The UFC bantamweight contender picture will gain some clarity Saturday night.
Marlon Moraes meets Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The card will take place at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, which the UFC has dubbed “Fight Island,” the promotion’s international home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Going in, ESPN has Moraes ranked No. 2 in the world at bantamweight and Sandhagen at No. 6. The winner could be a future title contender.
Moraes (23-6-1) has won five of his past six fights, with the only loss in that time coming to Henry Cejudo in a bout for the then-vacant bantamweight title. Moraes, a 32-year-old Brazilian, is coming off a split-decision win over former featherweight champ Jose Aldo at UFC 245 last December. Moraes is the former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion, and he already owns wins over UFC bantamweight contenders Aljamain Sterling and Jimmie Rivera.
Sandhagen (12-2) lost for the first time during his UFC run at UFC 250 in June, a submission defeat to Sterling. Sandhagen, a Colorado resident, was on a seven-fight winning streak prior to that. The 28-year-old is thought to be a future star in the division, with precision striking and unorthodox footwork somewhat reminiscent of former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
In the co-main event Saturday, Edson Barboza and Makwan Amirkhani meet in a clash of featherweights. Barboza (20-9), a 34-year-old Brazilian, has lost five of six. Amirkhani (16-4), a 31-year-old from Finland, has won three of four.
Also on the card, Ben Rothwell meets Marcin Tybura in a heavyweight battle; Markus Perez faces South African prospect Dricus Du Plessis at middleweight; and Youssef Zalal tries to win his fourth UFC fight of the year, against Ilia Topuria in a featherweight bout.
Fight in progress: Men’s featherweight: Edson Barboza (20-9, 14-9 UFC, -260) vs. Makwan Amirkhani (16-4, 6-2 UFC, +220)
Results:
Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura (20-6, 7-5 UFC) def. Ben Rothwell (38-13, 8-7 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Tybura weathered the storm.
Rothwell pushed ahead and kept an incredibly high pace for the heavyweight division in the first round, peppering Tybura with punching combinations. But Tybura survived Rothwell’s early aggression and took over in the second part of the fight to earn a unanimous-decision victory (29-27, 29-27, 29-27).
In the first round, Rothwell came forward over and over again with combinations, landing unorthodox uppercuts and body shots. Tybura did well in countering, but Rothwell surely won the first round by landing the most impactful shots.
The tide turned in the second. Rothwell tired — he wasn’t as quick coming in, and Tybura made him pay for it with excellent counters. Tybura cracked Rothwell in his left eye, which caused swelling. He also landed a knee to “Big Ben” in the clinch. Tybura was making Rothwell pay for blitzing in.
The third round was a repeat of the second, as Tybura landed beautiful counters to a slowing Rothwell, then took Rothwell down and bloodied him up with ground and pound from top position. All three judges gave Tybura a 10-8 in the third round.
Tybura, 34, has now won three straight following a two-fight losing streak. The Poland native has five heavyweight decision wins since 2016, when he made his UFC debut – the most in the promotion during that time. Rothwell, a 38-year-old Wisconsin native, had a two-fight winning streak snapped.
Middleweight: Dricus Du Plessis (15-2, 1-0 UFC) def. Markus Perez (12-4, 2-4 UFC) by first-round knockout (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Du Plessis started his UFC debut slowly, but ended it quickly by crumbling Perez with a short left hook that gave the former KSW champion a finish at 3:22 of Round 1 — his third straight victory, and 11th in his last 12 fights.
The 26-year-old South African was put on the defensive at the start by the aggressive Perez, and Du Plessis seemed unable to get his offense going at first.
“He obviously knew that I’m a guy coming into my first fight. There’s always those first-fight jitters,” said Du Plessis. “I wasn’t really nervous, but it was a case of, you know, I’m in the damn UFC.”
He’ll be there for a while if he continues to perform like he did in his debut. After the tentative start, Du Plessis gradually started coming forward. And after he landed a body kick that sent Perez back toward the cage, he threw a right hand that missed but followed with a left that dropped Perez to the canvas face-first for the KO.
That’s how you make a UFC debut!!!!! Great fight @dricusduplessis!!! #UFCFightIsland5
— Michael Chiesa (@MikeMav22) October 11, 2020
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life,” said Du Plessis.
For Perez, 30, it was his second straight loss. He had alternated wins and losses in his first five UFC bouts after joining the promotion in 2017 as an unbeaten fighter.
Heavyweight: Tom Aspinall (9-2, 2-0 UFC) def. Alan Baudot (8-2, 0-1 UFC) by first-round TKO (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Fight Island has been very good to Aspinall.
After a quick win in his UFC debut in Abu Dhabi back in July, Aspinall has another impressive victory on his record. He stopped Baudot with ground and pound from full mount, earning a TKO at 1:35 of the first round in the heavyweight bout. Aspinall won a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus in July for his 45-second starching of Jake Collier, and his name is definitely in the hat for another bonus on Saturday.
This fight was never close. Aspinall came forward and landed a front kick to Baudot’s back leg, which buckled Baudot briefly. Then Aspinall landed a hard punching combination, followed by a takedown. From there, Aspinall moved to mount and rained down hard elbows and punches. Baudot had no answer, and the bout was quickly done.
