Henry Cejudo successfully defended his bantamweight title tonight at UFC 249 with a TKO stoppage of Dominick Cruz mere seconds before the end of the second round.
Round One:
Cruz with his traditional unorthadox footwork to start. Cejudo lands a leg kick. Cruz misses with a kick and then Cejudo steps into a hard one of his own to the leg again.
Now an inside leg kick for Cejudo as Cruz steps into range. Oblique kick attempt from Cruz misses. Feeling punches from Cruz and Cejudo blasts him with another big kick. Against Cejudo goes to the leg kick, clearly a big part of his strategy here to target Cruz’s often injured lower limbs.
More heavy leg kicks from Cejudo. Cruz works a knee, but Cejudo catches it and uses his dominant wrestling to dump him to the mat.
Cruz does well to stand up relatively quickly. Cejudo back to working hard leg kicks. Push kick and a grazing punch from Cruz.
Body punch and then one upstairs from Cejudo. Inside leg kick for the champion. Body punch for Cruz. Cruz wings a punch that just misses and gets clipped with a punch himself.
Cejudo lands the leg kick yet again. Cejudo sprawls as Cruz thinks about a takedown briefly.
Round Two:
Sneaky jab from Cruz. Good inside leg kick for Cejudo. Now he lands one to the body. Leg kick from Cruz. Another from him, this time to the calf.
Body punch for Cruz now. Leg kick for Cejudo. Cejudo lets his hands go a couple of times. Cruz with a punch and Cejudo also connects.
Back to the leg kick from Cejudo. Now a head kick that was close to completion. Cejudo looking for a takedown, but doesn’t fully commit to it.
Nice right hand sneaks through for Cruz. Leg kick for Cejudo. Cruz pieces together a couple of punches.
Outside leg kick from Cejudo. Cejudo flurries. Cruz lands a right hand, but Cejudo also scores.
Good punch for Cejudo now. Short quick punch from Cejudo in close. Punch lands for Cruz. Body kick for Cejudo.
Cruz reaches for a single leg, but then lands a punch instead. Clash of heads and that forces a stoppage with Cejudo bleeding from a cut near the hairline, but the doctor deems that he’s ok to continue.
Superman punch attempt from Cruz to start again just misses. Big knee lands for Cejudo just as Cruz is ducking down and it floors him.
Cruz trying to get up but Cejudo flies in with a punch to keep him down and then starts to unleash a flurry of big left hands as Cruz is on his knees trying to get his bearings. He’s eating hard shots here but is trying to struggle to his feet as the referee swoops in and ends the fight, ensuring that Cejudo remains the bantamweight champion via TKO just two seconds before the end of the second round.
Cejudo then provides a shock post-fight by announcing that he’s going to retire from the sport!
