On Saturday, Feb. 10 (in North America), the UFC hosted UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold from the Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
In the night’s main event, Olympic wrestling silver medalist Yoel Romero clashed with former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. The bout was slated to be for the interim middleweight title, but Romero missed weight and only Rockhold will be eligible to claim gold. The Cuban Romero saw an eight-fight Octagon winning streak snapped last July against current titleholder Robert Whittaker. Ten of his 12 career wins had come via knockout. Rockhold, meanwhile, rebounded from losing his title to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 by pounding out David Branch in September. The 33-year-old looked to earn a crack at the aforementioned Whittaker with a victory.
The 12-fight event kicked off Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET with three fights streaming on UFC Fight Pass. Four additional preliminary-card bouts followed at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, with the five-fight main card airing live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
Curtis Blaydes def. Mark Hunt by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
Tai Tuivasa def. Cyril Asker by TKO (strikes). Round 1, 2:18
Jake Matthews def. Li Jingliang by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-26, 30-26)
Tyson Pedro def. Saparbek Safarov by submission (kimura). Round 1, 3:54
“Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim def. Damien Brown by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Israel Adesanya def. Rob Wilkinson by TKO (strikes). Round 2, 3:37
Alex Volkanovski def. Jeremy Kennedy by TKO (strikes). Round 2, 4:57
Jussier Formiga def. Ben Nguyen by technical submission (rear-naked choke). Round 3, 1:43
Ross Pearson def. Mizuto Hirota by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Jose Quinonez def. Teruto Ishihara by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Luke Jumeau def. Daichi Abe by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 28-27)