Aspinall, 27, has won five straight, all by finish. The England native is a teammate of UFC middleweight star Darren Till. Baudot, a 32-year-old Frenchman, had a two-fight winning streak snapped.
Men’s featherweight: llia Topuria (9-0, 1-0 UFC) def. Youssef Zalal (10-3, 3-1 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Topuria relied on relentless grappling attacks, never appearing to become frustrated when Zalal survived multiple submission attempts, and ultimately remained undefeated in his UFC debut.
Born in Germany and fighting out of Spain, Topuria spent the better part of Round 1 setting up submission try after submission try. The 23-year-old transitioned fluidly from an anaconda choke to a triangle and back to the anaconda, but Zalal successfully defended each attempt, even when the positions looked dangerous, and made it to the horn without submitting.
Zalal appeared emboldened early in the second round, initiating the grappling himself. But that just enabled Topuria to go back to work on the canvas. Topuria was always a step ahead, locking in several chokes that looked tight. But Zalal, a 24-year-old native of Morocco who fights out of Denver, managed to avoid being finished. And in the fight’s final minute, he had a chance to change the narrative, as Topuria appeared tired. But Zalal could not take advantage, and Topuria earned the first decision win of his career.
For a short notice fight against Zalal, thats a really good performance for Topuria. He has some slick grappling #UFCFightIsland5
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) October 11, 2020
All three judges scored the bout 29-28.
For Zalal, the loss ended a four-fight winning streak, with the last three of those victories coming in the UFC.
Middleweight: Tom Breese (12-2, 5-2 UFC) def. KB Bhullar (8-1, 0-1 UFC) by first-round knockout (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
All respect to Bhullar, but Tom’s win was a real Breese.
Breese caught Bhullar with a perfectly placed jab that put Bhullar down. Breese pounced on the ground with a flurry of punches and got the finish via TKO at 1:42 of the first round. The real damage, though, came before the jab and finish. Breese landed two precision one-two combinations that sent Bhullar’s head snapping back. The previously undefeated Bhullar was clearly in big trouble against the boxing of Breese.
Breese, 29, has alternated wins and losses in his previous four fights. He has long been one of the United Kingdom’s most promising athletes in the middleweight division, but he has yet to put it all together. Perhaps this is the start. Breese has 11 finishes in 12 career wins and this was his eighth career first-round finish.
Bhullar, a 28-year-old Canadian, was making his UFC debut.
Heavyweight: Chris Daukaus (10-3, 2-0 UFC) def. Rodrigo Nascimento (8-1, 1-1 UFC) by first-round knockout (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Nascimento is a jiu-jitsu master, and the fight did go to his domain — the canvas — within the opening seconds. But by then the big Brazilian already was damaged goods and on his way to his first career defeat thanks to a barrage of Daukaus left hooks.
Daukaus, a 31-year-old out of Philadelphia, earned his third consecutive victory and the eighth win in his past nine outings by wasting no time before going after Nascimento with heavy hands. He dropped the Brazilian just seconds into the fight with a left hook that punctuated a combination, and he followed Nascimento to the mat — a sign that he knew he had his man hurt.
Daukaus delivered several shots from top position, and when Nascimento got the fight back to standing, Daukaus made sure it didn’t remain there for long. He landed another left hook to floor his opponent, and referee Marc Goddard had seen enough, jumping in at 45 seconds.
For Daukaus, it was his third straight first-round knockout win, and the fastest of his career. Overall, he has nine knockouts in 10 victories.
Nascimento, 27, was the third fighter of the night to suffer a first career defeat.
Middleweight: Joaquin Buckley (11-3, 1-1 UFC) def. Impa Kasanganay (8-1, 1-1 UFC) by second-round knockout (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Buckley might have sealed up the MMA knockout of the year. At the very least, it was surely one of the most unique knockouts in the history of the sport.
“This might be the greatest KO I’ve seen ever,” UFC color commentator Paul Felder said.
In the second round, Buckley threw a left high kick that Kasanganay caught with his left hand. Kasanganay pushed Buckley’s left leg away, but Buckley used that created motion to spin — and land a perfect back kick right to Kasanganay’s jaw. Kasanganay was out on impact.
That move.
That’s 50 G’s!— Israel Adesanya (@stylebender) October 10, 2020
“We drill to kill,” Buckley said in his post-fight interview. “But I never landed it in a fight before.”
Buckley looked good all fight, coming forward with hard combinations. Kasanganay had his moments, too, finishing the first round strong and landing a hard left hook in the second. But all anyone will be talking about from this fight is Buckley’s incredible knockout. UFC president Dana White said afterward that Buckley would definitely win a $50,000 fight-night bonus.
“Yes sir, I’m trying to steal all the bonuses,” Buckley said.
Buckley, 26, picked up his first UFC victory with the highlight-reel knockout. The Missourian has won three of his past four. Kasanganay, a 26-year-old North Carolina resident, was coming off two August wins — one on Dana White’s Contender Series and one in the UFC.
