UFC 222 results: Brian Ortega stops Frankie Edgar, steals Featherweight title shot

With Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champion, Max Holloway, nursing an injury, top-ranked division contenders, Frankie Edgar (No. 2) and Brian Ortega (No. 3), hooked ‘em up in UFC 222’s pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event tonight (Sat., March 3, 2018) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the right to challenge “Blessed” later this year.

And it was Ortega who shocked the world, becoming the first fighter ever to finish Edgar with a cold, calm and calculated counter-punching attack for which Edgar had no answer.

Edgar came out the aggressor early, pumping jabs and looking to close the distance against his much longer opponent. Ortega, though, was able to keep Edgar at bay with his left jab. Edgar scored with a solid head kick, which he followed with an overhand right, which didn’t appear to affect Ortega much. Edgar circled and peppered Ortega with short, quick shots, but nothing with significance landed. Ortega stung Edgar with a short left that wobbled him, which he followed up with a head kick. Edgar tried to retreat to the fence, but Ortega was drilling him with precision shots. Edgar tried to hang in there as long as he could, but Ortega stepped back and nailed him with a clean uppercut. Edgar dropped to the canvas like a sack of potatoes as Ortega swarmed for the finish. He nailed him with two unanswered hammer fists before the referee jumped in to save “The Answer” from additional punishment, leaving the ringside announcers basically speechless.

Edgar had never been finished in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career. And he’s been locked inside a cage with some of the best fighters in the sport. Ortega, though, did what no man had ever done before him ... and he did it on short notice. What a meteoric rise it has been for Ortega, who has vaulted to the top spot thanks to six straight wins inside the Octagon, six of which he has ended early.

Bring on “Blessed!”

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