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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Mike Bohn

UFC on ESPN 51 results: Cub Swanson wins stunning decision over Hakeem Dawodu, thought he lost

Cub Swanson admitted he walked to the center of the octagon at the end of his UFC on ESPN 51 co-main event with Hakeem Dawodu expecting a loss.

Instead, all three judges gave Swanson (29-13 MMA, 14-9 UFC) two of three rounds on the scorecards, and he left the fight with a unanimous decision win over Dawodu (14-3-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) in the featherweight bout at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Dawodu seemingly landed the better shots in the first and seconds rounds, bloodying Swanson’s face and carrying the momentum. In the third round, Swanson landed a big takedown and tried to threaten with submissions, but he ran out of time.

The conclusive feeling was Swanson made an admirable late push, but it wouldn’t be enough. Then he wasn’t announced as the winner, which came after he had already congratulated Dawodu and his team.

Nevertheless, Swanson got his 14th victory in UFC featherweight competition, which trails only Max Holloway (19) and Darren Elkins (18) in divisional history.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 51 results include:

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 51.

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