Ankalaev's and Volkov's victories, Chimaev's return and Teixeira's triumph at 42: what is UFC 267 memorable for

Duraev's battle with Kopylov and Gamzatov's first defeat

The Absolute Fighting Championship tournament in Abu Dhabi could safely be considered a worthy response to the first ever Moscow Bellator show. Even if it was not held in Russia, almost a third of the total number of its participants were Russian fighters. And there could have been even more of them, if not for the cancellation of the duel between Magomed Mustafayev and Damir Ismagulov. The athlete from Dagestan was ready to return to the octagon after a 20-month absence, but his opponent prevented. The ex-champion M-1 Global failed the weigh-in: he exceeded the limit of the light category by 3.4 kg and nearly fainted during the procedure. As a result, the matchmakers did not allow him to fight.

One way or another, another Russian fighter was to open the UFC 267 program. Like Mustafayev, flyweight representative Tagir Ulanbekov last fought back in 2020 - though not in February, but in October. Nevertheless, the simple one was still more than solid, as a result of which his condition caused serious concern. The so-called rust has not yet been canceled, and the enemy was not the easiest one. Despite the fact that Allan Nascimento just made his debut in the largest MMA promotion, he could well surprise teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov.

It became clear on the fly that Nascimento was inferior to Ulanbekov both in striking and wrestling skills, but he could oppose a lot to him on the ground. The holder of the purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, even in the first five minutes, almost caught his opponent in an armbar, and then, having fallen into the guillotine, heroically got out of it. And as the fight continued, Allan had more and more opportunities to use his grappling skills. Tagir noticeably slowed down and, even when he transferred his opponent to the flooring, he was extremely vulnerable there, and not only for painful punches, but also for short elbow strikes. Naturally, he himself denoted activity and attacked both the head and the body. But not to say that these hits caused serious damage.

At the end of the duel, a double impression could have formed. Ulanbekov spent more than 12 minutes in the overhead position, but missed too many punches on the ground and almost hit the painful position several times. Nascimento was close to performing the kimura and triangle, but the Russian struggled every time. Therefore, it is not surprising that the opinion of the judges was divided. One gave preference to the Brazilian, while the other two sided with the Russian. Tagir not without difficulty, but still won the second fight in the UFC and retained his place in the top 15 of the flyweight rankings.

Unlike Ulanbekov, the next two fighters decided not to bring the matter to the decision of the jury and finished their fights ahead of schedule. Andre Petroski dominated Yu Yaozong for less than three rounds, but 14 seconds before the gong he still caught him on a hand triangle. However, it still remained in the shadow of Leron Murphy. Former opponent of Zubair Tukhugov noticed that Makvan Amirkhani was preparing to go to his feet and knocked him in the head with his knee. The knockout turned out to be so effective and at the same time difficult that the Englishman demanded a cash bonus for the "Performance of the evening", and the Finn could not come to his senses for a long time.

The battle between Shamil Gamzatov and Michal Olekseychuk ended ahead of schedule. The undefeated Russian had 14 professional fights and a successful debut in the UFC behind him, but was still not considered a favorite. Largely due to the same notorious downtime. First, the coronavirus, and then visa problems, took him out of the game for almost two years. We can say that he was in a situation similar to Ulanbekov's, but the difference was that he had to meet with a much more experienced and skilled opponent.

And this has become a key factor. Olekseychuk seized the initiative and made Gamzatov work at a pace that suits him and at a comfortable distance. For 3 minutes 31 seconds, he was under tremendous pressure, which forced him to retreat to the net and constantly defend himself. Not only was it inconvenient for him to fight in such a manner, but also problems with the functionality were revealed. Moreover, it is difficult to say unequivocally what was to blame for that - a missed straight line into the solar plexus or a fast pace of the fight. If you look at the number of significant hits (32:35), you might get the impression that the battle was equal. But in fact, Michal was much more self-confident and sharper, which in the end brought him success. A combination of a jab and an uppercut to the forehead knocked Shamil down, and then a finishing move followed.

Before the end of the warm-up, two more fights were planned with the participation of Russian fighters, but before that, the attention of the audience was attracted by the actions of the domestic referee.

Vyacheslav Kiselev judged the battle between Eliza Zaleski dos Santos and Benoit Saint-Denis and had more than enough reason to stop him in the middle of the second round.

The Brazilian beat the undefeated Frenchman, who could hardly stand on his feet, but the referee, for unknown reasons, refused to intervene.

And this displeased not only Daniel Cormier, who was commenting on the show, but also referee Mark Goddard.

As a result, the fight lasted all the planned 15 minutes, and Zaleski's advantage in strikes was more than two-fold - 149: 67.

Saint-Denis miraculously endured to the end, received huge damage to his health and lost by unanimous decision of the judges, and Kiselev was removed from further work in the tournament.

