UFC 252 results: Stipe Miocic defeats Daniel Cormier in trilogy fight after shock loss for Sean O'Malley

Veteran UFC heavyweight Daniel Cormier's MMA career ended with defeat to Stipe Miocic in Saturday night's eagerly-anticipated trilogy bout.

The duo fought for the third and final time behind closed doors at UFC 252 in Las Vegas after splitting two previous memorable encounters at UFC 241 last August and at UFC 226 in July 2018, with the heavyweight belt changing hands on both of those prior occasions.

However, Miocic retained the gold on Saturday with a unanimous decision victory after five gruelling rounds, with the scorecards reading 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 in favour of the champion.

Cormier was later taken to hospital for examination after sustaining a poke to the left eye during the third round that subsequently swelled up, with 'DC' complaining of vision problems after the fight.

Reiterating his decision to now step away from the octagon, the 41-year-old - a two-time UFC heavyweight champion and former light-heavyweight champion - said: "I'm not interested in fighting for anything but titles and I don't imagine there's going to be a title in future.

"That will be it for me. I've had a long run, it's been great, I just fought my last fight for a heavyweight championship and it was a pretty good fight."

UFC 252 was also notable for the co-main event, in which previously unbeaten rising star Sean O'Malley suffered his first defeat in the promotion.

The highly-rated bantamweight left the octagon on a stretcher after appearing to suffer an early ankle injury and being floored in the first round by Ecuador's Marlon Vera, with the referee stepping in to end the fight after a succession of powerful elbows.

Elsewhere on the main card, heavyweight Jairzinho Rozenstruik secured a stunning knockout victory over Junior dos Santos, while Daniel Pineda stopped Herbert Burns in the second round of their catchweight bout.

Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili also collected his fifth consecutive win after beating John Dodson via unanimous decision in their three-round bantamweight contest.