The final UFC pay-per-view of the year took place Saturday night from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Leon Edwards successfully defended his welterweight title for the second time in a dominant decision win against Colby Covington. In the co-main event Alexandre Pantoja made his first flyweight title defense in an entertaining fight against Brandon Royval. Shavkat Rakhmonov continued his ascent to the top of the welterweight division. And Josh Emmett starched Bryce Mitchell with a knockout for the ages.

Leon Edwards outclasses Colby Covington to defend welterweight title

Leon Edwards out-struck and, at times, out-grappled Colby Covington as he defended the welterweight title for the second time. The opening round did not feature a ton of action as there was a lengthy feeling out process. The best shot of the round was a counter left hand by Edwards that drew a smile from Covington as he backed up.

Edwards controlled the first round, and the vast majority of the fight, with forward pressure and his deft movement skills. It was an unusual and cautious approach from Covington, who is known for his cardio and non-stop pressure. But on this night there was none of the relentless pressure from Covington and he admitted after the fight that his nearly two-year layoff from fighting affected his approach. Covington shot for only one takedown in the round, and despite reaching Edward’s leg, the champ easily defended the attempt.

Edwards continued to control distance beautifully in the second round and landed a stinging counter right hook early in the round. Edwards work landing hard leg kicks started to affect Covington’s movement as the damage showed with deep bruising on Covington’s right thigh.

Edwards continued to attack with leg kicks in Round 3 further hampering Covington’s movement. Two minutes into the round, Covington secured his first takedown but Edwards was up fifteen seconds later after taking no damage. Edwards immediately landed a head kick as the fight reset on the feet.

Edwards then shot for a takedown and converted. But Edwards was clearly proving a point as he quickly decided to abandon the position by standing up on his own to reset the fight on the feet. Edwards controlled the remainder of the round with distance management and continued to land several punishing leg kicks on Covington’s damaged leg.

The fourth round largely played out the same as the previous three, although Covington started to have a little success late in the round with punches as he upped his output a bit.

The fifth round was the only round the judges gave to Covington. Covington was able to control Edwards on the ground for three minutes of control time after Edwards scored a takedown but Covington was able to reverse position. Edwards, however was able to defend well and limit damage.

Alexandre Pantoja utilizes superior grappling to defend Flyweight belt against Brandon Royval

Alexandre Pantoja came out in his first flyweight title defense in attack mode as he immediately put heavy pressure on Brandon Royval firing heavy shots. Pantoja scored with hard body kicks and a knee from the clinch before dumping Royval with a double leg takedown two minutes into the opening round. Royval did well to defend from bottom, attacking with upkicks and constantly working to undermine Pantoja’s control, but the Brazilian took the opening frame with two and a half minutes of top control.

Pantoja caught Royval with a hard right hand in the opening seconds of the second round that appeared to briefly stun the American. One minute into the round Pantoja displayed excellent timing as he changed levels and put Royval on his back. Rather than looking to attack, Pantoja smothered Roval with heavy top pressure from half guard.

Royval worked his way back to the feet with one minute left in the round, but a big right hand from Pantoja put Royval on wobbly legs. Royval then landed a head kick but Pantoja ate it well and swept Royval’s plant leg to secure another takedown, finishing the round with almost four minutes of top control.

Pantoja’s dominant grappling continued in Round 3 as he put Royval on his back thirty seconds into the round and ultimately tallied over two more minutes of control time. Pantoja was even more dominant in the fourth round with nearly round and a half minutes of control time.

Royval’s best moments of the fight came in the opening minutes of the fifth round as he aggressively attacked with punches and landed quite a few hard shots. Per UFC Stats, Royval landed 55 significant strikes in the round and at times was teeing off on the champion. Pantoja appeared to be the more tired fighter and got the worst of the exchanges but did land some nasty leg kicks in the process.

