Tonight, MMANews.com is your source for UFC 196 Results and live coverage. UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz takes place live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and we will be providing the absolute best live results coverage of the highly anticipated pay-per-view featuring Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz and Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate in the two main events.
UFC 196 kicks off live tonight with a three-fight preliminary card on UFC Fight Pass starting at 6:30pm ET. / 3:30pm PT., featuring Diego Sanchez vs. Jim Miller in the main event, as well as a four-fight preliminary card headlined by Brandon Thatch vs. Siyar Bahadurzada on FOX Sports 1 starting at 8pm ET. / 5pm PT. After the FS1 prelims, starting at 10pm ET. / 7pm PT., it will be time for the UFC 196 pay-per-view headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz.
MMANews.com will be providing live, quick-match UFC 196 results coverage of the two preliminary cards this evening, and the fastest, most detailed round-by-round results coverage of every fight on the pay-per-view portion of the show from start-to-finish. We welcome fans to test our updates against the competition this evening, as it will not take long for you to figure out where you want to be when the big fights get started.
UFC 196 Results — UFC Fight Pass Preliminary Fights
– Teruto Ishihara def. Julian Erosa via KO (punhces) at 0:34 of Round 2.
– Jason Saggo def. Justin Salas via TKO (strikes) at 4:31 of Round 1.
– Diego Sanchez def. Jim Miller via Unanimious Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
UFC 196 Results — FOX Sports 1 Preliminary Fights
– Darren Elkins def. Chas Skelly via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-26)
– Vitor Miranda def. Marcelo Guimaraes via TKO (head kick, punches) at 1:09 of Round 2.
– Nordine Taleb def. Erick Silva via KO (punch) at 1:34 of Round 2.
– Siyar Bahadurzada def. Brandon Thatch via Submission (arm triangle) at 4:11 of Round 3.
NOTE: Alright fight fans, the pay-per-view portion of tonight’s event is now officially underway. As promised, MMANews.com will now switch to detailed, quickly-posted updates throughout each round of each fight for the remainder of the evening. Enjoy the show and enjoy our coverage right here at MMANews.com!
UFC 196 Results — Pay-Per-View Fights
Amanda Nunes (136) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (134)
Round 1: The early PPV hype is over and now the video package is rolling for the Nunes-Shevchenko fight. Both ladies have made their way to the Octagon. Bruce Buffer is doing his thing and then we’re off. Amanda and Valentina touch gloves and our first PPV fight has now started. The two trade some low kicks early on. Out of nowhere, Valentina goes high with a head kick that is partially blocked by Nunes. The kick woke Nunes up, however, as she is now a bit more offensively aggressive. Two minutes left in the round. Not a lot of action in this fiight thus far. Nunes with a combination of punches that fail to find the mark on Valentina. Nunes with a wild roundhouse kick attempt that doesn’t connect. The fans inside the MGM Grand start boo’ing as the pace remains slow and the exchanges remain few and far between. Nunes takes Valentina down off a clinch. 35 seconds left in the round. Nunes wiith a good elbow from top position. She stands up to finish strong but an up-kick from Valentina prevents that. Nunes takes Valentina down again as the buzzer sounds. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Amanda Nunes.
Round 2: Nunes comes out with a strong body kick to start off the second round. Valentina tries to answer back with punches but Nunes avoids taking any clean shots. Nunes lands another solid body kick and gets Valentina to the ground again. Nunes working from top position on the ground now from inside the half guard of Valentina. Nunes lands some good punches and elbows from the top position and Valentina doesnn’t seem to have an answer in terms of how to escape the position or threaten from the bottom. Nunes is comfortably racking up points now as we have two minutes left in the round. Valentina’s face is a bloody mess now as she struggles to get back up only for Nunes to solidfy control again in top position. Nunes advances to mount and then full back control. She has the body triangle so Valentina likely won’t be going anywhere for a while. Nunes looking for a choke from the bottom. Nunes adjusts the body triangle but in doing so, Valentina managed to get top position. Unfortunately it was right as the round ended. Some might score that round 10-8 for Nunes, but we’ll give her the 10-9 nod. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Amanda Nunes.
Round 3: Third and final round of our opening contest on the main card is underway. Valentina lands a big elbow. Joe Rogan speculates that Nunes may have been stunned by the shot. Valentina actually ends up in top position on the ground after a failed Nunes takedown attempt. Four minutes left in the round. Valentina is looking for a kimura but she didn’t pull the arm away from the body before trying to crank it. Nunes ends up escaping and gets back to her feet. We’re back to a striking match with three minutes left. Valentina lands two solid knees to the face of Nunes from the Thai clinch. Valentina has completely turned the tables compared to the action in the second frame, as Valentina is all over Nunes in the stand-up department here in the third. “We may have ourselves a sprint to the finish,” says Mike Goldberg on the PPV commentary. I’m not so sure about that. Nunes appeared to clearly win 1 and 2 so Valentina would need a 10-8 to get a draw at best in this one. One minute left in the fight. Valentina slips trying to throw a big shot. Superman punch to the body by Valentina. 20 seconds left and Valentina is pressing the action but it looks like Nunes is going to hang on. Valentina stuffs a Nunes takedown attempt as the buzzer sounds. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Valentina Shevchenko.
