UFC 222 live blog: Cyborg vs. Kunitskaya

This is the UFC 222 live blog for Cris Cyborg vs. Yana Kunitskaya, a women’s featherweight championship bout at Saturday night’s UFC event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Cyborg, undefeated in 20 consecutive bouts, looks for the second straight defense of her UFC title against Kunitskaya, the former Invicta FC bantamweight champion, in the evening’s main event.

Check out the UFC 222 live blog below.

Round 1: Referee Herb Dean will oversee the evening’s main event. Cyborg comes out swinging right away, she hurts Kunitskaya with a right hook, then a left. Kunitskaya immediately shoots for a takedown and gets it, she’s hanging on to Cyborg’s legs for dear life. Cyborg crawling away, but Kunitskaya is clinging to her. She briefly takes Cyborg’s back before the hold is broken and they’re clinched up against the fence, with Kunitskaya pushing down on the champion. They’re exchanging knees to the body. Kunitskaya not backing off, she drops down for a single leg. Cyborg keeping a wide base. They separate and Cyborg hits a good knee to the body. She hurts Kunitskaya bad with a huge right and drops down, Cyborg clips her with a knee. Kunitskaya in survival mode, she backs up against the fence and Cyborg chases her down and puts her down again with another hard shot. Dean giving Kunitskaya all the time in the world to recover, but Cyborg is landing unanswered ground-and-pound strikes. This one is over.

Official result: Cris Cyborg def. Yana Kunitskaya via TKO (ground and pound) at 3:25 of Round 1