UFC 280: Islam Makhachev submits Charles Oliveira to win lightweight title
- Published
Makhachev becomes the third Russian UFC champion in history, after Nurmagomedov and Petr Yan
Islam Makhachev masterfully submitted Charles Oliveira to win the lightweight title at UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi.
Russian Makhachev, 31, finished Brazil's former champion Oliveira with an arm triangle in the second round after dominating throughout.
In winning the title, Makhachev follows the achievement of his coach and former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Nurmagomedov, who retired in 2020, was joyous as he embraced Makhachev in the post-fight celebrations.
Makhachev was joined in the octagon by featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski after the fight, who UFC president Dana White says is next in line to compete for the lightweight title.
In the co-main event, Aljamain Sterling stopped TJ Dillashaw in the second round to retain his bantamweight title.
Sterling controlled the fight throughout against former champion Dillashaw, who dislocated his shoulder in the first round but bravely fought on, before ending the fight with ground strikes.
Makhachev emulates mentor Nurmagomedov
Oliveira, 33, came into the fight aiming to reclaim the title he was stripped of after failing to make weight for his bout against Justin Gaethje in May.
Oliveira was ineligible for the title that night, but in beating Gaethje, he remained the man to beat in the lightweight division.
With 11 wins in a row and a record 19 finishes and 16 submissions in the UFC, the Brazilian stakes a claim to be among the greatest lightweights of all time.
In Dagestan's Makhachev however, he faced an opponent who has dominated recent fights to embark on a 10-fight win streak of his own.
Coached by former lightweight champion Nurmagomedov, Makhachev has displayed many characteristics of his mentor, with his high-pressure wrestling style overwhelming opponents.
Critics were split pre-fight on which way the contest would go and how Oliveria's world class jiu-jitsu and sharp striking would match up to Makhachev's wrestling.
The Russian showed from the start however he would not be afraid to grapple with Oliveira, as he took the Brazilian down twice in the first round.
In the second round he continued to dominate. A right hand floored Oliveira, and he jumped on his downed opponent to lock in an arm triangle and end the fight.
Makhachev's victory at the Etihad Arena comes two years since Nurmagomedov defended his title for the last time against Gaethje, in the same arena.
In his post-fight interview, Makhachev paid tribute to Nurmagomedov's father, and former coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who died in 2020.
"Abu Dhabi, thank you. I trained so hard for this moment. All my life I have prepared for this moment," he said.
"I just want to say this belt is for my coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. Many years ago he told me I'm going to be champion. I want to give this belt."
Sterling retains against injured Dillashaw
Sterling extends his record to 21 wins and three defeats
American Dillashaw, 36, in his second fight since returning from a two-year doping ban, was aiming to beat Sterling to become the first three-time bantamweight champion in UFC history.
Jamaican-American Sterling, 33, meanwhile came into the bout on a seven-fight win streak and was hoping to successfully defend his title for the second time.
In a fight many pundits predicted would be competitive, a shoulder injury to Dillashaw early in the first round handed the initiative to the champion.
With one shoulder dislocated, Dillashaw had no answer to Sterling's high-level grappling as the champion took the fight to the ground and delivered some punishing ground and pound.
Remarkably, Dillashaw fought on and survived until the end of the round and his team popped his shoulder back in.
The shoulder dislocated again in the second round however, and after Sterling again took Dillashaw down and landed a number of shots, the referee stopped the fight.
In the post-fight interview, Dillashaw revealed he dislocated his shoulder over 20 times in his training camp.
"I've got to apologise to the weight class I held it up," said Dillashaw.
"It's a stacked weight class and I took up a position, but I didn't want to wait another year to get a shot.
"I probably dislocated my shoulder a good 20 times in training camp. It was probably the toughest camp I've been through. I just didn't want to wrestle, man.
"Hats off to Aljamain for doing what he does. It was a great win for him.
O'Malley earns statement win
Elsewhere, Sean O'Malley edged former bantamweight champion Petr Yan by split decision in an entertaining bout which lived up to its pre-fight expectations.
America's rising prospect O'Malley, 27, out-struck his Russian opponent in a close fight to earn the biggest win of his career so far.
Yan dominated the grappling exchanges throughout the three rounds but it wasn't enough to convince the judges of victory.
On the prelims, Britain's Muhammad Mokaev continued the unbeaten start to his career as he submitted Canada's Malcolm Gordon with an armbar in the third round.
The victory was the 22-year-old's third since making his UFC debut in March and ninth overall.
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