UFC 269: Amanda Nunes loses in shock upset, Oliveira defeats Poirier

Just overheard Poirier saying he's donating $20,000 to a charity of Oliveira's choice. Dude is a legend. 

I don't think I can even settle down for this one, but I'll try my best. Deep breaths...

This fight is the very definition of a coin toss.

Poirier's mentality and will to win is unmatched in the lightweight division and he comes with great boxing and a solid gas tank. Will that be enough to defeat Oliveira and his unique skillset? I'm not sure. Oliveira has the best jiu jitsu, maybe in the entire UFC, and has made marked improvements in his striking.

This is gonna be a fantastic contest.

My prediction: Oliveira via submission

Round 1

Still haven't recovered from Nunes loss, but let's go. This fight is gonna be great.

Man these guys are firing early. Poirier hits Oliveira clean but both are slinging here. Poirier seems to be landing cleaner though with big shots. Oliveira landing some big knees to the body though. 

Now Oliveira is shooting for the takedown. Poirier is surviving and appears to have the advantage on the feet. 

This is a CRAZY first round with an insane pace. Poirier hits him clean and knocks Oliveira to the ground, but doesn't follow him down for long.

Man, Poirier is landing BIG but Oliveira is also landing, but nothing like Poirier. 

WHAT.

A. 

ROUND.

My Score: 10-9 for Poirier

Round 2

This is gonna be a war of attrition. Poirier is good at those.

Oliveira is going straight to the grappling here, which is very smart. 

Now Oliveira is on his back in a weird position. Now he sweeps and Poirier is on the bottom. This could be bad for Dustin. 

Oliveira seems to just want to consolidate this position. Not really working for any submissions just yet. He lands a big elbow though. He's grinding right now, just trying to do damage with short shots.

Now Oliveira is landing huge elbows. Dustin could be in trouble here. He'll likely survive, but this could be a turning point in the fight.

My Score: 10-9 for Oliveira

Round 3

Keen to see how Dustin fares here. Oliveira really beat him up in the last round.

Man Oliveira goes straight to the back in 20 seconds flat. Damn. This is really bad. Oliveira thrives in this position.

AND POIRIER TAPS TO A REAR NAKED CHOKE.

Damn that was so fast, and so technical. Oliveira is so good man. He is so good. And guess what? He had to go through some real adversity, which was the knock on Oliveira. Incredible performance there. Feel for Poirier, but nice work by Oliveira

Oliveira wins via submission

Having conquered both the bantamweight and featherweight divisions, Amanda Nunes has beaten almost every single high level female fighter ever. Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm, Cris Cyborg, Valentina Shevchenko -- Nunes has beat them all, often in spectacular fashion. 

Julianna Pena doesn't have a chance here

Pena's best opportunity here is in the grappling, perhaps in the clinch up against the cage, but I just can't see a single way she doesn't get obliterated here. Nunes isn't just in a different league, she's in a different plane of existence.

My prediction: Amanda Nunes via TKO/KO.

Round 1

Shocking that Nunes is still only 32? Just saw that on the tale of the tape. She could be running this sport for another 5 years at this point. Terrifying.

Also, interesting:

Anyway, the fight!

A leg kick takes Pena down but Nunes allows her back up. Nunes tags her again with a jab and Pena is down. Pena takes a shot on the ground, gets back up, but Nunes is just too strong of a grappler and gets her back down again, she's just full on big-sistering Pena right now.

Now Nunes has the back. 

Pena survives though, gets into half guard and appears to be trying to get back to the feet, but yeah, Nunes is really controlling this fight. Julianna sort of has a kimura grip, but nothing was every gonna come of it.

My score: 10-9 for Nunes

Round 2

Man Pena has landed some shots and the crowd is going nuts. This is getting sloppy and man... Nunes is losing this round!

Nunes is playing a dangerous game here and whoaa.... they're just full on exchanging here! Cannot believe this is happening here.

Pena is getting the better of this and now Pena is on her back, what the hell!!!

Nunes has tapped to a choke. I cannot believe it. Holy shit. HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. I am in shock here. Complete shock.

Julianna Pena wins via submission

I am in shock. This is honestly the biggest upset in UFC history in my opinion. Cannot believe it. Cannot believe what I just saw. Nunes was just too confident in her ability to steam roll and sloppily just KO Pena. 

"I'm not surprised motherfuckers," says Julianna Pena, in a throwback to Nate Diaz's famous proclamation after beating Conor McGregor in their first fight.

Wow. Just wow. 