Men’s bantamweight: Tony Kelley (7-2, 1-1 UFC) def. Ali AlQaisi (8-5, 0-2 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
These two went at it for the full 15 minutes and then an additional 10 seconds. Yes, even after the horn sounded to end Round 3 of a fight that featured some wild striking exchanges and in-and-out-of-danger grappling scrambles, they were still in each other’s faces and shoving.
In the end, Kelley got the nod from all three judges — 29-28 on two scorecards and 30-27 on the other — and secured his first UFC victory.
“I’m going to keep developing, I want to get up in that mix, top 15, top 10, you guys better pay attention because I am coming,” Kelley said after the fight.
Round 1 was one long grappling scramble. Kelley, a 33-year-old out of Shreveport, Louisiana, briefly locked up a triangle early, and when AlQaisi fought his way out of trouble, the Jordanian ended up securing a guillotine, a choke he has used to win three of his previous fights. But Kelley remained calm, escaped the position and ended the round threatening to end the fight with a triangle armbar.
The other two rounds had grappling scrambles as well, but there was more stand-up fighting, with Kelley landing the more damaging blows but AlQaisi, 30, showing that he is dangerous as well. At one point, he connected with two straight spinning backfists.
But it was not enough for AlQaisi, who lost for the second straight time — both of his UFC bouts — after coming to the promotion riding a five-fight winning streak.
Men’s featherweight: Giga Chikadze (11-2, 4-0 UFC) def. Omar Morales (10-1, 2-1 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Chikadze clearly wanted the knockout, swinging for the fences throughout the fight. And he almost got it in the third round.
Chikadze dropped Morales with a missile-like overhand right, then pounced and attempted to land big ground-and-pound strikes. The previously undefeated Morales somehow survived, but Chikadze still picked up a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) in a featherweight bout.
Morales was extremely game. He pushed forward for most of the fight, but Chikadze, a Glory Kickboxing veteran and karate black belt, showed his superior technical striking chops, landing straight lefts from southpaw stance and cracking body kicks. When Chikadze saw openings, he swung with everything he had, but never quite connected until the third.
“I want my spot in the top 15. I know I can beat everybody, I can beat the champion, I can beat the top five guys, I can beat top 10, and I feel that I am a top-15 guy,” Chikadze said. “I just beat an undefeated fighter from lightweight, nobody was fighting him, I know how hard it was to find an opponent for him.”
Chikadze has won six straight, including his first four in the UFC. The 32-year-old from the Republic of Georgia is still seeking his first UFC finish. Morales, a 34-year-old from Venezuela, was 2-0 in the UFC coming in.
What a banger #UFCFightIsland5
— Niko Price (@Nikohybridprice) October 10, 2020
Women’s bantamweight: Tracy Cortez (8-1, 2-0 UFC) def. Stephanie Egger (5-2, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Cortez continued her roll in her second UFC bout. She won her eighth straight with a strong performance over Egger, beating her to the punch in the fight’s rare striking exchanges and controlling her on the canvas for nearly the entire time.
The 26-year-old from Scottsdale, Arizona, had nearly 10 minutes of control time on the canvas during her 15 minutes in the cage with Eggers, who was making her UFC debut.
All three judges scored the bout 30-27 for Cortez.
“It’s quite an experience to say the least, I’m just really grateful that I can say that I’m part of this history, so I’m very grateful for that and very happy that I got to experience it,” Cortez said. “Would I want to come back? Probably not. I want to go fight in Vegas, in my backyard, have my family there to support me for once. A lot of my fights haven’t been in the States, so hopefully the next one can be in town.”
Egger, who is 32 and from Switzerland, had won three fights in a row.
Cortez doing great at winning the chess match on the ground. #ufcfightisland5
— Tatiana Suarez (@tatianaufc) October 10, 2020
Men’s flyweight: Tagir Ulanbekov (11-1, 1-0 UFC) def. Bruno Silva (10-5-2, 0-3 UFC) by unanimous decision (Watch this fight on ESPN+)
Silva, the significantly shorter man, had to make it a brawl. He succeeded in doing so, but it still wasn’t enough.
Ulanbekov kept Silva at bay in a unanimous-decision win (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) to open UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen. Silva made things ugly. He closed the distance, created scrambles and roped Ulanbekov into wild exchanges.
But Ulanbekov still did more damage, opening up a cut to the side of Silva’s right eye in the second round. Ulanbekov was also able to outwrestle Silva in spots, though Silva refused to go away. The fight finished with Silva pushing ahead and throwing haphazard hooks. He landed two hard left ones and Ulanbekov landed a hard right. It was a fun way to end an entertaining, back-and-forth battle.
Ulanbekov, 29, has now won four straight. This was the Russian’s UFC debut. Silva, a 30-year-old from Brazil, has dropped all three of his UFC fights since debuting in 2019.
Flyweights setting the pace for the night! Lesgo!🔥#UFCfightisland5
— Kai Kara France (@kaikarafrance) October 10, 2020
Still to come:
Men’s bantamweight: Marlon Moraes (23-6-1, 5-2 UFC, +120) vs. Cory Sandhagen (12-2, 5-1 UFC, -140)