The final stop on the current tour of Dana White’s “Fight Island” has come & gone. The Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi hosted a stacked night of fights with 15 bouts in total, the last 4 on the card all featured former champions & perennial title challengers.
Let’s have a look how the night went down as I post the prelim fight winners & go through all the main card fights.
Prelim Quick Hits:
Nathaniel Wood def John Castaneda by Unanimous Decision
(30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ramazan Emeev def Niklas Stolze by Unanimous Decision
(30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Pannie Kianzad def Bethe Correira by Unanimous Decision
(30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Tanner Boser def Raphael Pessoa by TKO (Punches)
Movsar Evloev vs Mike Grundy by Unanimous Decision
(30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Tom Aspinall def Jake Collier by TKO (Punches)
Jesse Ronson def Nicolas Dalby by Submission (Rear Naked Choke)
Francisco Trinaldo def Jai Herbert by TKO (Punches)
Main Card:
Khamzat Chimaev vs Rhys McKee
What to say about this opener, on one side we had a Northern Irishmen who is a newcomer to the UFC fighting at a weight division up from where he normally fights against a Swede by way of Chechyna who is coming down to his natural weight class who fought only 10 days ago.
The result? An absolute MAULING by Chimaev who has now won 2 fights in 10 days, outside of early one night tournaments he is the first man to ever do that but better yet he has taken a total of ZERO damage across both fights, the guy is an absolute weapon and with more performances like this it won’t be long till he is challenging the top 5 at Welterweight.
Winner: Khamzat Chimaev by TKO (Punches) Round 1 (3:09)
Alex Oliveira vs Peter Sobotta
I was adamant that if Sobotta survived early he would grind Oliveira down & control the fight down the stretch. Boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong but I’m glad I was cause what we got was the best of Oliveira for a full 15 minutes.
He lit Sobotta up for basically the entire fight but one thing that stood out like a sore thumb was the patience he showed while still staying active to keep Sobottas offense impotent.
If Oliveira can churn out performances like this then he becomes a very dangerous gatekeeper to anybody wanting to climb the ranks. Chimaev vs Oliveira anybody??
Winner: Alex Oliveira by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Paul Craig vs Gadzhimurad Antigulov
In my preview I said don’t expect this to go the distance when what I should have said was don’t expect this to exceed 3 minutes.
Antigulov took this to the mat early & proceeded to rain down some heavy leather, he even opened Paul Craig up in the process. What Antigulov didn’t do was defend the triangle choke that Craig slowly & patiently inched around the neck which eventually forced the tap.
Big victory for the Scotsman who is getting better every day, don’t believe me? Just ask him!
Winner: Paul Craig by Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 1 (2:06)
Carla Esparza vs Marina Rodriguez
This fight went exactly as I expected it go. Rodriguez looked super dangerous on the feet & her takedown defence was good early but as I mentioned in the preview, Esparza is different to anybody Rodriguez had fought before in the sense of she wouldn’t stop going for a takedown then once she got her down she dominated.
Rodriguez hit the occasional elbow from the bottom but for the most part this was Esparza doing enough from the top position for the 15 minutes to take the zero from Rodriguez’s record en route to climbing a touch higher towards another shot at the title.
How one judge gave this fight to Rodriguez I have no idea but ultimately the right lady won.
Winner: Carla Esparza by Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
Fabricio Werdum vs Alexander Gustafsson
Werdum has looked like a retired fighter for a while now & as such I stated he had no right being in a cage fight but something about Gustafsson coming out of retirement & trying to make a name in the Heavyweight Division off of him lit a fire under the former Heavyweight Champion.
Gustafsson had early success on the feet, lighting Werdum up a few times which prompted the Brazilian to try for a takedown, one which he would not give up on & once he got him down it was abundantly clear that this one was all over. Werdum went wherever & did whatever he liked on the mat, that’s not a knock on Gustafsson’s BJJ it’s a compliment to how good Werdum’s is. Once Werdum had his heart set on the Armbar it was a matter of when not if this one would end.
Winner: Fabricio Werdum by Submission (Armbar) Round 1 (2:30)
Mauricio Rua vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Nogueira made it abundantly clear that this was his final fight & what better man to fight than someone he has faced twice already but never saluted. Shogun is in the twilight of a fantastic career but is still a very skilled & violent fighter, capable of destruction.
It was a very cagey opening few minutes but just like the previous two fights between the two Lil Nog got Shogun’s attention with a massive left hand which forced Shogun into a takedown attempt which was successful.
Rounds 2 & 3 saw the legends trade takedowns as well as heavy leather however Shogun was better for longer alot of which came from massive inside leg kicks that stiffled Lil Nog’s movement down the stretch.
Shogun took the broom to Yas Island with him so he could run it all over this trilogy now it’s done & dusted.
Winner: Mauricio Rua by Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Robert Whittaker vs Darren Till
Anytime you get Australia vs England in anything your bound to get fireworks & boy this was no different.
Whittaker was coming back after his first ever loss at Middleweight as well as losing his title in the process, meanwhile Till was trying to make a name for himself in his new weight class after defeating perennial challenger Kelvin Gastelum last start inside MSG.
This fight was very technical as you would expect when the fight iq of the competitors is through the roof but it was Till who scored first with a well placed left elbow to the chin of Whittaker putting him on his backside in Round 1 however the favour was returned in Round 2 when Till was sat down.
Down the stretch the fight was mostly controlled by Whittakers ability to stay out of Tills range as well as chop away at the lead leg which by round 5 was giving Till a lot of issues. Till had his moments especially early in round 5 when he laid a few good shots on the chin of Whittaker but this was a case of Whittaker taking the first big step en route to getting back what he feels he deserves, the UFC Middleweight championship.
Winner: Robert Whittaker by Unanimous Decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
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