Amanda Nunes def. Valentina Shevchenko via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Corey Anderson (204) vs. Tom Lawlor (204)
Round 1: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor and Corey Anderson is scheduled to be our second pay-per-view bout of the evening. Both guys are in the Octagon now. The final pre-fight introductions and announcements are getting wrapped up now. “Big” John McCarthy is our referee. Lawlor cracks Anderson with a big shot and hurts him. Seconds later, he stuns Anderson again with a good combination of punches. Lawlor fails to finish the deal during that portion of the round. Anderson now has his legs back under him, the cobwebs appeared to have cleared and the action — and the crowd — settles down quite a bit. We’re half way through the round. Both guys swing wildly, but it is Lawlor who lands the big shot in the exchange. Just over a minute left in the round. Lawlor and Anderson collided heads on accident during an exchange seconds later. Anderson with an inside leg kick. Anderson trying to use footwork and touch Lawlor when he can to find his range and settle in, and as the round nears a close, it looks like he was just starting to get in the zone a bit. The buzzer sounds to end round one. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Tom Lawlor.
Round 2: Anderson’s corner tells him it could be 0-1 so far, and they’re probably right. Anderson did start to look good at the end of the first. The second round begins with Lawlor immediately taking Anderson down. Anderson is quick to get back up though. Lawlor lands a beautiful straight left hand that finds the mark flush on Anderson. Just under four minutes remains in the second round. Anderson is trying to get busier again and while he’s not landing many clean shots, and certainly nothing with any real power behind it yet, he is more into the fight now than he was in the beginning of this round. The Irish fans drown out a smattering of “Filthy Tom!” chants with a thunderous “Ole! Ole! Ole!” chant. Meanwhile, in the Octagon, Lawlor just misses two big shots that would have likely hurt Anderson. 30 secnods left now as Lawlor lands a nice barrage of punches. Anderson lands a decent counter shot and takes Lawlor down (but doesn’t fully finish it) as the buzzer sounds to end the second round. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Tom Lawlor.
Round 3: The third and final round of the fight kicks off with Anderson landing a good inside leg kick. Lawlor, per his corner’s advice, isn’t as busy as he has been in the previous two rounds. Lawlor lands a nice punch. Anderson takes Lawlor down moments later and lands right in side control. Anderson lands a nice elbow from top position as Lawlor keeps his hips busy, looking to advance to a better defensive position or to threaten with some bottom offense. No dice thus far, as Anderson remains in control from the top as we approach the final two minute mark of the fight. Lawlor doing a decent job of stifling the offense of Anderson on top so “Big” John stands the fellas up. The fight returns to the feet now with exactly one minute remaining. Corey with a nice inside leg kick. Lawlor fighting with no desparation and hasn’t done much since the restart, whereas Anderson is bouncing around and keeping a jab in Lawlor’s face, looking more confident. The buzzer sounds to end the round and the fight and both guys raise their hands as if they won. Should be a 29-28 decision for Lawlor, but we’ll find out what the judges think in a moment. Two of them thought 30-27 and one thought 29-28 — for COREY ANDERSON! How two judges scored it 30-27 for Corey is completely beyond me. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Corey Anderson.
Corey Anderson def. Tom Lawlor via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Gian Villante (205) vs. Ilir Latifi (205)
Round 1: Both Villante and Latifi have made their walk to the Octagon. It’s time for Bruce Buffer to handle his business real quick and then our final fight before tonight’s two main events will be underway. The master of the “Buffer 360” is done. Yves Lavigne is our referee. Villante-Latifi is now underway. Villante smashes Latifi with a couple of vicious leg kicks early on. He goes high with one but Latifi avoids it and bull-rushes Villante’s back into the Octagon wall. Latifi now looking to get Villante down off the cage but Villante circles out and thumps Latifi with another leg kick. Latifi catches one of the kicks and blasts Villante, making him pay with a big straight punch that sends Villante off-balance momentarily. Latifi has Villaante’s back against the cage again and is once again looking to take Villante to the mat. Latifi switches things up, lets go and fires a combo at Villante. We’re back to a stand-up fight with two minutes left in the round. Latifi swings with some wild punches merely to get in close on Villante, so while none landed, he succeeded in closing the distance. He works to try and take Villante down off the fence again but again doesn’t manage to do so. Villante lands another big leg kick. He goes high with a follow-up head kick attempt but Latifi blocked it. Nice leg kicks from Villante throughout the round but we’ll go with Latifi, 10-9. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Ilir Latifi.