Bit of a strange turn of events with this fight: Geoff Neal was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and the unlawful carrying of a weapon on Thanksgiving Day. That's put a bit of a weird cloud on this contest.

Will it impact how this fight plays out on the night? Hard to say. Either way it's a close pick 'em of a fight. Geoff Neal is a hard hitter who rarely makes mistakes, but until very recently Ponzinibbio was a fighter very close to a title shot. 

But Ponzinibbio has struggled a little as of late, so I'm favouring Neal in this one. 

My prediction: Geoff Neal via decision.

Round 1

Can't wait to try and spell Ponzinibbio a million times during this fight.

(Nah, jokes. Of course I have that copied ready to paste!)

This is great match making. High stakes fight here, will really decide which of these fighters has a future in the welterweight division. 

Here we go...

Slow start to this one. A lot of lateral movement from Ponzinibbio as is his style, but low output in terms of strikes thrown. Neal lands a head kick, but didn't seem to impact Ponzinibbio too much. Neal is turning it on a bit here though, has clearly landed the most strikes so far and appears to be winning this round.

Ponzinibbio coming on a little stronger towards the end there, but I'm still scoring this for Neal.

My score: 10-9 for Neal

Round 2

Crazy this is the first time I've written the words "Round 2" in this liveblog.

Ponzinibbio seems to have a lot less caution in this round so far, seems to really be driving the action. 

Neal showed off some great takedown defence, was taken down but managed to scramble back up. Ponzinibbio appears to be winning this round though. Very close, ugly fight so far but Ponzinibbio is getting the better of these exchanges in round 2.

My score: 10-9 for Ponzinibbio

Round 3

Man, Neal's corner was very vocal there and they're right. Neal needs to win this round.

Neal is responding, landing clean shots here. He's winning the early exchanges in this round so far. Neal is landing great check hooks, coming over the top. This is a close, clumsy clash of styles and it's tough to say how the judges will score this. 

These guys are opening up in the latter half of this round, Neal cracks Ponzinibbio hard, repeatedly, taking over in the final minute. 

My score: 10-9 for Neal (29-28 for Neal)

Geoff Neal wins via split decision

I am very hyped for this one. Garbrandt almost certainly had the fastest hands in the bantamweight division, where he once reigned as champ. He also has bricks for hands with some of the best highlight reel knockouts in UFC history. 

But he's making his flyweight debut here, against Kai Kara-France, another heavy hitter with a penchant for getting into firefights. Considering Garbrand's storied history of getting into wars at bantamweight, you can expect a potential fight of the night contender here. At the very least, hard not to imagine someone going to sleep here. Don't blink.

My prediction: Kai Kara-France by KO/TKO

Round 1

Garbrandt looks big here. Massive compared to Kara-France. Very leg kick heavy attack early from Garbrandt as well and both seem respectful of one another's power.

Ooft. Garbrandt gets melted by a huge shot from Kara-France but somehow survives, even inviting Kara-France in for more. He survives, but in another exchange Kara-France hits him clean again and damn... Garbrandt is clean out with a final huge shot.

Damn, this must be a tough one for Garbrandt to take. 

Kai Kara-France wins by KO/TKO.

Sean O'Malley looks like he was designed and built using the Saints Row 2 create-a-character mode, which I absolutely say as a compliment. 

He's also one of the most exciting up-and-coming fighters in the UFC's stacked bantamweight division. Every time he fights it's an event. 

This contest, with Raulian Paiva, feels a bit like a lay-up for O'Malley, but I'm excited to watch it regardless.

My prediction: O'Malley by KO

Round 1

O'Malley stabbing with those front kicks as per usual. Paiva seems to want to pressure. Ah looks like O'Malley caught the cup with one of those shots? Or maybe not? Hard to say.

O'Malley is landing the jab here, but this is quiet in the early goings. Paiva has landed a few legs kicks though, which O'Malley has struggled with historically.

And whoaaaaaaaa... O'Malley just crushed Paiva. He landed clean with a right over the top and had Paiva rocked. From that point he swarmed. Just a crazy output of huge shots to the body and then clean to the head. Damn...

Just crazy shot selection. O'Malley is so smooth man. Can't be long until he faces someone high up the rankings now.

O'Malley wins by TKO

Hello everyone, UFC 269 is kicking off! We've already seen a number of great fights on the prelims, most notably a wild KO by Tai Tuivasa, and a great comeback win from Dominick Cruz over Pedro Munhoz. 

But the best is still to come. Let's get cracking.