UFC 249 Results: Stats And Video Highlights From Greg Hardy Vs. Yorgan De Castro

As expected Yorgan de Castro and Greg Hardy got after it at the start of the first round of their heavyweight bout on the UFC 249 pay-per-view card.

De Castro was clearly looking to score a big knockout early in the first stanza. Hardy’s athletic abilities and speed allowed him to move out of the way of de Castro’s strikes early. If he did not have those skills, Hardy could have been staring at the lights of the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. 

Things slowed down a bit two minutes into the first round, but every time Hardy stepped in close, de Castro countered with combinations. De Castro also took advantage of Hardy not checking leg kicks, landing several heavy low kicks to Hardy’s lead leg. With 75 seconds left in the first round, Hardy scored in a striking exchange against the cage. When the horn sounded to end the first five-minute period, Hardy limped back to his corner. He was obviously favoring his left leg.

De Castro opened the second round with a leg kick and then charged in with a flurry. Hardy was struggling badly putting weight on his lead leg and that prevented him from putting a lot of power behind his punches. De Castro slowed his offense as the second round wore on, but Hardy could not take advantage of his opponent’s lack of offense. Hardy as busy, but he did not do any damage.

Hardy opened the third round with a big right hand. As with the late stages of the second round, de Castro’s striking was mostly absent in the third stanza while Hardy continued to push forward. Hardy didn’t do much significant damage, but he was active. The same could not be said for de Castro. 

When the fight ended, the two big men embraced. After they broke their hug, de Castro pointed to his foot, perhaps showing Hardy an injury which caused him to slow his offense, while Hardy limped back to his corner to tend to his left leg, which ate a ton of damage early in the contest. 

At the end of the 15-minute heavyweight bout, the judges gave the fight 30-27 to Hardy. It felt like de Castro lost that fight more than Hardy won. The setback was the first loss of de Castro’s career. 

Hardy vs. De Castro opened the UFC 249 pay-per-view card, which streamed on ESPN+.