By Case Keefer

Published Sat, Mar 4, 2017 (7 p.m.)

Updated Sat, Mar 4, 2017 (10:43 p.m.)

Most of the crowd was too busy protesting to even notice the deciding turn in the UFC 209 main event.

With less than 30 seconds remaining in a welterweight championship bout Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, Tyron Woodley swarmed Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and dropped him with a combination. It was enough to cut into the boos surrounding one of the least action-packed championship fights in the history of the UFC, but not totally silence them.

It was also enough to give Tyron Woodley a slim majority-decision victory (48-47, 48-47, 47-47) to defend his 170-pound title.

“I thought I was going to finish him, but at the end of the day, I got the victory,” Woodley said.

Those who weren’t filing out of the building continued to boo Woodley, thus ending UFC 209 appropriately. The highly anticipated rematch between Woodley and Thompson failed to deliver.

Whereas they brought the best out of each other at UFC 205 last November in New York, Woodley and Thompson rarely engaged five months later. Through the first two rounds, they landed less than 20 total strikes.

Woodley converted a double-leg takedown in the third round, and Thompson landed a head kick in the fourth to set up a fifth frame that felt like it would decide the fight. It played out as slow as the rest of the fight, until Woodley finally heeded the advice of his corner and came forward to try to throw more than one strike at a time.

“I thought I had it,” Thompson said. “I thought I threw the better strikes, landed the better strikes but you can’t leave it in the judge’s hands.”

Some people surely scored the fight for Thompson, who came forward more in the first two rounds, and Las Vegas Sun had it another draw at 47-47. But there will be no clamor for a trilogy bout to settle any controversy.

The fight was too dull.

“It was a very close fight, a chess match,” Woodley said. “It was the top two fighters in the world.”

Fans in attendance for T-Mobile Arena’s fourth UFC card had to get their fill of action from the rest of the pay-per-view bouts. The de facto co-main event — forced into the position after yesterday’s cancelation of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson — was the opposite of the main event with a lot of offense and virtually no defense.

David Teymur pulled off a big upset by defeating Lando Vanatta by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) in a striking-heavy lightweight affair. There was plenty of boxing in the third-billed fight too, where Dan Kelly pulled off an upset of his own by beating Rashad Evans by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) in a middleweight bout.

Judges weren’t need in the first two bouts of the main card. Newcomer Cynthia Calvillo submitted Amanda Cooper with a rear-naked choke at 3:18 of the first round in their women’s strawweight encounter.

In perhaps the highlight of the pay-per-view, veteran heavyweight Alistair Overeem connected with consecutive knees from the clinch to knock Mark Hunt out cold at 1:44 of the third round.

“We might be old, but we’re not done yet,” Overeem said. “We see a lot of things, we studied my opponent very extensively, all my coaches do, and I think that combined with my ability, technical ability, athletic ability, I’m able to put these guys away.”

Woodley wasn’t able to put Thompson away, but even if he had with his late combination, it would have been too late. The UFC 209 main event had already lost everyone.

Check back to the Sun later for more coverage of UFC 209, and look below for full results from the preliminary card.

Pre-fight

Tyron Woodley stayed straight-faced at media events all week, sitting back with sunglasses covering his eyes and seldom showing any emotion other than anger when someone posed an undesirable question.

Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson was often a few feet away with a much different demeanor, engaging everyone in range with his, “Aw, shucks, great to be here,” attitude.

The conflicts between the two best welterweights in the world are widely visible. It’s time to settle them.

Woodley attempts to defend his championship against Thompson, who fought him to a majority draw last November in New York, in the main event of UFC 209 tonight at T-Mobile Arena. It’s a fight that’s drawn a fair amount of interest, but now must carry the fight card.

Just as much promotional might, and probably more, was put into a scheduled co-main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson for the interim lightweight championship. It fell apart the day before the event, with Nurmagomedov having to be rushed to the hospital after a bad weight cut.

Ferguson was offered a chance to avenge a loss against Michael Johnson as a last-minute replacement, but the UFC wouldn’t pay him the same money and said the fight wouldn’t be for the title. Ferguson declined.

Woodley wanted to decline a second bout with Thompson, but wore down as time went on. Woodley had his eyes on bigger money matchups, asking for opponents like Georges St. Pierre, Nick Diaz and Michael Bisping, but everyone wanted a resolution on the Thompson feud.

They’ll get it in a few hours, only after a few other top-ranked fighters take to the octagon to open the main card. A heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt is first, with a knockout one way or the other all but guaranteed.

A women’s strawweight bout between “The Ultimate Fighter” veteran Amanda Cooper and newcomer Cynthia Calvillo was elevated to the main card following the Nurmagomedov move and comes second.

Former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans goes down for his first middleweight fight, taking on veteran English fighter Dan Kelly at the midway point.

Lando Vannata, whom many considered the UFC’s most exciting new fighter last year, takes on David Teymur in the unofficial co-main event.

All four fights have strong potential, but none were devoted the attention of Woodley vs. Thompson II. And none of them project to be contested at as high of a level of mixed martial arts.

That’s something even Woodley and Thompson could agree upon.

Check below for full results from the preliminary card, and follow along here for updates from the main card all night.

Marcin Tybura nabbed a TKO victory over Luis Henrique at 3:46 of the third round in a heavyweight bout to finish the preliminary card. The action enlivened in the final minutes when Tybura mounted Henrique, but was otherwise slow with the big boys earning boos from the crowd for their wrestling-heavy approach.

In what will go down as one of the best comebacks in UFC history, veteran featherweight Darren Elkins went from losing what seemed like gallons of blood to knocking out Mirsad Bektic. Elkins, an 8-to-1 underdog, turned the tables on the previously undefeated Bektic with a flurry of strikes highlighted by a head kick to score the knockout at 3:19 of the third round.

Iuri Alcantara came back from nearly getting knocked out to submit Luke Sanders at 3:13 of the second round in their bantamweight bout. Sanders had taken Alcantara's back after they went to the ground, but he scrambled and locked in a kneebar to notch the victory.

Mark Godbeer and Daniel Spitz gassed out after the first round of their heavyweight bout, making for a sloppy final two rounds. But it was good enough for Godbeer, who defeated Spitz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

In a battle of unbeaten light heavyweights, Tyson Pedro maintained his perfect record by knocking out Paul Craig at 4:10 of the first round. Craig ate repeated right hands before falling to the mat, where Pedro finished the fight in the crucifix position.

Albert Morales edged Andre Soukhamthath by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) in a bantamweight bout to open the night. Soukhamthath may have gotten the better of the striking exchanges, but Morales controlled the action on the ground.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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