After an equal first round, in which the rivals managed to exchange tight hits, in the second five-minute period, Cannonier seized the initiative and nearly finished Vettori, giving him a real beating.
Despite the fact that the Italian managed to return to the fight, the American dominated the opponent for the rest of the match, following the fight, setting a record for the middle weight category in terms of the number of significant blows inflicted.
However, one of the judges decided that Marvin Vettori managed to win two rounds out of five, so in the final protocol, the victory of Jared Cannonier with a score of 48-46 and 49-45 twice did not look like a total defeat of the opponent.
In an interview after the fight, the American fighter said that he considers the fight to be a challenger and is counting on another title chance.
In the co-main event of the event, the top Russian lightweight Arman Tsarukyan scored an early victory over the Brazilian Joaquim Silva, but made his fans nervous.
In the second round, the Brazilian managed to seriously shock the Russian with a side kick from the left, however, Tsarukyan moved the opponent in time and controlled him on the ground until the signal for a break.
In the final five-minute period, the Russian fighter pushed the opponent to the net and carried out a powerful pickup throw, literally slamming the Brazilian into the canvas, as a result of which Silva was shocked, and Tsarukyan did not miss the opportunity to end the fight ahead of schedule, and finished off the opponent on the ground.
In a post-match interview, the Russian called himself the number one contender in the division, and also promised to crack down on his compatriot Islam Makhachev, who holds the UFC lightweight title.
In the third most important event of the tournament, former AMC Fight Nights light heavyweight champion Armen Petrosyan, representing Armenia, scored a second victory in a row in the UFC, winning a three-round unanimous decision over Britain’s Christian Duncan.
Among other results, we note the defeat of the Russian welterweight Muslim Salikhov, who lost by unanimous decision to the Dane Nicholas Dalby, as well as the early victories of Pat Sabatini, Manuel Torres, Alessandro Costa, Kun Ho Kahn and Carlos Hernandez.
All UFC on ESPN 47 results.