UFC 239 ended in the same way that plenty of other UFC cards have ended: with Jon Jones getting his hand raised. But it had a bit of a different feel. The usually dominant champion squeaked out a split-decision win over Thiago Santos at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday.

The bout started off with a shocker, as Santos demonstrated early that he was a legitimate threat to the champion. He attacked early with leg kicks and flurried as soon as Jones entered his range.

However, the bout took a bad turn for the contender when he suffered an apparent knee injury that would play a major role in the fight.

Santos was still able to employ an effective game plan that forced Jones into one of the most competitive fights of his dominant career. Ultimately, the inhibited movement would be too much for Santos to overcome, as Jones methodically took over the fight in the middle rounds and established his lead with two of the judges.

After the bout, Jones gave credit to Santos for the well-executed game plan:

It was a memorable night of fights for the fans in Vegas. Outside of the close call for Jones, there was an incredible title defense from Amanda Nunes, a record-setting knockout from Jorge Masvidal and a dominant performance from Michael Chiesa.

Main card

• Jon Jones defeats Thiago Santos via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
• Amanda Nunes defeats Holly Holm via knockout (4:10 of Round 1)
• Jorge Masvidal defeats Ben Askren via KO (0:05 of Round 1)
• Jan Blachowicz defeats Luke Rockhold via KO (1:39 of Round 2)
• Michael Chiesa defeats Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

Undercard

• Arnold Allen defeats Gilbert Melendez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Marlon Vera defeats Nohelin Hernandez via submission (3:25 of Round 2)
• Claudia Gadelha defeats Randa Markos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Song Yadong defeats Alejandro Perez via KO (2:04 of Round 1)
• Edmen Shahbazyan defeats Jack Marshman via submission (1:12 of Round 1)
• Chance Rencountre defeats Ismail Naurdiev via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-28, 30-27)
• Julia Avila defeats Pannie Kianzad via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)

Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm

Amanda Nunes added to her incredible legacy as women's bantamweight champion by sending Holly Holm into orbit with a head kick in the first round.

Holm came out in the first round with as strong a start as she could hope for. She kept Nunes at bay with lead leg kicks and even fended off a takedown attempt to keep the fight standing.

In hindsight, maybe she should have let her take it to the ground.

Instead, when Holm went to throw the leg kick again, she found Nunes' right foot squarely on her face and her back on the mat. Follow-up strikes quickly brought the fight to a halt.

Nunes' resume at this point is unquestionably the best of all time:

The problem now for the Lioness is that there's simply no other fights left for her that are all that interesting. She's already defeated all of the big names in her division as well as the bantamweight division.

She's earned the kind of reputation where she'll be favored against anyone the UFC puts against her until proven otherwise.

Ben Askren vs. Jorge Masvidal

Jorge Masvidal sprinted himself into the history books with the fastest finish in UFC history to hand Ben Askren his first loss.

As soon as the round opened, Masvidal ran across the cage and landed a flying knee that put Askren down in just five seconds.

After weeks of jawing and buildup, this was expected to be a barnburner. Instead, it was a memorable performance that will forever be on Masvidal's highlight reel.

After the bout, Masvidal wasn't giving up the bad blood between the two.

"Because he's a bum," Gamebred said when asked why he threw the flying knee, per ESPN. "I had to show him that there's consequences sometimes."

At this point, it'll be hard to pass Masvidal for the next title fight at welterweight. Kamaru Usman isn't currently scheduled for another fight, but Colby Covington is waiting in the wings with a fight against Robbie Lawler on August 3.

After this win and the hype going into this fight, Masvidal may have just become the No. 1 contender.

Luke Rockhold vs. Jan Blachowicz

Luke Rockhold's hopes of becoming a light heavyweight contender took a hard hit from Jan Blachowicz—literally.

The former middleweight champion looked to take the fight to Blachowicz early, clinching him against the fence and dictating the pace of the fight. However, Rockhold's defensive deficiencies carried over to his new weight class, as Blachowicz was able to find the chin when he looked for it.

He stunned Rockhold at the end of the first round:

Then he finished the job in the second round when a thunderous left hook put Rockhold down for the count:

It's a big win for Blachowicz, who suffered a knockout loss to Thiago Santos his last time out. This should help him get back on track in the notoriously shallow 205-pound division.

Diego Sanchez vs. Michael Chiesa

Michael Chiesa continued to look good as a welterweight with a comprehensive beatdown of Diego Sanchez to kick off the main card.

Although both fighters weighed in at the welterweight limit, Maverick looked like the much bigger fighter and utilized his strength and grappling ability to rag-doll Sanchez around the cage.

The 37-year-old Sanchez came into the bout with back-to-back wins, but it was made abundantly clear he's not able to compete with top-level competition in his division, leading to the question of whether the 14-year UFC veteran should still be competing.

Ultimately, this doesn't tell us much about Chiesa, but he certainly looked like he could become a threat in his new weight division. He's now 2-0, but with both wins against aging vets, it's high time he gets a shot against a ranked opponent.