Shevchenko's sixth title defense, Volkanovski's victory over Ortega, Abdurakhimov's knockout defeat: what is UFC 266 memorable for

One of the most anticipated events of September in mixed martial arts, as expected, was the numbered tournament of the Absolute Fighting Championship. UFC 266 stood out against the general background not only with two title fights, in which Alexander Volkanovski and Valentina Shevchenko defended their titles, but also with a number of status fights. Shamil Abdurakhimov was making a long-awaited return to the octagon after a two-year hiatus, and Curtis Blades was eager to close the defeat to Derrick Lewis, but all this remained in the shadow of the battle between the veterans of MMA. Nick Diaz has been preparing to enter the cage for the first time since 2015 and have a rematch with Robbie Lawler. They first met more than 17 years ago - in April 2004.

The preliminary card show was remembered in many ways by the fact that five of the eight battles ended ahead of schedule.

Jonathan Pierce and Jaleen Turner won by rear naked choke, while Matt Semelsberger and Merab Dvalishvili won by knockouts.

At the same time, the Georgian athlete prevailed over the former contender for the bantamweight title Marlon Moraes.

At the moment, this can be called the greatest success in his career.

Abdurakhimov was among the losers ahead of schedule.

The Russian heavyweight decided to fight in a stance with Chris Dakas and lost.

The "explosive" American knocked him down twice - in the fifth and seventh minutes of the battle.

But if in the first case Shamil was saved by the gong, then in the second there was plenty of time for finishing.

Abdurakhimov lost in the second fight in a row and most likely lost his place in the top 10 of the UFC heavyweight ranking.

Up to this point, he occupied the seventh line - and this despite the long idle time.

It can be occupied by Dakas.

The American extended his successful streak to five fights, knocking out an opponent from Russia for the second time in a row.

The previous "victim" was Alexey Oleinik.

In turn, the return to the Blades cage was more successful.

Yes, he could not finish the fight with Jairzinho Rosenstrike ahead of schedule, but still achieved success.

At the end of three rounds, he surpassed his counterpart both in the number of passes to the legs (3: 0) and accurate hits (32:18).

However, the same cannot be said for Diaz. Once the first contender for the welterweight title appeared in a cage in far from the best shape and could not repeat the success of 17 years ago. He fought selflessly for two rounds, but at the very beginning of the third he missed a series of heavy blows to the head and fell to the canvas. Lawler refused to go into the stalls of the renowned BJJ specialist and invited him to continue the battle in a standing position. But suddenly Nick refused to get up, declaring his intention to stop the fight to the judge.

In recent years, Shevchenko has repeatedly proved that she has no worthy competition in the lightest division. This was indicated by seven victories in a row, six of which were won in title fights, as well as the incredible ease with which they were obtained. Only with Yoanna Jencejczyk and Liz Karmush she had to spend all five rounds, other opponents surrendered much earlier. And hardly anyone doubted that Lauren Murphy would face the same fate. Yes, the 38-year-old American could boast of an unbeaten streak of five fights in a row, but none of her rivals came close to the level of an athlete from Kyrgyzstan.

And what happened in the cell was entirely in line with expectations. Murphy, although desperately trying to impose a fight both in the standing position and on the ground, could not match Shevchenko's level. Valentina completely controlled the course of the battle and chose exactly where it would take place. In general, she transferred the holder of the brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to the ground three times, and in the stand she surpassed the challenger completely. Almost ninefold difference in strikes speaks for itself - 98:11.

Surprisingly, Murphy lasted more than three rounds, which neither ex-lightweight champion Jessica Andrade (who also took over at UFC 266) nor Jessica I. In the middle of the fourth five-minute, Shevchenko shook her opponent with a jab, after which she unleashed a flurry of blows on her head, and subsequently transferred to the floor. Lauren was beaten for more than a minute, until a series of hard hits forced referee Keith Peterson to intervene. So Valentina defended her belt in the division up to 56.7 kilograms for the sixth time.

In the main fight, one of the main intrigues was whether Brian Ortega had managed to add striking technique since his first attempt to win the UFC title.

In December 2018, he already fought for the trophy, but could not oppose anything to Max Holloway.

The champion gave the challenger a uniform beating and sent 290 significant hits to the target.

And in the first rounds, the impression was that much progress was not achieved.

Volkanovski had a huge advantage in the standing position, as a result of which, already in the first round, an extensive hematoma arose under Ortega's right eye.

In the future, it only increased and brought colossal problems to the challenger, almost becoming the reason for stopping the battle.

Referee Herb Dean, together with the doctor, checked the athlete's condition for a long time, but still decided that he was able to continue the fight.

It is noteworthy that Ortega was on the verge of defeat after one of the brightest rounds in 2021. During the third five-minute interval, Volkanovski again interrupted the opponent in a standing position, when he suddenly missed the left straight line and collapsed onto the canvas. The master of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu immediately rushed forward and imprisoned the champion in a guillotine. It seemed that Alexander was about to give up, but he miraculously endured and returned to the dominant position.

Now Brian found himself in a critical situation, taking on himself a hail of blows. Volkanovski hit over and over again, until he suddenly yawned again for a choke hold. This time, Ortega sketched out his trademark triangle. The position of the champion was again assessed as hopeless, but he again managed to get out. He spent the rest of the round on top and almost finished the fight ahead of schedule. Brian was saved by a gong, after which he was able to get to his feet only with the help of seconds.

In the remaining rounds, Ortega had another chance to turn the tide of the battle and still become the featherweight champion.

In the fourth segment, he again caught Volkanovski on the painful, but this time everything looked not so promising.

Otherwise, Alexander's advantage was colossal.

Yes, Brian managed to hold out until the gong, and in the end he even scored a couple of good hits, but this was clearly not enough.

The Australian struck 2.4 times more punches (214: 88) and deservedly won by unanimous decision.