MMA
UFC 296: Champions unchanged, Ferguson loses again. A look at the highlights
The world’s best MMA organization has returned to Las Vegas. The last gala of the year was held at the T-Mobile Arena. UFC 296 featured the return of Martin Buday, we saw two title fights on the main card and overall it was a very packed event that certainly didn’t get boring.
The world’s best MMA organization has returned to Las Vegas. The last gala of the year was held at the T-Mobile Arena. At UFC 296, we saw two title fights on the main card and overall it was a very packed event that certainly didn’t get boring.
Early Prelims UFC 296
Martin Buday lost for the first time in the UFC
He has won all four of his fights in the UFC so far, and has been in the top 15 of the heavyweight rankings for a while. Now Martin Buday had another big challenge ahead of him. He was to welcome Shamil Gaziev, a previously undefeated ranked fighter, to the organization.
The Slovakian fighter was a slight favorite, unfortunately he did not confirm this role in the cage at all. Right from the opening seconds, the Bahrain representative dominated, landing hard shots with great frequency, and Buday could hardly defend himself.
After three minutes Buday had to be checked by the doctor, but he allowed him to continue as long as he could see out of his left eye. But Gaziev then proceeded to dispose of the former Octagon champion. The Slovakian made it to the second round, though he said during the break that he couldn’t see completely out of his injured eye.
Even between rounds he was checked by the doctor, but he was allowed to go into the second. Buday didn’t stay there long, though. Gaziev continued what he started in the first round, and soon it was over. The Slovakian heavyweight was already quite passive in his defence and it didn’t look good for him. So the referee stopped the fight.
Both the second and third UFC 296 fights offered further stoppages
UFC veteran vs. UFC newcomer. Andre Fili was going into his 21st fight under the banner of the world’s best organization, where he has been for ten years. He measured his strength as the favorite against Lucas Almeida, who was entering only his third fight in the world championship league.
The experience was clearly on the side of the former and it should be mentioned that the American fighter was able to use it very well, ending the fight in the first round.
He sent Fili Almeida down with a hard right hand, where all he had to do was go for the finish. And he did. At 3:32, it was over. The American improved his record to 23-10. This was Almeida’s second loss in three fights in the UFC and he’s now 14-3 overall.
Next up was a flyweight bout between Tagir Ulanbekov and Cody Durden. Fast paced, stand up shootings and constant submission attempts from the former. It certainly wasn’t boring.
At times it seemed that Durden could not be stopped. He resisted several choke attempts, survived guillotines. Then he managed to land some hard punches standing up himself. The favored Russian had no easy time against him. But in the end, the 12th man in the division can enjoy another win.
Ulanbekov hung on his opponent’s back standing for a long time in the second round, exhausted himself a lot, but finally delivered a rear-naked choke with 35 seconds left to improve his score to 15-2. Durden lost his four-fight win streak.
UFC 296 Prelims
Ariane Lipski dominated the women’s war
The first of two women’s bouts throughout UFC 296 was brought down by Case O’Neill and Ariane Lipski. While O’Neill entered the bout as the number 12 in her division and the favorite after one defeat, her Brazilian opponent was looking to finally turn her UFC record into a positive.
Lipski had previously fought in KSW (5-0), but kind of stumbled after coming to the UFC. She lost her first two fights, then won two, only to subsequently record two more defeats. On the undercard came a win and a loss. Now she was looking to notch her third straight win. And she did.
Her opponent, who was born in Scotland, had done better in the organization so far (4-1), but the Brazilian with Polish roots had prepared well and was the better one from the start. She had the harder shots, and she dismantled the Australian representative hard in her stance.
O’Neill still survived the first round, but not the second. Lipski got her in big trouble with a series of hard punches, trying unsuccessfully to set up a choke on the ground but eventually switching to an armbar and forcing her opponent to tap out.
Ariane Lipski improves her record to 17-8 (6-5 in the UFC) and is sure to move into the top 15 of her weight division. Case O’Neill, on the other hand, bites her second straight defeat and falls to 9-2.
Cody Garbrandt delivered an exhibition KO
He was a former bantamweight champion, but his last few years have been marked by decline. After winning the title, Cody Garbrandt seemed to be at his peak and his best years were ahead of him. However, a string of three losses followed, two of which came at the hands of T.J. Dillashaw.
Overall, after winning the title, he lost five of six matches. Suddenly, the champion was something of a renegade. But he had no shame in his losses, all of them to solid opponents. However, Gabrandt himself seemed to have a different idea.
He had won his last match and now he wanted to build on that and add a second win in a row. This time his form was to be tested by Brian Kelleher, who will not shy away from any challenge, as evidenced not only by his 24-14 score.
That’s what the match looked like. Gabrandt is doing everything he can to get back to the top level and he didn’t have any major problems with Kelleher. Brian kicked well, but otherwise Cody had the upper hand in terms of power, speed and overall was the better man.
Plus, Gabrandt was able to stop the fight in the first round. At 3:42 he sent a deadly right hand and Kelleher went down, he didn’t want to continue the fight so there was nothing to do. A stylish return to the scene of the crime, afterwards Cody asked for a fight with Deiveson Figueiredo, which was already on the table once. Are we going to see it?
Women’s match of the year? Quite possibly!
The second and final women’s bout at UFC 296 catered to the bantamweight five and nine, specifically Mexico’s Irene Aldana and Brazil’s Karol Rosa. The former went into it as the favorite, but she didn’t have it easy.
Especially in the first round Rosa did very well. She focused on one thing, Aldana’s left leg. In the first round alone, she sent almost 30 legkicks and had the overall advantage. It looked like her opponent was going to have her work cut out for her.
