Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
Max Holloway can be slippery with the reputation of a shrewd competitor but a rock-solid temperament from Ilia Topuria saw the Georgian-Spanish fighter clinch the headline featherweight bout at the UFC 308 on Saturday.
The biggest draw left on the UFC season for fans of mixed martial arts (MMA) thus concluded at the packed Etihad Arena on Yas Island with many tickets being sold at a premium outside the entrance gates.
After two rounds of testing each other while keeping the action in the centre of the cage, Topuria went for the attack, having sized up his American rival. When Topuria claimed before the fight, he will be the first to hand a knockout defeat in Holloway’s career, many such as Justin Poirier and Israel Adesanya were sceptical. He proved them wrong and also managed back-to-back TKOs, having beaten Alexander Volkanovski before. Topuria keeps his unbeaten record to 16-0 while Holloway stands at 26-8 after this.
It was a respectable ending in the end with Holloway offering no excuses when Topuria landed a right on his nose and then followed up with two left-handed jabs, the second seeing the staggering legs of Holloway give away.
Topuria also paid tribute to Holloway’s stellar career despite being only five years younger. “He is one of the heroes our generation has looked up to, but thanks to God, I could prove my worth,” Topuria, 27, said.
The co-main event for most of the crowd was the main considering Khamzat Chimaev is considered one of their own. The Swedish national of Dagestan origin, and now based in UAE, did not disappoint going up against British Robert Whittaker in a swift first-round submission result for the ‘local’ favourite.
There were doubts about Chimaev, given that he has been struggling with fitness with one fight in two years and some suspected he might be rusty. Both came out charging from the dugout like in a hen fight, but the moment Chimaev got a handle grip for a naked choke, he went for the jugular so fast and hard, Whittaker took barely seconds to tap in, the submission coming in three minutes and 42 seconds only.
Earlier, the main card got the right start it needed with Sharaputdin Magomedov showing great creativity in the middleweight bout against Armen Petrosyan. The latter’s nicknamed Superman, but it was Magomedov who made a flying counter-attack. He made a freewheeling 180º swing with the right and immediately turned to land another 180º with the left, which knocked the stuffing out of Petrosyan.
“I tried that move a lot in the practice but could not get it right, but I went for it. Now it will be my signature move,” roared a delighted Magomedov in front of the partisan crowd, which had celebrities such as British boxer Amir Khan, Indian film actors Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan, Tajikistan influencer Abdu Rozik, and many more.
Preliminary Appetisers
On the preliminary card, things heated up after the lopsided heavyweight clash between Barett and Nzechukwu. Despite his bulky but short frame, Barrett was no match for his tall and much leaner rival.
Then the catchweight bout between Myktybek Orolbai and Mateusz Rebecki went to three rounds with Orolbai fighting valiantly through a swollen eye suffered in the first. The crowd were on their feet and rooted for the fight put up by the Kyrgyzstan fighter, but the referees ruled in favour of Rebecki, awarding victory by a split decision for the Polish rival much to the crowd’s boos.
Even Rebecki had difficulty for that win sinking in about 45 minutes after his hand was raised when he spoke to the media in halting English. “Maybe scared is not the right word, but I wasn’t sure if they [judges] will vote in my benefit. He [Orolbai] fought well and hard, but I think I landed more punches that counted; I was more in control than him.”
Orolbai’s camp did not see it that but the stats backed the winner. Orolbai had 50 strikes to Rebecki’s 51, but the latter had 44.6% share in the ones that mattered compared to the Kyrgyzstan fighter’s 43.5%.
There was time for one more anti-climatic fight before the main card began, although it was also a timely win in the life of American fighter Geoff Neal even though his opponent Rafael Dos Anjos had to bow out with a knee injury.
Going by the pseudonym of “Handz of Steel”, Neal hinted at his struggles after a near-death experience in 2020. Claiming a sepsis infection cause from unknown sources, Neal was “unresponsive” for 15 months before he fought back to life.
Since then, he has had four losses and two wins in the cage while pulling out on two occasions as well as failing to make the weigh-in once. Saturday’s bout got a much-needed victory in the record for the No.10-ranked welterweight fighter.
View this post on Instagram
