The fourth of a series of UFC tournaments on "Fight Island" has ended in Abu Dhabi. The main battle of the evening was the confrontation between former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and Briton Darren Till, known for his performance in the welterweight category. Also, the show was remembered for the debut of Alexander Gustafsson in the heavyweight division and the third-ever meeting of MMA veterans represented by Mauricio Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The attention of Russian MMA fans was riveted on three domestic athletes - Movsar Yevloyev, Ramazan Emeev and Gadzhimurad Antigulov.
Ramazan Emeev was the first to enter the cage and he had something to prove. In November 2019, he fought in front of his native audience in Moscow, but unexpectedly lost by unanimous decision to Antonio Rocco Martin. The American not only inflicted his first defeat on the Russian since 2014, but also interrupted a successful streak of seven victorious bouts in a row.
He had to close the failure in a duel with the debutant of the promotion Niklas Stolze. The German gained fame in European organizations, but even there he did not always look impressive. So, in addition to 12 victories, his track record included three defeats at once. Moreover, the last two he suffered not so long ago - in the period from 2016 to 2017. All this indicated not the highest level of the athlete and automatically made the Russian a favorite.
Already in the first round, Emeev began to justify this status. He easily walked into close range and either controlled the opponent in the clinch, or transferred him to the ground. In the first three minutes, he spent three takedowns, having experienced problems only in the end. Stolze showed several deceiving movements, after which he stabbed his knee. He fell exactly in the jaw of Ramadan and almost provoked a knockdown.
It seemed that in the second round, Emeev should have adhered to the plan and continued to knit the opponent, but he decided to change his style. Despite missing a knee, Ramazan ventured to offer Stolze an exchange at mid-range and this time was much more successful. For five minutes, he pressed the German and was more accurate in the stand. Niklas, though he continued to hit, felt ill at ease.
In the final round, Stolze made every effort to win the judges over to his side. He carried out a series of successful attacks, issued a transfer to the ground and tried to conduct a guillotine for the second time in a fight. But Emeev stopped all attempts and confidently won. Two referees gave him all three five minutes, and the third - two.
Movsar Yevloyev was the second of the Russians to enter the octagon. The talented featherweight was due to compete at UFC 248 in March but had an accident and was forced to withdraw from the competition. In Abu Dhabi, he was to meet with Mike Grundy. It is noteworthy that the Briton and the Russian could have fought with each other back in August 2019, but then the bronze medalist of the Commonwealth Games in freestyle wrestling was injured.
In the debut, Grandi demonstrated his wrestling skills in all its glory. He translated Evloyev to the ground very well and supervised him very well, and in one of the episodes he almost made him knock. The holder of the purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu strangled D'Arce, but Movsar got out of the difficult situation perfectly.
In the remaining 12 minutes of the fight, Evloyev showed the difference between a universal fighter and a specialist in one aspect. He adapted to the style of Grundy and no longer allowed him to keep himself on the floor for a long time, but in the stance was completely superior to the enemy. At certain moments, there was a feeling that Mike could not keep track of Movsar's lightning-fast jabs, over and over again hitting the target. As a result, the Russian delivered 4.8 times more accented blows (72 - 15), which resulted in a serious dissection under the British left eye.
The judges nevertheless drew attention to the activity of Grundy at the beginning of the battle and did not allow him to lose dry. On all three cards, Evloev took two rounds out of three and became the winner. Movsar won the 13th career fight and the third under the auspices of the largest MMA promotion in the world.
A week ago, only two out of three Russian athletes took over, and this time a similar ratio has been preserved. Gadzhimurad Antigulov, who suffered the third early defeat in a row, performed unsuccessfully. In two previous duels, he was knocked out by Ion Kutselaba and Michal Olekseichuk, and this time he lost to Paul Craig by choke.
Antigulov started very confidently and quickly transferred Craig to canvas, but clearly underestimated the Scotsman's abilities in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And this despite the fact that 11 out of 12 of his victories he won by submission. Paul quickly trapped his opponent in a triangle and forced him to surrender. For Gadzhimurad, this failure was the seventh in his career.
At the same time, Antigulov was the only Russian who fought in the main card of the tournament. The main program of UFC Fight Island 3 was remembered for the performance of a number of veterans, and one of the most intriguing was the fight between Alexander Gustafsson and Fabricio Werdum. The former light heavyweight title contender made his debut in the most prestigious category, but failed. Already in the first round, the Swede hit the elbow lever and was forced to knock. For the Brazilian, this was his first triumph since November 2017.
In the second most important fight, Mauricio Rua defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira for the third time. Over the past 14 years, athletes have met each other three times, and their first duel took place under the auspices of the Japanese PRIDE promotion. Like the previous two times, the Shogun won by unanimous decision. Carl Espars and Alex Oliveira also delighted their fans, but the most memorable performance was the performance of Khamzat Chimaev. The native of Chechnya, now representing Sweden, left no chance for Rhys Mackey. He immediately transferred the opponent to the ground and arranged a real beating there. By the time of the stop, the statistics on strikes were 68 - 0.
It is noteworthy that this fight was the second for Chimaev in the last 10 days. At UFC Fight Island 1, he strangled John Phillips with the help of D'Ars and became the first-ever championship fighter to achieve success twice in such a short amount of time. Previously, the record was held by Chas Skelly, who defeated Tony Niinimaki and Sean Soriano in 13 days.
In the main fight of the evening, the top middleweight fighters met. Ex-champion and number one rating Robert Whittaker examined yesterday's debutant of the category in the person of Darren Teal. Previously, Scouser looked impressive in the welterweight division and even fought for the title with Tyrone Woodley, but after two defeats in a row, he decided to put on weight.
The fight was intense. In the first round, Till successfully hit Whittaker's jaw with his elbow and sent him to the canvas, but the Australian quickly recovered and took revenge in the second. The right side hit right on target and knocked the Briton down. From that moment, Robert's dominance began, which lasted until the final round. Only in the last five minutes Darren managed to take the initiative into his own hands, but this was not enough.
Whittaker won by unanimous decision (48 - 47) and closed the defeat to Israel Adesanya. The # 1 ranking has won ten victories in his last 11 fights and took an impressive step towards the title fight. True, he can no longer spend it with the New Zealander. In September, he will try to defend the belt for the second time in a duel with the undefeated Paulo Costa.