UFC 280: Islam Makhachev Stops Charles Oliveria to Become UFC Lightweight Champion in Abu Dhabi

Written By Peter Ryan

 

Islam Makhachev defeats Charles Oliveira for the lightweight title at UFC 280 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.

Makhachev submitted the former champion Oliveira with an arm triangle choke after following up on a knockdown that resulted in his fifth finish in a row.

In the bantamweight title fight, Aljamain Sterling retains his title after a dominated display which resulted in a second-round finish of TJ Dillashaw.

Then Sean O’Mally shocked the world be beating Petr Yan in a razor thin split decision in an entertaining fight.

One of the most anticipated fights of the year lived up to the hype. You felt like you were seeing the two best lightweights on the plant. When you look at how the fight played out it was a great performance by Makhachev. He won the first round quite convincingly by leaning on his wrestling skills. Then the second round is when the finish happened. After Makhachev dropped Oliveria with his hands. He followed up with an arm triangle choke. Looking towards the future for Makhachev. It looks almost certain that he will fight Alexander Volkanovski in Australia next. In terms of Oliveira, it sounds like he wants to fight in Brazil. They are many options for him to fight, with the likes of Beneil Dariush and Rafael Fiziev coming to mind.

Here is Makhachev post fight

The co-main was the fight between Dillashaw and Streling. The champion took a dominate victory to keep his title. Where Dillashaw was compromised in the fight due to a dislocated shoulder. It was said that his shoulder popped out many times during training camp. UFC president Dana White was displeased with Dillashaw for going into to fight. This is because shoulder issue.

Dana White on the shoulder issue

It was mentioned by White that Henry Cejudo is a potential opponent for the champion.

Here Dana White’s post fight press conference where he discusses the bantamweight division

Also, in the bantamweight division O’Malley beat by Yan. He did this by edging out the former champion in a split decision. The judge’s decision spark a lot of controversy in the MMA community. This is because many people thought that Yan won the fight. The fight itself was too close to call with both fighters bringing the best out of each.

UFC fight Li Jingliang shard his thoughts on the score cards the scorecards from the fight.