Saturday night’s UFC 269 in Las Vegas provided plenty of fireworks.
Amanda Nunes (24-1) entered the night defending her bantamweight strap against challenger Julianna Peña (10-4).
By the end of the night, there was a new undisputed UFC women’s bantamweight champion of the world.
Peña pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history by way of second round submission, choking out Nunes after a flurry of punches left the defending champion stunned and dazed.
Nunes hadn’t lost in the ring since 2014. Since then, she went on a tear of 12 straight triumphs, seven of which she defended her bantamweight title, after no one in the sport has been able to match her level of consistent excellence, or, indeed, give her much trouble at all.
On Saturday night she finally met her match.
Peña entered the night having lost two of her previous four fights, none of which were title fights, so it’s understandable why she was such a heavy underdog.
But an underdog makes for a great story in a win, and that’s exactly what Peña accomplished on Saturday night.
The win by Peña left viewers stunned on social media, sparking a wide range of reactions immediately upon the fight ending.
With so much drama and action in that bantamweight fight, there was still a main event next.
Brazilian fighter Charles Oliveira enter the Octagon in his lightweight title fight against Dustin Poirier to successfully defend his title.
After nearly being knocked out by Poirier in the first round, Oliveira was able to battle back and dominate the second round before forcing Poirier to tap early in the third round.
This was Oliveira’s first defense of his lightweight title, which he won in May against Michael Chandler.
Oliveira has now won 10 consecutive fights, with his last loss coming in Dec. 2017.
His dominant win earned him praise on social media, and also quieted his detractors.
Get more from Ultimate Fighting Championship Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more