Welcome back to Joe’s MMA Hour; the weekly blog where I break down all of the latest in the sport of MMA and preview upcoming events.  Today I will be summarizing the highly anticipated UFC 280, breaking down the card and briefly previewing the upcoming fight night event between Calvin Kattar and Arnold Allen.  There is a lot to uncover this week so buckle up!

 

Abu Dhabi, touted as the fight capital of the Eastern world hosted a blockbuster card on Saturday as it showcased the vacant lightweight title fight between former champion and number 1 contender Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira and number 3 ranked contender Islam Machachev.  The fight was an unstoppable force meets an immovable object type of bout as both fighter came into this fight on a huge upward trajectory.  Despite losing the title earlier in the year due to missing weight, Oliveira came into this bout on an eleven fight win streak with 10 of those being finishes.  The Russian (Makhachev) boasted an impressive win streak himself of 10 wins coming into this fight.  The fight played out as some might expect with Makhachev  bringing Oliveira to the ground early and controlling him for mostly the entire round cashing in a dominant round one victory.  The second round escalated a similar way with both combatants trading heavy blows within the clinch which ultimately resulted in Makhachev finding his way onto Oliveira again in what would lead to a submission finish by the Russian.  The UFC lightweight title returned to Dagestan Islam Makhachev continued to legacy of his predecessor, Khabib Nurmagomedov.  Khabib was able to share in this glory as he strapped the belt around the waist of his mentee.

This was not the only championship bout on the card as Aljamain Sterling vs. T.J. Dillashaw delivered in a barn burner of a bantamweight championship.  Sterling left the octagon with a victory however as he secured at second round TKO over Dillashaw and established himself as a true bantamweight great in his second title defense.  This was of course was preceded by an intense back and forth bantamweight battle between number 1 ranked Russian contender Petr “No Mercy” Yan and “Sugar” Sean O’Malley.  O’Malley came in with the clear size and reach advantage but many believed it was Yan who possessed the necessary skills to win this fight.  After three rounds, the judges were left with a tough decision as it was apparent this fight could go either way.  The judges would give this fight to O’Malley as he would get the victory by split decision.  It would be a controversial decision but a fair one nonetheless.

Looking ahead to next week’s event, a huge fight in the featherweight division unfolds as Boston native Calvin Kattar takes on rising start Englishman, Arnold Allen.  Though Allen is boasting an impressive streak, this is undoubtably the biggest test of his career.  Tune in next week for my updates and analysis on this fight.  Until then, have a great week!

 

 

Works Cited:

 

Brookhouse, Brent. “Islam Makhachev UFC Champion.” Cbssport.com, CBS, 2022, https://www.cbssports.com/mma/news/ufc-280-results-highlights-islam-makhachev-submits-charles-oliveira-to-earn-lightweight-title/live/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2022.