Round 2: The second round opens up with Villante working his kicks right off the bat. Latifi does a good job of landing some of his own. Villante with another hard leg kick but that is followed up by Latifi scooping him up and slamming him down. Huge takedown for Latifi. Villante, however, manages to escape being on the ground and we’re back to the feet with three minutes remaining in the round. “Another hard kick, damn!” says Joe Rogan, who has made it clear since round one that Villante’s kicks are a big factor in his offensive arsenal and this fight in general. Two minutes left in the round as Villante wings an overhand right at Latifi but doesn’t really find the mark. Latii lands two pretty solid spinning back kicks to the body of Villante. This is looking more and more like a fight that could be trouble in terms of scoring if it goes to the judges. “Still neither man has taken control of this fight,” says Mike Goldberg, and that sounds about right. Joe Rogan agrees. Latifi scores a big takedown for the second time in the round. The buzzer sounds after Villante returns to his feet. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Ilir Latifi.
Round 3: The third and final round of thee fight kicks off with ..a kick (attempt). Villante flips a front kick out at Latifi but misses. Latifi gets in deep on a takedown attempt but Villante is doing a good job of defending thus far. We’re stuck in the clinch against the cage for a bit until Villante escapes and circles out. Latifi lands a big shot. Latifi hurts Villante with another big shot moments later. Villante’s legs buckled briefly but he’s doing a decent job of camoflauging it or Latifi is too tired to do anything to finish because he isn’t going in for the kill. 30 seconds left in the final round as Latifi takes Villante down. This turned out to be not too difficult a fight to score, although the Lawlor-Anderson fight seemed that way too, so we’ll see. The buzzer sounds to end the round. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Ilir Latifi.
Ilir Latifi def. Gian Villante via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship
Holly Holm (134.5) vs. Miesha Tate (135)
Round 1: The video package for Holm-Tate is airing now. Holly Holm, the second ever UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion, will be making the first defense of her title since winning it from the only other fighter to hold it, Ronda Rousey, in just a moment. The video is done now and here comes Miesha “Cupcake” Tate. Tate makes her way to the Octagon. She’s in the cage now. Her opponent and the reigning champion, “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holly Holm is now making her way down to the cage. Bruce Buffer just finished his final pre-fight introductions. Tonight’s co-main event is now officially underway. “Big” John McCarthy will be our referee for this one. The fans chant for Miesha early on. Miesha throws a soft leg kick at Holm. Holm doing a lot of dancing and using her footwork to keep Miesha guessing as well as making it hard for her to take her down. Holm throws a kick, Miesha caught it and landed a shot right down the pike. The fans are fighting over who to chant for, as “Holly! Holly!” chants break out and then seconds later “Miesha! Miesha!” chants fire up. Holm lands a middle kick this time without paying for the attempt like last time. Holm comes in with some attempted punches on Tate but Tate avoids it with her own footwork. Holm hasn’t shown too much yet in this opening round. 90 seconds remains. Holly lands a decent side kick to Tate’s body. Miesha knocks Holm off-balance with a one-two. Tate just barely gets her hand up in time to block a Holly Holm high-kick attempt. Ten seconds left in the round. Holm with another side kick to the body. The buzzer sounds to end the round. You could make an argument for scoring it either way, but we’ll go with the champ due to kicking work. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Holly Holm.
Round 2: Miesha looks to be attempting to turn up the itensity level in the fight. She dives in and gets a takedown on Holm. Tate passes to half guard and is working from the top position. Miesha landing some elbows. Nice right hand from Miesha. Just over three minutes left in the round as the “Miesha! Miesha!” chants echo throughout the arena. Nice elbows by Miesha from the top position. Holm trying to scoot her way to the cage. Tate notices it and turns her away from the cage. Tate threatens the arm of Holm. She lets it go in favor of landing a hard elbow. Miesha gets Holm’s back and is working feverishly for the rear-naked choke. Miesha gets it under the chin. Holm tries to stand up but falls down, Hughes-Trigg style. Holm is still in the fight though. She’s trying to peel the hand of Tate off. 30 seconds left. Tate goes to get the choke under the chin again but Holm keeps fighting it. The crowd is going absolutely ballistic. 10-8, Miesha? Absolutely. MMANews.com scores the round 10-8 for Miesha Tate.
