay Guida by split decision in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 34.
The first round was a striking battle for the majority of the time. Madsen was successful in the first round with his striking, aside from Guida blasting and wobbling him with a right hand. Madsen outstruck ‘The Carpenter’ 32 to 15 in significant strikes in the first.
Madsen maintained an edge in significant strikes landed in the second and third round despite a more frequent output from Guida in strikes thrown.
When the scorecards were announced, they read 29-28, 28-29 and 30-27, giving the 2016 olympic silver medalist in greco roman wrestling the split decision nod.
With this victory, Madsen remains undefeated and advances to 11-0.
UFC Vegas 34 results: Jared Cannonier getsunanimous decision victory against Kelvin Gastelum in main event