{"id":134664,"date":"2021-09-26T06:36:29","date_gmt":"2021-09-26T06:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=134664"},"modified":"2021-09-26T12:00:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-26T12:00:59","slug":"aussie-champs-great-escape-rocks-ufc-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=134664","title":{"rendered":"Aussie champ's great escape rocks UFC fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

MMA fans have been left stunned by Alexander Volkanovski<\/a>'s brutal fight against Brian Ortega at UFC 266<\/a>, with the bout widely called one of the greatest of all time. <\/p>\n

Volkanovski defended his featherweight title with a bloody, tumultuous unanimous decision win over Ortega.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>UFC legend refuses to continue in comeback fight<\/a><\/p>\n

The Australian (23-1) dominated the scorecards \u2014 49-46, 50-45 and 50-44 \u2014 in his 20th consecutive victory, but still had to survive an extraordinary challenge from the relentless Ortega (15-2), who didn't quit despite a bloodied face and a clearly damaged nose. <\/p>\n

The 32-year-old survived a spectacular third round in which both fighters appeared to be moments from finishing the other.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/p>\n

Volkanovski largely controlled the first two rounds with his usual impressive work rate and striking, but a bloodied Ortega knocked him down dramatically with a left hand in the third round.<\/p>\n

Ortega pounced and nearly finished the champ with a guillotine choke, but Volkanovski willed his way out of it and got back on top \u2014 only for Ortega to escape and to trap Volkanovski in a triangle choke that the champ also barely escaped.<\/p>\n

"I thought it was over twice!" said Daniel Cormier on commentary.<\/p>\n

"Unbelievable that he survived that round, he's a savage."<\/p>\n

\"Alexander<\/p>\n

"One of the best title rounds you'll ever see!" Jon Anik added.<\/p>\n

The reaction from the pair of commentators was mirrored on social media, with fans left stunned that Volkanovski was somehow able to survive the third round.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/gorgeousgrose\/status\/1441989808750952449<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/1bbradfo\/status\/1441989817047261186<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlesDoBronxs\/status\/1441998212009705472<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/SeanSheehanBA\/status\/1441996114333507593<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TSMViss\/status\/1441995949916655622<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/LaurieHoresh\/status\/1441995912058793987<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/TeddyAtlasReal\/status\/1441995496583741441<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kalvapalle\/status\/1441994319343218694<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/benfowlkesMMA\/status\/1441993387511402498<\/a><\/p>\n

Following his loss, Ortega admitted that he thought he had the fight won in the third round when he had Volkanovski on the mat.<\/p>\n

"I thought he was done," Ortega said. "I was trying to go for his head, but he's tough as hell. <\/p>\n

"I tried to finish him. I heard him gargling, but he slipped out. He's the champ for a reason."<\/p>\n

The bout was so brutal that Ortega was transported directly to a nearby hospital after the fight and skipped his media obligations backstage as a result.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MMA fans have been left stunned by Alexander Volkanovski's brutal fight against Brian Ortega at UFC 266, with the bout widely called one of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134666,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134664\/revisions\/134666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}