Products You May Like
The UFC 280 showdown for the vacant lightweight title Saturday between ex-champion Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev ended with Makhachev being crowned the new lightweight king at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In the co-main event, bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling took out former champion T.J. Dillashaw with ground and pound punches in Round 2 to retain his belt.
Oliveira had been confident that his diversity would be enough to lead him to victory and to regain the title he lost on the scales at UFC 273. But it was Makhachev’s striking that led to a submission win over the UFC’s submission leader. Makhachev has now won 11 fights in a row.
Ahead of their co-main event matchup, Sterling had done a lot of trash talking and openly said he believes that Dillashaw is still using PEDs. Dillashaw received a two-year suspension from USADA in 2019 for using EPO. Dillashaw dismissed it as mental warfare and said that Sterling has a quit button in him that he’ll push. Instead, Sterling defended his belt with a TKO in the second round after Dillashaw appeared to dislocate his left shoulder in the first frame.
Sean O’Malley faced the biggest test of his career when he took on former bantamweight champion and top-ranked challenger, Petr Yan. “Suga” eked out a split decision and will likely be the top challenger for the winner of Sterling-Dillashaw.
A significant lightweight clash between Beneil Dariush and Mateusz Gamrot ended with Dariush having his hand raised after an impressive performance to earn the decision. Dariush is now on an eight-fight winning streak despite coming into the bout against Gamrot as an underdog.
A women’s flyweight bout between Katlyn Chookagian and Manon Fiorot opened the main card, though Chookagian missed weight and the bout was fought at a catchweight. Fiorot won by unanimous decision as all three judges scored it in her favor.
There were a number of great bouts on the preliminary card, which was headlined by a welterweight battle between Belal Muhammad — along with the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov in his corner — against Sean Brady. Muhammad handed Brady his first defeat in MMA by TKO in the second round.
Yahoo Sports will have full coverage of the stacked show, so keep it locked here.
UFC 280 main card results, highlights
Lightweight: Islam Makhachev def. Charles Oliveira by submission (arm triangle) at 3:16 of R2:
Bantamweight: Aljamain Sterling def. T.J. Dillashaw by TKO (ground and pound) at 3:44 of R2:
Bantamweight: Sean O’Malley def. Petr Yan by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Lightweight: Beneil Dariush def. Mateusz Gamrot by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Catchweight (127.5 lb): Manon Fiorot def. Katlyn Chookagian by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
UFC 280 preliminary card results, highlights
Welterweight: Belal Muhammad def. Sean Brady by TKO (punches) at 4:47 of R2:
Middleweight: Caio Borralho def. Makhmud Muradov by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Light heavyweight: Nikita Krylov def. Volkan Oezdemir by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Welterweight: Abubakar Nurmagomedov def. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Middleweight: Armen Petrosyan def. A.J. Dobson by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Flyweight: Muhammad Mokaev def. Malcolm Gordon by submission (armbar) 4:26 of R3:
Women’s bantamweight: Karol Rosa def. Lina Länsberg by majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28)
