Follow UFC 274 live between Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje and Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza
Alexander Volkanovski defeated Chan Sung Jung via fourth-round TKO on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. to retain the featherweight belt at UFC 273. The Australian champion dominated from the opening seconds, landing punch after punch on “Korean Zombie” until referee Herb Dean stepped in after a crushing blow in the fourth round to end the bout early.
Volkanovski (24-1) has now won his first 11 fights in the UFC, the second-longest active win streak in the promotion behind only welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (15). Korean Zombie (17-7), a longtime title contender, said after the fight he would need time to decide whether he would compete again in MMA.
In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling retained his UFC bantamweight belt in a close fight with former champion Petr Yan. Sterling utilized his superior grappling skills by taking Yan — a prolific striker — down multiple times throughout the fight for ground-and-pound and submission attempts. Yan closed the bout with two strong rounds but the judges gave the win to Sterling in a split decision based on his early success.
The early leader for 2022 Fight of the Year may have happened just before the two title fights. Rising star Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns put on a bout of the ages, landing hard shots for all three rounds that likely came down to the final five minutes of action. Chimaev appeared to have the larger gas tank late and landed just enough in the final round to edge Burns on the scorecards in a unanimous decision victory.
Chimaev (11-0) appears potentially one more win away from a shot at the welterweight belt, but Burns (20-5) — a former title challenger — saw his stock rise in defeat.
UFC 273 card
- Alexander Volkanovski defeats Chan Sung Jung via fourth-round TKO
- Aljamain Sterling defeeats Petr Yan via split decision
- Khamzat Chimaev defeats Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision
- Mackenzie Dern defeats Tecia Torres by split decision
- Mark Madsen defeats Vinc Pichel via unanimous decision
- Ian Garry defeats Darian Weeks by unanimous decision
- Raquel Pennington defeats Aspen Ladd via unanimous decision
- Anthony Hernandez defeats Josh Fremd via unanimous decision
- Mike Malott defeats Mickey Gall via first-round TKO
- Alexey Oleynik defeats Jared Vanderaa via first-round submission
- Piera Rodriguez defeats Kay Hansen via unanimous decision
- Julio Arce defeats Daniel Santos via unanimous decision
(Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
