UFC 240 Full Results: Holloway Turns Back Edgar, Cyborg Hands Spencer First Loss

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Max Holloway won his 14th straight fight at featherweight, using his stifling takedown defense to earn a clear decision victory over Frankie Edgar in the main event of UFC 240.

UFC 240 Results Holloway
Max Holloway (left) celebrates his unanimous decision victory over Frankie Edgar (right) after the main event of UFC 240. (Image: Jason Franson/CP)

Holloway (21-4) won all five rounds to earn a 50-45 score on two of the judges’ cards, with the third judge giving him a 48-47 advantage to complete the unanimous decision.

Edgar Can’t Bring Holloway Down

After a tentative first round, the fight settled into a rhythm in which Edgar (23-7-1) was able to land shots, but couldn’t seem to do any damage to the champion. Each time Edgar attempted a takedown, Holloway proved up to the task, with Edgar only landing one successful takedown in 14 attempts over the course of the five rounds.

Those takedown attempts also gave Holloway opportunities to land the most significant strikes of the night. On several occasions, the champion was able to finish rounds strong, with Edgar hurt on multiple occasions – though a finish never seemed imminent, as Edgar was able to use his wrestling to keep potentially dangerous situations under control.

When the final bell rang, there was little doubt over who had won the fight. Afterwards, Holloway, who entered the bout as a -380 favorite according to FanDuel Sportsbook, said that he hoped he had proved something by comprehensively defeating the former UFC lightweight champion.

“Everybody said I wasn’t going to wrestle with this guy, everybody said I wasn’t going to be able to stay with his pace,” Holloway said after the fight. “I wanted to prove a point and go five rounds with him, so I could let the world know that I’m here to stay.”

While there are several possibilities for Holloway’s next challenger, a logical opponent would be No. 1 contender Alexander Volkanovski (20-1), who has won all seven of his fights since joining the UFC in 2016.

UFC 240 Main Card Results

  • Max Holloway (-380) defeats Frankie Edgar by Unanimous Decision
  • Cris Cyborg (-600) defeats Felicia Spencer by Unanimous Decision
  • Geoff Neal (-320) defeats Niko Price by 2nd Round TKO (Punches)
  • Arman Tsarukyan (-198) defeats Olivier Aubin-Mercier by Unanimous Decision
  • Krzysztof Jotko (-170) defeats Marc-Andre Barriault by Split Decision

Spencer Impresses in Loss to Cyborg

In the co-main event, Cris Cyborg (21-2) received a surprisingly stiff challenge from Felicia Spencer (7-1), who took the best shots that Cyborg could throw at her and was able to continue battling through the final bell.

That’s not to say that the fight was particularly close. Cyborg had a huge advantage in significant strikes in each round, and landed blows that would have finished virtually any opponent, especially in a dominant third round. But Spencer still impressed in the first loss of her career, as Cyborg got a unanimous 30-27 decision win.

“You know, our sport is growing and growing, and girls are becoming better and better,” Cyborg, who came in as a massive -600 favorite, said after the fight. “It just makes me happy, because I started doing MMA without having any girls. Seeing girls in the cage makes me proud.”

Cyborg also said that she would welcome a rematch against Amanda Nunes (18-4), something the UFC women’s featherweight and bantamweight champion said she was ready for in a Twitter response.

 

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