UFC 224: Amanda Nunes secures stunning title defence, Kelvin Gastelum lays down his plans for middleweight division after split decision win

AND STILL.
It was comfortable in the end for Amanda Nunes, as she successfully defended her bantamweight title for a third time.

Up against challenger and former teammate Raquel Pennington; the Brazilian never truly looked tested in front of her home crowd.

And a fifth round stoppage arguably came to

o late for the American Pennington, who had told her corner after the fourth round that she wanted to stop — her nose clearly broken.

The Octagon microphones picking up Pennington conceding, “I want to be done.”

Nunes keeps crown in styleNunes keeps crown in style2:13
Instead, her coaches bizarrely sent her back out there, and a brutal final round beatdown forced the referee to stop the fight, with a pool of blood collecting under Pennington’s helpless body.

It was the seventh finish of Nunes’ career — the most by a female fighter in UFC history — and the eleventh finish of the night; tied for the most finishes in a modern era UFC event.

In the co-main event, the fight of the night winner saw Kelvin Gastelum and Jacare Souza go all three rounds.

After Souza came out strong in the first, Gastelum fought his way back into it; eventually taking the fight via split decision.

The two middleweights went blow for blow — Souza was completely gassed after two rounds — and yet somehow neither fighter could secure a stoppage.

“Hopefully I’m in line next for that title. If not, then I’m ready for anybody. But I feel like the winner of this fight should fight the winner of Yoel and Whittaker,” Gastelum said post-fight.