BOSTON: Dominick Cruz regained the UFC bantamweight title Sunday night, outpointing T.J. Dillashaw by split decision at the TD Garden.
Cruz (21-1) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored the five-round bout 49-46 for Dillashaw (13-3).
Forced to relinquish the title because of a series of knee injuries, Cruz fought for the first time since 2014 and the second time since 2011. Dillashaw was making his third title defense.
“There’s no such thing as rust,” said Cruz, from San Diego. “Rust is only something you get when you don’t train hard. I’ve seen fighters do what T.J. does, but he’s faster.”
Cruz took down Dillashaw, from Denver, in each of the first four rounds and used his footwork to control the distance for most of the fight.
“I’m very disappointed,” Dillashaw said. “I felt like I was the aggressor and landed the bigger shots. I’m not a fan of his antics, but congratulations to him.”
Cruz took down Dillashaw once in the first round, grabbing a leg while Dillashaw was throwing a kick. Toward the end of the round, Cruz fought off a takedown attempt from Dillashaw.
Cruz used his foot speed in the second round, moving in and out of range to land punches. In the final minute of the round, he downed Dillashaw twice with double leg shots.
Dillashaw landed two kicks to the head in the third, opening cuts on Cruz’s lips and next to his left eye. Cruz still stayed out of range for most of the round and scored another double-leg takedown.
Dillashaw sustained a cut along the left eye in the fourth, but scored his first takedown of the fight, slipping behind Cruz and forcing him to the mat.
In the fifth, Cruz kept circling. Late in the round, Dillashaw landed a knee to the midsection.
In the co-main event, Eddie Alvarez outpointed former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in a three-round fight. All three judges scored it 29-28, two for Alvarez (27-4) and one for Pettis (18-4).
Both fighters spent the entire second round on their feet with Pettis defending two takedown attempts. In the first, Alvarez took down Pettis twice, once with a double leg and once with an inside triple.
Bleeding from his nose in the third, Alvarez took down Pettis three times.
Also on the main card, heavyweight Travis Browne stopped former NFL player Matt Mitrione in the third round, and lightweight Francisco Trinaldo won a three-round unanimous decision over Ross Pearson.
Browne improved to 18-3-1, and Mitrione dropped to 9-5.
Trinaldo improved to 17-4, and Pearson fell to 20-10 with one no-contest.
Cruz regains UFC bantamweight title, outpointing Dillashaw
Cruz regains UFC bantamweight title, outpointing Dillashaw
Chelsea paid for costly errors in Arsenal defeat, says Rosenior
LONDON: Liam Rosenior admitted Chelsea paid the price for costly mistakes after Arsenal took advantage of his side’s blunders to win 3-2 in the League Cup semifinal first leg on Wednesday.
Rosenior’s team face a tough task to set up a final against either Manchester City or Newcastle following their error-strewn display in their new manager’s first home match.
Chelsea were guilty of sloppy marking for Ben White’s early headed opener before goalkeeper Robert Sanchez gifted striker Viktor Gyokeres Arsenal’s second goal after half-time.
Alejandro Garnacho got one back for Chelsea but Martin Zubimendi then netted for Arsenal after more lacklustre defending from Rosenior’s men.
Substitute Garnacho’s second goal gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope heading into the second leg at the Emirates Stadium in February.
“Disappointed to concede from a corner. Disappointed with the third goal as well because we were right back in the game and we were on top at that moment,” Rosenior said.
“We switched off from a restart from a central free-kick but I can’t fault the players.
“We need to make sure we perform well individually and we don’t concede as many goals.”
Rosenior was without a host of key players, including Cole Palmer, Reece James and Liam Delap, due to injuries and illness.
‘It’s another step’
In his second game since replacing Enzo Maresca as Blues boss, the 41-year-old took heart from the way Chelsea kept fighting to find a way back into the tie.
“We’ve had illness in the squad, we’ve picked up a few knocks this week but what the squad has shown is that they are willing to run and fight for each other,” he said.
Rosenior, who oversaw a 5-1 FA Cup third-round win at Charlton in his debut last weekend, refused to condemn Sanchez for the latest in a long line of shaky performances.
“Rob’s a very good goalkeeper. He made an outstanding save at 3-1 to keep us in the tie, so for me load of things to improve but the overall attitude of the team I liked,” Rosenior said.
“Hopefully, we get a few bodies back for Brentford on Saturday.”
Arsenal are now unbeaten in 10 games in all competitions as they moved a step closer to their first silverware since the 2020 FA Cup.
The Gunners had lost their previous four semifinals across a variety of competitions, including the League Cup last year.
Mikel Arteta was impressed with Arsenal’s ability to subdue Chelsea for long periods, but he was left to rue their failure to kill off their London rivals.
“I have to praise the players for the performance against a really good opponents. It’s a really tough place to come. That’s why I really value what the team has done again,” Arteta said.
“We had two massive chances to score the fourth one and the result would have been very different. At that moment they created a chance and scored a goal. So it is a very different feeling. It’s game on.”
As well as leading the Premier League, Arsenal are also still chasing Champions League and FA Cup glory.
But after so many last-four failures in the recent past, Arteta won’t take anything for granted.
“It’s another step. It’s just half-time. We know the big fight we are going to have at the Emirates in a few weeks because they are a top side,” he said.
“What we’re doing every three days is impressive.”
