Holloway becomes the undisputed champion

Before UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, champion Jose Aldo had already cemented his legacy as the best featherweight in UFC history. Fighting in his home country, Aldo had some success in the first two rounds against 25-year-old challenger, interim champion Max Holloway.

At the end of the second round, Holloway began to gather momentum and never lost it, knocking down and eventually finishing Aldo in the third round to become the undisputed champion.

Holloway’s win is his 11th straight, tying him with Royce Gracie for the fifth longest streak in UFC history.

Holloway should only continue to evolve and has several contenders ahead of him, including Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson, who Holloway defeated in 2015. Another potential option is a rematch with Aldo, who has only lost twice in the last 11 years.

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St-Pierre says he’ll retire if he loses return fight

Former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani last week and shockingly declared that if he loses in his return to the UFC he will retire.

St-Pierre said that he has no interest in hanging around the sport for too long. “I don’t want to hang there to become a punching bag for the younger people,” he said.

The situation regarding GSP’s return bout remains unclear. St-Pierre continues to lobby for the previously announced fight against UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, while UFC president Dana White insists that St-Pierre will face whoever the welterweight champion is when he is ready to return.

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Manuwa next in line for a title shot with a win

White appeared on The Ryen Russillo Show on ESPN Radio and said that while former two-time light heavyweight championship challenger Alexander Gustafsson looked great in his recent win over Glover Teixeira, Gustafsson’s training partner Jimi Manuwa could be next in line for a title shot.

To secure the title shot against the winner of champion Daniel Cormier and challenger Jon Jones at UFC 214, Manuwa would need to defeat fourth-ranked Volkan Oezdemir at the same event.
Gustafsson has previously beaten Manuwa and the two have said they don’t want to fight each other in the future.

Should Manuwa secure the win over Oezdemir, it would be his first shot at the title.

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White says Cyborg will fight at UFC 214

On the UFC Unfiltered podcast, White broke the news that Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, who many consider to be the best female fighter in mixed martial arts, would be fighting at UFC 214 against an opponent to be determined.

The two names that have emerged as potential opponents for Cyborg are seemingly both unavailable as Megan Anderson is slated to defend her Invicta featherweight title against Helena Kolesnyk and Cat Zingano says she is injured and unable to fight on that date.

With so few legitimate female featherweights, it seems that potential opponents for Cyborg are sparse at best.

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Bonuses and attendance

UFC 212 had several exciting finishes with only three of the 12 fights resulting in a decision, giving the organization a wealth of performance bonus options.

The Fight of the Night bonus went to the main event featuring Aldo and Holloway and the Performance of the Night bonuses went to Claudia Gadelha, who handed second-ranked women’s strawweight Karolina Kowalkiewicz her first loss inside the distance via rear-naked choke midway through the first round and Brian Kelleher, who, as a major underdog, secured a guillotine choke victory over Iuri Alcantara early in the first round.

Attendance for this event was 15,412 with an undisclosed gate.

The next event is UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Hunt, which takes place at the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on June 10 and is headlined by a heavyweight fight between Derrick Lewis and Mark Hunt. The main card airs on TSN at 10 p.m. ET.