Roman Kopylov also demonstrated courage and strength of spirit. Ahead of the final round, the ex-Fight Nights Global champion was on the verge of defeat. If he spent the first five minutes relatively well, then in the course of the next he missed the takedown and ended up in the element of Albert Duraev. He completely dominated the stalls, which was reflected on the face of his opponent in the form of a broken nose and unpleasant cuts. And in the last seconds, the former ACA title holder threw in a rear naked choke, but the gong saved the opponent.

However, during the break, Kopylov found the strength to continue and in the last segment fought on equal terms with Duraev. He defended himself from several passes to the legs, and the trick in the style of Derrick Lewis turned out to be especially memorable. Roman dropped his hands and lulls Albert's vigilance, after which he inflicted a powerful left side. In the end, he himself held a takedown and even spent some time in the top position, but failed to build on his success and lost by unanimous decision.

In the same way, Zubair Tukhugov won his 20th career victory.

The battle with Ricardo Ramos was equal and fierce and mainly took place in a stand where the Russian worked as the first number.

And he did it quite confidently, apart from the missed roundhouse kick in the first five minutes.

Plus, in the endings, he regularly tried to translate the Brazilian onto canvas.

And although this did not have development, it had an impact on the judges.

All three subsequently gave Tukhugov two rounds out of three, which allowed him to rehabilitate for the defeat from Hakim Davod in September 2020.

The success of the Russians and the sensation from Teixeira

The main card of UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi was also rife with fights involving Russian fighters.

In addition to Peter Yan and Islam Makhachev, two more Russians entered the cage.

The first of them was Magomed Ankalaev, who was to meet with the former contender for the light heavyweight title Volkan Ozdemir.

The victory over him practically guaranteed getting into the top 5 and strengthening in the elite of the division.

And Ankalaev coped with his task without any problems.

He immediately put the enemy in a difficult position, deciding to fight in a left-sided stance.

For Ozdemir, this was, if not unexpected, then clearly inconvenient, and later almost led to his early defeat.

The exact left straight sent him to the canvas, but the Swiss managed to recover.

However, Ozdemir could not find his own rhythm and distance. Ankalaev fired at him from a distance, was more precise in exchanges, and in one of them he completely cut his opponent's left eyebrow. The wound was very deep, and blood began to flood the eye. In such conditions, it was almost impossible to compete on equal terms with the seventh number in the rating. The third round has become a mere formality. Magomed confidently controlled the course of the duel and ended it in his favor without any problems.

But if Ankalaev won the seventh fight in a row, then Alexander Volkov only returned to the victorious rails.

In the confrontation between the ex-champions of M-1 Global, the Russian turned out to be stronger than Marcin Tybura and closed the defeat to Cyril Gan.

The fight also lasted the entire distance, but it turned out to be not so unambiguous.

Largely because of the second round, in which Volkov noticeably slowed down and allowed the Pole to seize the initiative.

The other two segments were left for Drago.

He, although forced to act as number two, was more accurate and sharper in his attacks.

Rather, Tybura used them for rapprochement and attempts to clinch a takedown.

However, that evening, none of the 16 attempts to knock Volkov down were unsuccessful.

“In the rack, I did my usual job. The main thing for victory was not to give the opponent the opportunity to pass (at the feet. -

). He's a pretty tough fighter. And even when Marcin loses in a standing position, he always makes a pass. The task in this camp was to defend against the struggle as much as possible. The task is 100% completed, ”the heavyweight admitted.

Also, the main card was remembered for two early victories. Khamzat Chimaev triumphantly returned to the cage after 13 months of absence and left no chance for Lee Jingliang. The Chinese man lasted only 3 minutes 16 seconds, and the Chechen-born Swede won with amazing ease. In the process of carrying out the throw, he even managed to turn to Dana White, and on the ground he did not meet any resistance at all. On the third attempt, he managed to properly grab the opponent's neck and bring the rear strangulation attempt to its logical conclusion.

But the main event was the phenomenal victory of 42-year-old Glover Teixeira. The last time the Brazilian fought for the title was in April 2014, after which he did not win the status of the first contender. And it is not surprising that this time, few people preferred it. By the age of 38, Jan Blakhovich had reached peak form and was on a series of five victories in a row.

And if the dominance of Teixeira in the parterre was quite expected, then the superiority in the standing position could hardly have been predicted.

He spent the first round in a position from above, and in the second he drove the Pole to the net and hit the jaw with his left side.

Blakhovich stayed on his feet and even responded with a sweeping series of hits, but was soon again knocked down on the canvas.

And this time Glover easily made his way to the back mount and choke, becoming the second oldest champion in UFC history.

According to this indicator, he is second only to Randy Couture, who held the title at 45 years old.