After a great night of fights, the main event of UFC Vegas 21 met a painful and unfortunate end as an accidental eye poke from Leon Edwards left Belal Muhammad unable to continue in their main event of the evening.
Co-Main Event
Misha Cirkunov vs. Ryan Spann
Cirkunov started the fight with a right hand and a head kick, moving to the center of the Octagon and colliding with Spann in a clash of fists. An accidental groin kick from Cirkunov briefly stopped the action, and once the fight resumed, Spann knocked his opponent down, following up with some ground-and-pound before letting Cirkunov back up. The second chance didn’t change the outcome of the fight for Cirkunov, though, as Spann drove Cirkunov to the cage and landed a big left hook that sent his opponent to the ground. After a few seconds of Cirkunov curling up on the mat and covering his head to protect himself, the referee called the fight, and Spann was declared the winner at 1:11 into the first round.
Main Event
Edwards vs. Muhammad
Edwards started things off with a pair of kicks, both fighters avoiding damage from each other’s punches before Edwards landed a jab-cross combo. Edwards then forced Muhammad against the cage, but Muhammad then reversed the position and broke free with an elbow. Muhammad then pushed forward after the fighters returned to the center, and a big head kick from Edwards opened the opportunity to drive Muhammad to the cage with a barrage of punches. The fight wasn’t over, though, and Muhammad escaped his opponent’s flurry of strikes before driving Edwards back to the cage in the clinch. Edwards escaped the clinch after an exchange of close-contact strikes and followed up with a solid body kick. The action was paused after an accidental eye poke from Edwards in what we would later discover was a premonition for what was to come. Both fighters picked up the pace in the final minute of the round, with Edwards throwing some big punches and Muhammad putting up some big kicks before the bout moved to the second round.
Round two was sadly short-lived as Edwards threw a body kick and posted out with his left hand, resulting in his fingers going right into his opponent’s eye as Muhammad moved forward. Muhammad collapsed on the ground, yelling in pain, and the injury was severe enough that referee Herb Dean waved off the fight and ruled it a no-contest.
UFC Vegas 21 Full Results:
Prelims:
- Matthew Semelsberger def. Jason Witt via KO (0:16 of Round 1)
- Jihn Yu Frey def. Gloria de Paula via decision
- JJ Aldrich def. Cortney Casey via decision
- Nasrat Haqparast def. Rafa Garcia via decision
- Rani Yahya def. Ray Rodriguez via submission (arm-triangle choke, 3:09 of Round 2)
- Charles Jourdain def. Marcelo Rojo via TKO (4:31 of Round 3)
- Angela Hill def. Ashley Yoder via decision
Main Card:
- Eryk Anders vs. Darren Stewart ruled No Contest due to illegal knee
- Matheus Nicolau def. Manel Kape via decision
- Davey Grant def. Jonathan Martinez via KO (3:03 of Round 2)
- Dan Ige def. Gavin Tucker via KO (0:22 of Round 1)
- Ryan Spann def. Misha Cirkunov via TKO (1:11 of Round 1)
- Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad ruled No Contest due to accidental eye poke
