In the other star fight of the night, Russia's Islam Makhachev defeated Brazilian Charles Oliveira at lightweight to claim the lightweight title.

Manon Fiorot was awarded the victory by unanimous decision of the judges and could therefore now face the Peruvian Valentina Shevchenko, holder of the world belt since December 2018.

"I knew it was going to be a complicated fight, she is ranked number one, it's not for nothing. After I managed to win this fight, I would have liked to finish but I won, it's already good", underlined Fiorot immediately after his victory.

"I think I still need a bit of experience so I would like one more fight before I face Valentina", however, underlined the one who is nicknamed "The Beast".

"At the end of the fight, I knew I had won. I knew the first (round) was close but I watched a little and I knew what it took to win round two and round three", said the Frenchwoman at a press conference.

"She made an intelligent fight as usual. She disengaged a lot so it was difficult to touch her and do what I wanted to do so to finish the fight. She made her game as usual but I was expecting it," said Manon Foriot.

This is the 6th victory in a row in MMA for the former French snowboarding champion who now has ten wins for one defeat in the discipline.

Makhachev new champion

For his part, Islam Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira by submission in the 2nd round.

The Russian put pressure on his opponent from the start of the fight and managed to submit him shortly after the 3rd minute of the second round.

"I trained so hard for this moment," Makhachev said after his win, his 22nd against a loss, which made him the new champion in the lightweight division.

He dedicated his title to his coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, father of former undefeated king of the category Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Oliveira therefore failed to regain his title, which he had been stripped of before even being able to defend it last May when he was disqualified at the weigh-in after his victory over American Justin Gaethje.

In the bantamweight division, defending champion Aljamain Sterling, aka "Funk Master", defeated number two in the category, fellow countryman TJ Dillashaw, a former two-time champion.

Dillashaw, handicapped by a shoulder injury, had to fold in the second round.

In another fight in this same category delivered on Saturday evening, the American Sean O'Malley, world number 11, overcame the Russian Petr Yan, yet better ranked than him in the first three in the world in the category, by decision of the judges after three particularly violent rounds that Yan ended in blood.

© 2022 AFP