But Pantoja’s grappling dominance continued in the final found as he landed two more takedowns good for a total of 2:43 of control time. Pantoja took the unanimous decision by judges scores of 50-45, 50-45, 49-46.

Shavkat Rakhmonov submits Stephen Thompson to remain undefeated

Shavkat Rakhmonov’s perfect record finishing fights remains intact with his eighteenth consecutive stoppage win via second round rear naked choke of Stephen Thompson.

Rakhmonov forced a clinch along the fence early in Round 1 and largely dominated the round with over three minutes of clinch control. Rakhmonov landed several hard right hands from the position as well as a solid knee. “Wonderboy” broke clinch position with a little less than a minute remaining in the round and landed two nice body kicks but was unable to close the gap as Rakhmonov took the first round.

Thompson landed a solid side kick and some counter shots early in Round 2 before Rakhmonov once more controlled Thompson in the clinch. However, this time Rakhmonov secured a takedown along the fence and put Thompson in a bad position by trapping his right arm behind his back. From there Rakhmonov worked his way into position to attack a rear naked choke but Thompson survived by rotating, but that left him in bottom half guard where the Kazakhstani landed solid elbows to the head.

The end came at 4:54 of Round 2 after Rakhmonov worked his way to Thompson’s back and quickly sunk in the rear naked choke. Rakhmonov improved his UFC record to 5-0 with high-level victories including Thompson, Geoff Neal and Neal Magny in his last three bouts. Rakhmonov called for a title shot after the fight. While he’s unlikely to be next in line, he is likely at most one victory away from his shot.

Paddy Pimblett defeats Tony Ferguson by unanimous decision

Paddy Pimblett improved his UFC record to 5-0 and handed Tony Ferguson his seventh consecutive loss. Early in the opening frame Pimblett was having trouble connecting with punches but landed several hard body kicks and had success with low leg kicks. Midway through the round, Ferguson’s lead leg was already damaged.

Pimblett landed a big right hand halfway through the round and went on the attack as he started to connect with big punches. With one minute left in the round, Pimblett landed several hard right hands that hurt Ferguson and sent him retreating to the cage. Pimblett went on the attack, landing a jumping knee and left hand that dropped “El Cucuy” along the fence.

Pimblett then landed some vicious ground and pound as he looked for the finish. Ferguson showed his incredible toughness surviving the round as Pimblett took the mount late and landed several hard right hands.

Early in Round 2, Ferguson missed a head kick and slipped as Pimblett took advantage by taking top position. Ferguson attacked with elbows from bottom and was mostly able to limit damage by controlling Pimblett’s posture. But “the Baddy” managed to land several hard punches and accumulated more than four minutes of control time in the round as Ferguson never looked to stand up.

Post-fight Pimblett admitted that he was gassed after the second round and Ferguson looked to take advantage with pressure and bodyshots early in Round 3. But Pimblett grabbed a singled leg ninety seconds into the round and lifted Ferguson into the air for a beautiful takedown. Pimblett maintained top control for the remainder of the round. All three judges scored the fight 30-27 for Pimblett.

Josh Emmet crushes Bryce Mitchell with one-punch knockout

Josh Emmett delivered the highlight of the night in the form of an overhand right that resulted in one of the most beautiful and brutal knockouts you’ll see. Emmett, long known for his punching power, entered the bout with the most knockdowns in featherweight history with 11. The end came at 1:57 of Round 1 when both fighters moved forward throwing at the same time but it was the overhand right of Emmet that landed flush on Bryce Mitchell. Mitchell was immediately unconscious upon contact.

Emmett closed his year with this spectacular win after losing in February in an interim featherweight title bout against Yair Rodriguez and after a unanimous decision loss in June to the next featherweight title challenger Ilia Topuria. Mitchell, who was a short notice replacement for Giga Chikadze, suffered the first knockout loss of his career, but remains a top featherweight at 16-2, with his only other MMA loss to Topuria by arm triangle last December.