Not many gave Charles Oliveira and Julianna Pena much of a chance to beat Dustin Poirier and Amanda Nunes, respectively. Oliveira and Pena were betting underdogs and their peers didn't give them much of a shot. But that's why men and women step inside the Octagon.
In the main event, Oliveira came through a tough first round to submit Poirier with his bread-and butter, the standing rear-naked choke at 1:02 of third round to retain the lightweight title from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. DAZN News had the fight even at the time of the stoppage.
After an action-packed first round which saw Poirier drop Oliveira twice and have the advantage, the champion took over from there. He came forward and worked the body with several knees and front kicks, which wore Poirier down as the fight went on.
In the second round, after a short exchange, Oliveira (32-8, one no-contest) secured a takedown and inflicted a tremendous amount of punishment with razor-shapr elbows and continuous punches to the body.
By the time the third and what ended up being the final round began, "Do Bronx" had Poirier (28-7, one no-contest) right where he wanted him. Oliveira threw a front kick and a right hand to send Poirier back. He saw a slight opening and jumped right on Poirier's back. He fully didn't the submission on at first. But he slipped the left arm under Poirier's neck. Poirier tried to slither out but to no avail and tapped out.
Before then, Pena shocked the sports world as a -1000 betting underdog in submitting Nunes with a rear-naked choke of her own at the 3:22 mark to become the women's bantamweight champion and snap Nunes' win streak at 12.
Nunes' had plowed through Ronda Rousey, Cris Cyborg, Miesha Tate, Holly Holm and current women's flyweight titlist Valentina Shevchenko (twice). None of that mattered to Pena. She had the will and determination to go out and prove she could be the one to dethrone Nunes. And she did just that.
It didn't start as planned. Nunes was controlling the action on the feet with a number of hard leg kicks that were taking their toll on Pena. Undeterred, Pena kept coming forward and looking for a way to get in there. Nunes ended the round on top but Pena had the look that she was going to win.
Pena and Nunes started playing rock-and-sock-em-robots in the second round. The leather was slinging but it was Pena who had the edge. She continued to stun Nunes with shots and wasn't scared to stand and trade. Nunes looked defeated and Pena saw the opening she needed. The former Ultimate Fighter winner got Nunes to the ground, quickly secured one arm to get the choke in and Nunes shockingly tapped out to a giant roar from the crowd.
Here is what happened at UFC 269.