Gegard Mousasi defeats Chris Weidman in controversial knockout at UFC 210

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Confusion turned into boos inside KeyBank Center after an odd series of events at UFC 210 on Saturday night, and when the dust settled, former middleweight champion Chris Weidman had suffered his third straight loss.

After Weidman controlled the first round, Gegard Mousasi started to find his rhythm in the second before he landed two big knees while he held Weidman in a front headlock on the main card of the first UFC event in the city since 1995.

The knees would have been illegal under the old rules of mixed martial arts, but New York is one of the states that has adopted new standards that make the maneuver legal as long as only one hand is on the mat. Referee Dan Miragliotta stepped in, apparently unsure of whether one or both hands were grounded.

As doctors checked out Weidman, Miragliotta decided the knees were legal, and after a delay of about five minutes, he declared Mousasi the winner.

A furious Weidman threw his mouthpiece and questioned why the fight was stopped.

Mousasi tried to answer questions from announcer Joe Rogan over thunderous boos.

“It’s not the way I wanted to win, and I wanted to continue to fight,” Mousasi said. “I wasn’t thinking, I was just in the moment of the fight. If he wants a rematch, he can have his rematch.”

Star women’s strawweight prospect Cynthia Calvillo followed up her impressive UFC debut last month with a second straight submission victory.

Calvillo nearly finished Pearl Gonzalez in each of the first two rounds before finally locking in a rear-naked choke with her back to the mat in the third round and forcing Gonzalez to tap out.

“I love the ground,” Calvillo said. “It’s my ocean, and I’m a shark.”

Welterweight Thiago Alves snapped a two-fight losing streak with a unanimous decision over Patrick Cote, who announced his retirement after the bout.

Cote, 37, left his gloves in the center of the cage and said he planned to retire regardless of the outcome.

Alves said he felt strong after a brief attempt to drop to lightweight for his last fight and was disappointed he couldn’t find an opportunity to finish Cote.

“He is known for his chin,” Alves said. “He can take a punch, and he always comes back, it’s like he’s in zombie mode. I knew this was going to be a tough fight, but I didn’t know this was going to be his last fight, which I’m sure gave him extra motivation.”

Former Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks lost his second straight fight in the UFC when he was choked out by Charles Oliveira midway through the first round.

Oliveira secured an early takedown and eventually caught Brooks in a standing rear-naked choke as he tried to get back to his feet in the first fight on the pay-per-view card. Oliveira had lost three of his past four fights.

Kamaru Usman and Myles Jury highlighted the preliminary card with dominant performances.

Usman won his ninth consecutive fight overall and fifth straight in the UFC by taking all three rounds over welterweight Sean Strickland.

Jury snapped a two-fight losing streak by returning from a 16-month layoff with a first-round knockout of Mike De La Torre.

After dropping him early in the fight, Jury flattened out De La Torre on the mat and blasted him with elbows and short punches until it was stopped at the 3:30 mark.

Shane Burgos and Gregor Gillespie scored knockout victories.

Burgos fell behind on the scorecards before rallying to stop featherweight Charles Rosa with a left hook early in the third round. Gillespie needed 21 seconds to overwhelm lightweight Andrew Holbrook with a series of punches.

Light heavyweight Patrick Cummins won a bloody majority decision over Jan Blachowicz, and flyweight Magomed Bibulatov made a successful UFC debut by winning all three rounds over Jenel Lausa.

Katlyn Chookagian took a split decision over Irene Aldana in a women’s bantamweight bout, and local favorite Desmond Green got the nod from two of the three judges in his UFC debut against Josh Emmett.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.