Dominick Cruz is back in the win column for the first time in a long while.
Cruz, the former UFC bantamweight champion, picked up his first win since January 2016 at Saturday’s UFC 259 event in Las Vegas. Cruz (23-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) outpointed Casey Kenney (16-3-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in a close, back-and-forth split decision, which read 28-29, 29-28 and 30-27 on the judges’ scorecards.
It was an exhausting affair, as both fighters kept a high pace from start to finish, giving fans non-stop action.
In Round 1, both fighters traded kicks and all kinds of strikes with Cruz on the back foot and countering while Kenney pushed forward. It was a tight round, but Cruz seemed to land the better and cleaner strikes. The second was similar, but Kenney seemed to turn up the volume in strikes and landed many shots on Cruz.
The third and final round was by far the easiest to score, as Cruz got a takedown early and controlled Kenney against the cage for a minute. The fight eventually found its way back to the feet in a close and grueling back-and-forth. However, he made sure to end strong by scoring another takedown with 40 seconds left on the clock. The former champion maintained top position until the bell rang.
The result marks Cruz’s first win since outpointing Urijah Faber back in January 2016 at UFC 199 to defend his UFC bantamweight title. The 35-year-old veteran was on a two-fight skid with losses to T.J. Dillashaw in 2016 and another to Henry Cejudo in 2020, a failed attempt to reclaim his belt after years of being sidelined by injury.
Meanwhile, Kenny saw a three-fight winning streak come to an end, which marked a successful run in 2020.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 259 results include:
- Dominick Cruz def. Casey Kenney via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Kyler Phillips def. Song Yadong via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Askar Askarov def. Joseph Benavidez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Kai Kara-France def. Rogerio Bontorin via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 4:55
- Tim Elliott def. Jordan Espinosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
- Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:19
- Sean Brady def. Jake Matthews via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 3:28
- Amanda Lemos def. Livinha Souza via TKO (punch) – Round 1, 3:39
- Uros Medic def. Aalon Cruz via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:40
- Trevin Jones def. Mario Bautista via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:47
