The UFC returned to Abu Dhabi today for a stacked pay per view card headlined by two championship contests. One of them came into some unfortunate circumstances, but the main event delivered in a big way, capping off a wildly exciting night of fight.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the night and break down the three fights we looked at in our UFC 280 preview.
Prelim Highlights
In a battle of ranked light heavyweights, Nikita Krylov weathered an early storm from Volkan Oezdemir en route to a strong decision victory. Oezdemir had his opponent hurt in the early going, but it was Krylov’s grappling that ended up being the story. He was able to repeatedly put Oezdemir on his back and control him there. It was an impressive performance from the 10th-ranked light heavyweight who could be looking for a very big fight his next time out.
In the final fight before the main card, top welterweight contenders Belal Muhammad and Sean Brady put on quite a show. With both guys being incredibly talented wrestlers, neither one was able to take the fight to the ground and instead we got a striking battle. It was incredibly evenly matched, with the unofficial stats showing the two fighters even at 45 significant strikes landed with about a minute left in the second round. It then quickly became uneven though as Muhammad landed a flurry of strikes that rocked Brady. While Brady remained on his feet, it was clear he was hurt as he scrambled to stay conscious. Eventually, Muhammad landed enough punches to force the ref to stop in and call the fight. In his post-fight interview, Muhammad calleld out the recently crowned welterweight king Leon Edwards.
Main Card Highlights
The main card opened with another very evenly matched striking battle between women’s flyweight contenders Katlyn Chookagian and Manon Fiorot. Once again, the two fighters were even in terms of significant strikes with just seconds to go in the second round. Neither one was ever really able to grab a definitive upper hand here though as they continued to stay disciplined and trade strikes for three rounds. Fiorot did score a takedown late in the third but the fight got back to the feet quickly and they continued to exchange in the final seconds before Fiorot scored the decision win.
In a top choice for fight of the night, lightweight contenders Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot fought to a very close decision. Right from the beginning, this fight was filled with wild scrambles and some high-level technical skill. Gamrot is a relentless grappler and he continuously brought the pressure to Dariush. The most impressive skill on display though was Dariush’s ability to stop takedowns and create scrambles to get to his feet when he did get taken to the mat. As we got deeper into the fight, Dariush began to open up with his striking and really dictated the pace of the bout, thanks to that takedown defense. That eventually led to a decision victory for Dariush who has now won eight in a row and could be looking at a title shot his next time out.
Sean O’Malley def. Petr Yan
There was a lot of energy in the building for this matchup of two ranked bantamweights and they delivered the show the fans wanted. The first round saw some great striking exchanges before Yan employed his superior grappling skills, taking O’Malley to the mat. It was the early second round that got the fans on their feet though as O’Malley landed a big shot that rocked Yan and had him on wobbly legs. As O’Malley tried to pounce though, Yan landed a huge right of his own and dropped O’Malley before taking the top position. It was a wild exchange that all took place in a matter of about a minute. The third round saw more of the same, with O’Malley landing some big shots on the feet and Yan scoring multiple takedowns before the final bell. It seemed as though Yan had taken the fight, but a questionable decision went in favor of O’Malley, who certainly put forth an impressive performance. Both guys looked great and proved they belong at the top of the division, but Yan is going to feel as though he got robbed in this one.
My pick: Yan via decision
Result: O’Malley via decision
Aljamain Sterling def. TJ Dillashaw
There was a lot of hype around this co-main event. It was a showdown between the undisputed bantamweight champ and the former two-time champ in the same class. Unfortunately, things don’t always play out the way you hope in MMA because injuries can happen so easily and completely change the path of a fight. It was clear right from the beginning that something was wrong with Dillashaw and the commentary team reported it was a dislocated shoulder that occurred prior to the fight. Sterling scored an early takedown and Dillashaw just couldn’t use his left arm to defend himself. Amazingly, he was able to tough out the round and allow his corner to pop his shoulder back in to give him a shot in the second round. That didn’t last though as Sterling landed a couple of kicks and Dillashaw’s should popped right back out. Another takedown spelled the beginning of the end as Sterling took Dillashaw’s back and scored a TKO victory. It was a very unfortunate way for this fight to play out. Hopefully we can see a rematch in the future but Sterling also called out pretty much the entire division, including the currently retired Henry Cejudo.
My pick: Sterling via decision
Result: Sterling via 2nd round knockout
Islam Makhachev def. Charles Oliveira
The crowd was fired up for this main event and with good reason: these are two of the best fighters in the world at any weight. It was also a great stylistic matchup with Oliveira being one of the greatest submission specialists in the history of the sport and Makhachev being a powerful grappler who overwhelms his opponents with pressure. So naturally, the difference maker in this fight was the striking of Makhachev. He was able to quickly rock Oliveira with a straight right hand, though that was far from the first time we’ve seen him in that position. Oliveira later pulled guard and looked to work his submission game, but Makhachev was able to defend and keep the pressure on.
In the second round, it was clear Oliveira didn’t want to mess around with pulling guard anymore and looked instead to keep the fight standing. It didn’t work though as Makhachev eventually dropped him again and immediately pounced on an arm triangle choke. After a few seconds of defense from Oliveira, Makhachev passed the guard, applied the pressure and got the submission victory, earning himself the title and ushering in what is sure to be a dominant era in the lightweight division.
Or, at least it looked that way for a few moments, until Makhachev took the opportunity in his post-fight interview to call out featherweight champ and number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Alexander Volkanovski. While it’s not official at this time, it appears the two will meet in Australia in a fight for which Volkanovski will move up to lightweight to try and become a two-division champ. That is a very exciting potential fight for the future, but tonight belongs to Makhachev who looked like one of the best in the sport.
My pick: Oliveira via 4th round submission
Result: Makhachev via 2nd round submission
The UFC will return to ESPN+ on Saturday, October 29th for UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Allen. Be sure to check back for a preview of the event.