As he continues recovery from the broken thumb sustained during his dominant title defence over former champ Max Holloway earlier this month, featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski wants the winner of UFC 280’s lightweight title headliner: Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev. Based on last weekend’s result, should he attend to the business awaiting him at 145lbs first? Continue reading
Tag: Islam Makhachev
UFC 274: Key observations, five things we learned from May 7’s PPV card
With no UFC card for fans to digest this past weekend, I look back at the five things we learned from May’s electric UFC 274 PPV card – where one championship was controversially stripped on the scale beforehand, another title fight changed hands and plenty more happened besides. Continue reading
UFC Vegas 49: Makhachev’s mauling streak continues with R1 TKO win vs. Green
Makhachev Mania, Michael Chiesa called it last summer. But now, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege Islam has put together successive first-round finishes for the second time in his seven-year UFC career after swarming short-notice replacement Bobby Green to devastating effect. As such, it seems only a matter of time before the 30-year-old will fight for UFC gold at 155lbs.
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UFC Vegas 49: Out of his control, Islam Makhachev’s title aspirations muddied once more
Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege, Islam Makhachev, has long been tipped to capture UFC lightweight gold. Yet this weekend while preparing for his second main event, it’ll be another instance where he’s fighting down to the level of short-notice competition in a bullish Bobby Green after the eighth withdrawal or cancellation since signing with the promotion in 2015. Continue reading
UFC 269: Pena dethrones Nunes, before Oliveira submits Poirier on crazy night
The final UFC PPV event of 2021 certainly lived up to the billing, as Charles Oliveira rallied from a frenetic first-round to make the first defence of his lightweight strap against Dustin Poirier. Prior, his compatriot Amanda Nunes was stunned by a fierce Julianna Pena display – who similarly recovered from a slow start to shock the world with a round two rear-naked choke. Continue reading
UFC 269: Oliveira relishes chance to play spoiler in first title defence vs. Poirier
Regardless of who you ask, Dustin Poirier is the UFC’s overwhelming uncrowned champion and Dec. 11 in Las Vegas will be his title coronation. Charles Oliveira, who won the lightweight belt six months prior vs. Michael Chandler at UFC 262, is relishing the chance to silence that noise – making his first title defence and heading into 2022 with a whole host of contenders circling. Continue reading
UFC 267: New LHW champion Glover Teixeira teaches a valuable lesson in persistence
On an evening where multiple divisional contenders’ stock rose exponentially, a new champion was crowned. Before then, Petr Yan’s slow start vs. Cory Sandhagen didn’t deter him from having bantamweight gold wrapped around his waist again, albeit of the interim kind this time. Then Glover Teixeira made history in the main event matchup, submitting Jan Blachowicz with a R2 rear-naked choke to become the new 205lb titleholder at 42 years and two days old. Continue reading
Are you watching? UFC 267 a sleeper PPV card setting up 2021’s big finish in style
With six more promotional events to round out an eventful year after tonight’s card from Abu Dhabi, the fanfare surrounding future matchups should not detract from an overseas event featuring a compelling title fight without the unsavoury trash talk at 205lbs, alongside a rightful interim belt and more intriguing bouts that promise to move the needle ahead of 2022. Continue reading
UFC Vegas 31: Islam Makhachev mauls Thiago Moises in his first main event slot
Makhachev Mania? Khabib Nurmagomedov’s protege Islam thrived in his first main event against Thiago Moises, earning a fourth-round submission. Elsewhere, there were big wins for Billy Quarantillo and Mateusz Gamrot before returning former women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate sent Marion Reneau into retirement with a R3 TKO finish in the co-main.
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Max Holloway vs Yair Rodriguez set to headline UFC’s July 17 card
Six months on from his mesmerising striking display to blast past a gamely Calvin Kattar effort in Abu Dhabi, former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway again defends his #1 ranking against Yair Rodriguez (#3) on July 16 – 21 months after the latter’s last Octagon appearance. Continue reading
UFC 259: Blachowicz, Nunes win big after controversial bantamweight title finish
Jan Blachowicz defended his light-heavyweight strap for the first time with a UD win after a closely-fought duel against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, following Amanda Nunes’ ruthless decimation of her latest featherweight challenger in Megan Anderson. Prior to that, bantamweight Petr Yan’s R4 illegal knee on Aljamain Sterling saw the Russian lose his title.
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UFC 259: Nunes-Anderson featherweight title fight rebooked to headline March 6 card
Originally scheduled to take place at UFC 256 this past month, Amanda Nunes will defend her featherweight strap vs. Megan Anderson as the main event at UFC 259 on March 6 next year. Barring cancellations, the card is expected to also feature two-time bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and light-heavyweight contender Aleksandar Rakic (#4), among others. Continue reading
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