Two victories with different outcomes: how Makhachev dealt with Oliveira, and Yan lost in a fight with O'Malley at UFC 280

Total superiority of Makhachev

The UFC 280 tournament in Abu Dhabi turned out to be rich in events.

Nikita Krylov scored a spectacular victory over Volkan Ozdemir and made a bid to return to the top seven light heavyweights, while Abubakar Nurmagomedov demonstrated superiority in the fight and dealt with compatriot Gadzhi Omargadzhiev.

However, the focus was on the three main fights of the evening.

However, only two of them were truly competitive.

This is due to the injury of TJ Dillashaw, which prevented him from fighting on equal terms with Algemain Sterling.

Of course, the main bout of the evening caused the greatest excitement, in which the new king of the lightweight division was determined.

And the former champion Charles Oliveira, who lost his title due to a failure at the weigh-in, and the self-proclaimed leader of the category, Islam Makhachev, claimed this title.

The Russian himself openly stated that he considers himself the strongest in this weight and is ready to prove it in practice.

The victory over the Brazilian not only allowed him to repeat the achievements of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Petr Yan and become the third domestic UFC champion in history, but also allowed him to claim a high place in the Pound-for-Pound (P4P) rating.

On the eve of the fight, Makhachev called it his goal to complete the fight on the ground and thereby prove that he was the strongest grappler in the division.

And from the first seconds he tried to follow this plan.

Already in the first round, he twice transferred Oliveira to canvas and in total controlled there for almost four minutes.

Of course, the owner of the black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu tried to threaten with branded pain, but the Russian competently suppressed all these attempts.

In addition, from the very first minutes, the superiority of Islam in “physics” became noticeable, in which the athlete himself was not sure before the fight.

Unlike previous opponents of Charles, he could calmly keep the ex-champion on the ground and practically not give him the opportunity to rise.

It was not for nothing that Oliveira succeeded in getting up only after Makhachev's unsuccessful attempt to move into one of the most terrible positions for a wrestler defending from below.

Another difference from previous fights with Oliveira was his lack of superiority in the stance.

Yes, both Justin Gati and Dustin Poirier managed to catch him on a collision course and even send him to the floor, but after that they invariably got carried away and subsequently made the worst mistakes themselves.

And it was extremely curious to find out if Makhachev would be able not to follow in their footsteps and remain as cold-blooded as before.

He approached this battle as the least missed lightweight in history and once again managed to demonstrate his defensive skills.

In more than a round and a half, he allowed Charles to deliver only 19 punches.

The last time he was less productive in a duel with Jared Gordon.

True, that lasted only 76 seconds and ended with his victory by knockout.

In principle, even before the start of the confrontation, from a stylistic point of view, Makhachev could be called the most uncomfortable opponent for Oliveira.

All of the Brazilian's previous opponents have had significant gaps in one or more aspects.

Gaethje was deadly on the stand, but at the same time very weak on the ground and did not differ in endurance, and was also not famous for his ability to make the right decisions during the fight.

Poirier also had gaps in the fight, also prone to making mistakes at key moments, and Chandler, as noticeably inferior in size, was not able to carry out even three rounds at a high pace.

Islam, however, not only possessed a kind of superpower in the form of wrestling skills, but was also comprehensively developed.

In the standing position, he has noticeably improved since the defeat from Adriano Martins, in terms of endurance he could compete with the strongest representatives of the category, and even had a high fighting IQ.

And it was the combination of these qualities that helped him not only wear out Oliveira by the middle of the second five-minute period, but also achieve success.

Like the same Gati, he managed to catch Charles in oncoming traffic and drop him to the ground.

But if the American rushed to finish off the opponent and got caught in the net of a seasoned grappler, then the Russian himself immediately held a choke.

Performing a manual triangle turned out to be such a timely decision and so unexpected that the Brazilian himself was not ready for such a development of events.

Being knocked down

Jan's "Robbery"

And although Makhachev managed to create history, the result of the eliminator in the bantamweight division, in which Peter Yan and Sean O'Malley met, was no less discussed.

Undoubtedly, the fight turned out to be more equal than many expected, as a result of which the verdict of the judges could not but cause controversy.

As Dana White himself admitted at a press conference, he personally heard the opinion of people who preferred both the Russian and the American.

But it was the ex-champion who had much more reasons to be dissatisfied with the final decision.

As with the Sterling rematch, the first round was key in many ways.

This time Ian was much more active at the start and constantly put pressure on O'Malley, but he could not score serious hits.

Basically, he succeeded in body kicks and low kicks, often without impressing the jury.

However, Sean himself had little to do with it.

He was forced to act on waste, constantly threatened company direct, but he rarely found a target.

In fact, it could have been a draw in this five-minute period, if not for Peter's active actions in the end.

An amplitude takedown and more than a minute of control on the ground is more than a weighty reason to give preference to the former title holder.

But of the three judges, only one did.

Ben Cartlidge and David Lethaby did not follow the example of Vito Paolillo and unexpectedly sided with the American.

The two remaining rounds turned out to be much more intense, and there were bright episodes involving both fighters.

In the second, O'Malley and Ian successively exchanged powerful hits in the jaw, but if Sean then lost the initiative, then Piotr performed another takedown and controlled his opponent on the ground for a long time.

In total, during the second five-minute period, he laid the opponent on the floor three times, and thanks to this, he left no doubts among the judges.

However, all three left the final round to O'Malley.

And this decision raises serious questions.

Yes, the 11th number of the rating managed to hit his head powerfully with his knee, because of which the former champion opened a deep cut.

And according to statistics, he almost three times surpassed him in the number of significant hits (40:15).

But this only makes us think again about how fairly they are counted.

Previously, there have already been cases when one of the fighters completely outnumbered the other in significant blows, but this did not affect the course of the battle.

Suffice it to recall the battle between Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping or the duel between Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit.

Then the difference was also colossal, but the level of damage done was poorly correlated with the numbers.

Of course, the blood pouring into Ian's face and O'Malley's blows falling on the defense could have an effect on ordinary fans, but experts certainly should have paid attention to other aspects.

For example, for two successful passes of Peter in the legs.

The first helped him get out of a difficult situation and seize the initiative, the second helped him finish the round on a high note.

The same ex-UFC fighter Paul Felder, a few seconds before the second takedown of the Russian, expressed the opinion that it was successful actions in the end that would allow one of the opponents to tip the scales in his favor.

But the judges did not listen to Felder, which resulted in one of the most controversial decisions in mixed martial arts in recent times.

Even the winner himself was a little shocked by the outcome, answering Daniel Cormier's questions during a flash interview.

But Ian is no stranger to this.

In April, he already lost to Sterling in a very close fight and could not regain his lost title, and now he has lost the opportunity to play a trilogy with Algemain.

Judging by the words of White, he is not going to have an immediate rematch between Peter and Sean, but intends to give the American the right to fight for the belt.

It should be even more offensive to Jan for the reason that from a tactical point of view, he almost perfectly lined up the duel with O'Malley.

Yes, he still missed a lot, but this was mainly due to the difference in size.

In a battle with a lanky counterpart, he was forced to break through to close range, but along the way he found himself under a hail of blows.

The intention to use his strengths and make the American spend as much time on his back as possible was extremely logical.

But even this was not enough to win.