Paulo Costa edged his way to a unnimous decision victory over Yoel Romero tonight at UFC 241 in a thrilling edge-of-your-seat encounter in which both fighters ate some huge shots, but kept on swinging for the fences.
Round One:
Round Two:Front kick upstairs misses from Romero. Body kick lands for him. Another lands. Hard right lands for Costa.
Front kick to the body from Costa, then to the body with punches. Now a hard leg kick and one to the body. Again to the body with the kick.
Hard hook to the body and then a grazing punch upstairs from Costa. Right hand from Costa. Romero with a punch and then a harder one in response from Costa.
Costa backs Romero up against the cage and lands straight punches. Romero survives that. Quick right hand from Romero.
Right hand for Costa. Body punch for Romero and then an oblique kick. Sharp left hand from Romero and then a right.
jab for Romero. Solid left connects. Now a jab again. Two more jabs land and then one to the body. leg kick now. two more jabs. Romero the busier of the two now as he works the jab again.
Costa lands to the body. Solid right for Romero. Now a one-two. Costa lands. Back to the jabs for Romero. Now a front kick to the body.
Jab for Romero, body punch for Costa. left hook from Costa. ripping body shot for the Brazilian. Light punches from Romero and then a harder punch in return from Costa.
Costa with a head kick that’s partially blocked. Uppercut for Romero. Romero lands a takedown in the final seconds of the round.
Round Three:
Costa pressuring and lands a left hand. leg kick for Romero. Another to the inside of Costa’s leg. Romero with a left hand and then steps into a straight right.
Right hand for Costa knocks Romero back. Hard body kick for Costa and then again. jab for Romero. Straight right for Costa. Another right lands clean.
Solid straight left for Romero. Grazing right hand for Costa. Romero with an eyepoke and that forces a stoppage.
Hard leg kick for Costa. Right and a left hook from Costa. Now to the body with a punch. Solid left hand for Romero. One-two for him. Hard body punches for Costa and then an overhand right.
Left hand to the chin from Romero. Punches to the head from Romero and then to the body. Left hand for Romero and again which leaves Costa shaking his head.
Right hand for Romero. Backfist from Romero staggers Costa slightly. Uppercut for Romero and thinks about the clinch, but doesn’t go through with it.
Costa waving him on now. Then he lands a straight punch. Hook for Romero. Big punches for Costa. Uppercut from Romero. Backfist for Romero.
Romero backing up Costa back then backs away himself. Body punch for Romero. One-two and then an uppercut from Romero. Front kick to the body from Costa. He throws a head kick.
Clinch and Romero lands a trip takedown. Costa scrambles and attempts to take Romero’s back, but he gets back to his feet. They are still looking to land big shots as the final horn sounds to end a great fight.
Decision:
A thrilling fight that always felt like it might end at any second, so it’s a real credit to these two warriors that they made it the full 15 minutes.
There can only be one winner though and the judges are unanimous in their verdict – Paulo Costa is the winner (29-28 x3).
The crowd boos the result and in all fairness it feels like one of thoes fights where after everything they put into it, neither fighter deserved to walk away with a loss on their record.