Round 3: Amazing second round by Miesha Tate. It really seemed like she was on the verge of tapping Holm with a choke on a few different occassions. The third round begins with Holm throwing a leg kick at the challenger. Holly with a head kick attempt. The action has slowed down a bit so far here in the third round. Tate lands a kick of her own. Holm answers with one back. Holm strings a couple of punches together. Tate looks to change levels and shoot in for a takedown on Holm, the same way she got her down in the second, but Holm successfully defends it and the fight stays standing. 90 seconds remain as Joe Rogan admits this has been a fairly uneventful round that could still go either way on the judges cards if something significant happens. Tate with a sloppy takedown attempt started pretty far out fails to get Holm to the mat. The buzzer sounds to end the third ruond. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Holly Holm.
Round 4: Tate doing a good job of avoiding the early kick attempts by Holm here in the fourth round. Tate gets into a clinch with Holm but Holm turns her and now has Miesha’s back against the cage. The two separate as Holm and Tate return to a distance striking match. Tate trying to pull the trigger on her punches as soon as Holm throws hers. Thus far she hasn’t been able to connect with anything overly significant using that tactic. It’s one of those that could be incredibly smart but also incredibly dangerous. More of a footwork clinic in the fourth so far on boith of their parts in the first of two championship rounds. Tate goes for a takedown but Holm stuffs it with ease this time. Holm has stuffed six of Tate’s seven takedown attempts. The one Miesha did get in the second round, however, made things very interesting. Holm lands a nice series of punches and kicks to end the fourth round. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Holly Holm.
Round 5: Tate asks if that was the fourth round in her corner between rounds. Holm’s corner gives her some technicala advice. “Big” John brings both to the center and they tuoch gloves. The fifth and final round between Holm and Tate is now underway. Holm lands a nice side kick to the body of Tate. Tate goes for a takedown attempt but doesn’t get it. Tate gets Holm clinched against the cage but Holm turns her around. She separates and goes back to work popping Tate with a jab when possible and blasting her with an assortment of kicks depending on what looks Tate gives her. Two minutes left in the fight. Tate gets Holm down to the mat again. She quickly gets Holm’s back. She gets the rearr naked choke. Holm tries flipping Tate over her head but Tate somehow hangs on. Holm taps and then goes completely unconsvious. We have a new champion ladies and gentlemen.
Miesha Tate def. Holly Holm via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:30 of Round 5.
MAIN EVENT
Conor McGregor (168) vs. Nate Diaz (169)
Round 1: The video package for Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz is now airing. Both guys are now set to make their walks to the Octagon. Here comes Nate Diaz. He’s in the Octagon now. Sinead O’Connor plays and switches to rap as Conor McGregor makes his way to the cage. Both men are locked in there now as the lights are dimmed and Bruce Buffer does the formal pre-fight announcements and introductions for tonight’s main event. McGregor taunts Diaz at the staredown, asking him which stance he wants to get beat by, this way or that way as he changes stances during the staredown. Round one is underway. Conor comes throwing kicks, which is keeping Diaz off of him thus far. He partially lands a good one up high. Diaz lands a decent right hand. Diaz with a check hook. Conor using more of a kicking based offensive attack, to the surprise of no one, while Diaz mixes in some leg kicks of his own. Diaz trying to touch up Conor but Conor uses head movement to avoid eating any clean shots. Conor blasts Diaz with a solid uppercut. Diaz lands a decent right hand. Conor with a body kick. Conor with a good punch to the body. Diaz with a jab. Diaz bleeding out of his right eye now. Diaz touches the eye leading to Joe Rogan speculating that it’s bothering him. Conor turning up the ferocity a bit in the final minute of the round, landing some solid punches. Diaz takes Conor down but Conor ends up in top position. The round ends with Conor working from top position as the buzzer sounds. MMANews.com scores the round 10-9 for Conor McGregor.
Round 2: Conor does some talking to Diaz just as they head to the center of the Octagon to begin the second round. Conor throws some of his impressive turning and spinning kicks but Diaz manages to avoid eating any truly clean shots. Diaz lands a good punch. Conor lands a good kick to the body. Conor with a really nice left hand. Diaz’s eye is opened up again as the blood starts flowing. Diaz clinches with Conor and takes him against the cage. Conor circles out and pops Diaz with an uppercut. Conor looking vicious here in the second round. Diaz’s face is quickly turning into a crimson mask. Conor is toying with Diaz now, taunting him while ripping his face up with punches and tearing his body up with kicks. Conor is looking really good and then out of nowhere, Diaz stuns McGregor with a good punch. And another. Now Diaz is throwing his hands out to the side and he’s taunting Conor. Diaz is using volume punching now and Conor appears to be in trouble. Diaz has Conor against the cage back-first and starts firing away with repeated in-close punches that are definitely effecting Conor. Diaz backs out and lands a one-two. Now Conor is coming back with some good shots. Diaz answers back with his own. Conor dives in for a takedown but Diaz slaps on a guillotine. Diaz lets it go and mounts Conor. He pounds away. Diaz gets the choke again. Conor taps out. Wow.
Nate Diaz def. Conor McGregor via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:12 of Round 2.