In the second round, however, Aldana began to take the reins of the match. It’s worth noting that from the first second she focused on boxing, which she was able to use more and more often in the second round to threaten the Brazilian, despite her leg being kicked. She hit a good low kick once and Rose certainly didn’t like it.
And the third round? A senseless jab. It’s worth noting that Aldana had landed over 80 shots to her opponent’s head after the second round, it was Rosa who dished out over 50 legkicks. Rosa even set a record for most legkicks at her weight.
Punch after punch after punch, both fighters not sparing themselves. Rosa’s facial damage was becoming more and more visible, Aldana’s leg was becoming more and more discolored. The Mexican, however, had the upper hand in the last five minutes and won on points on all judges 29-28 in arguably the best women’s fight of the year.
The prelims card concluded with another shootout
The final bout of the prelims card offered a battle of 14 and 15 welterweights. Two punchers, namely Alonzo Menifield and Dustin Jacoby, faced off, with the latter seen as the slight favourite.
However, given the style of both fighters, it was hard to predict how their battle would turn out. All that was known was that blinking at the wrong time could backfire. Another ending was expected, but surprisingly we didn’t see it.
The match did come down to points, but both Menifield and Jacoby were far from finishing their rival. Jacoby in particular at one point stood up to the near impossible. You could almost say he survived his own death.
Although according to the stats, Jacoby dealt more punches, both overall and significant, it was Menifield who did more damage to his opponent in every way, becoming the unanimous points winner, meaning he now has four wins in a row. Jacoby, for a change, lost the third of their last four duels.
UFC 296 main card
Emmett scores a brutal knockout
Josh Emmett has had two defeats in a row. In particular, Ilia Topuria destroyed him badly in his last fight. Thus, at the last event of the best MMA organization on the planet in 2023, he was supposed to face Giga Chikadze, but he had to withdraw from the fight.
Ten days before the tournament, however, Bryce Mitchell accepted the big challenge. He and Emmett had one thing in common. In his penultimate match, he was completely outclassed by Topuria, who handed him the first loss of his career. the 29-year-old American even considered ending his career.
Mitchell, however, decided to carry on, fixing his appetite with a win over Dan Ige, only for Emmett to be a much tougher test. After all, this is a featherweight six-rounder, he’s had some big fights. So it was quite a challenge.
You could tell that Mitchell had respect for his 9 years older opponent. And it turns out he’s rightfully so. At 1:57, Emmett delivered a brutal knockout. One punch and Bryce was out. For quite a long time. He had to leave the cage with the help of others.
Let’s hope Mitchell’s okay. Anyway, Emmett scores a very important win. Both for his career and his confidence.
Ferguson not broken, Pimblett still wins
Legend vs. UFC boss Dana White’s favorite. Tony Ferguson took on Paddy Pimblett in the cage after six straight losses. He was once again the big underdog, but he trained hard for the fight and did everything he could to score the win.
While on the one hand Ferguson fans are calling for Tony to call it quits already, they all kind of hope that he is not an old hand yet, even though he is 39 years old. For many MMA fans, it’s hard to see him taking a hard beating.
So there was concern about how he would handle a fight with the younger Pimblett. And the first round confirmed that the fears were justified. Ferguson cashed in a lot, the Englishman had the upper hand in terms of speed and power, but he stood his ground at critical moments.
In the second and third rounds the battle was much more even, although Pimblett dominated most of the time on the ground. By the third round Paddy had had enough physically, which Ferguson noticed and wanted to be in the stand-up with him, where he suddenly looked a little better. However, the Liverpool native took the fight to the ground where he checked the duel.
The match ended on points, Tony didn’t take a beating and there are many question marks over Paddy’s performance. Was this the last match for Ferguson? What’s next for Pimblett? These are the questions that hopefully will soon be answered.
Rakhmonov heads for the title
Shavkat Rakhmonov has been one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC for a while now. At 29 years old, he’s been mowing down one opponent after another. He’s worked his way up to welterweight number five. Stephen Thompson was supposed to test him in Las Vegas.
The result? 18th career win, 18th win before the limit, sixth win in the UFC. He even refused to attend his sister’s wedding to prepare for the fight. Unbelievable focus, unbelievable concentration. Plus, tactical preparedness is second to none.
Rakhmonov can deliver attractive fights, but not at any cost. When it’s necessary, he’ll neglect attractiveness in favour of winning. And that’s what happened this time. Thompson defended his wrestling well in the first round, but by the second, the Kazakhstan native had taken Wonderboy to the ground and was looking for the finish.
It took a while, but finally with a few seconds left in the second five minutes Rakhmonov set up a rear-naked choke and Thompson tapped out. So it’s obvious that the still undefeated Kazakh is just a short distance away from a title shot.
Pantoja defended, then apologized for the unattractive fight
The first of the two title fights offered an interesting spectacle. Alexandre Pantoja made the first defense, challenged by Brandon Royval. While the challenger wanted to keep the fight standing, where he looked better and more active, the champion preferred to fight on the ground.
Pantoja was better in the first round. Thanks in part to his brief control of the fight on the ground. However, from the second round on, it was as if something was wrong with him. He looked more exhausted than his opponent, more or less taking chances.
The second five minutes he did check on the ground, but it was more or less only Royval who was landing the punches. In the next rounds Pantoja was more active on the ground, but it can’t be said that it was a hit parade. It should be mentioned, however, that Pantoja was able to hit hard even in the stand-up, only his opponent gave a more lively impression, which was the only thing he had the advantage in.
The Brazilian definitely delivered the more attractive fights, but his control in basically all five rounds was enough for him to defend his title. So he won on points, apologizing afterwards for the dull performance, saying that Brazil needed to have its champion and that he didn’t want to lose the belt.
Edwards easily defeated Covington
Colby Covington in a title fight? UFC fans didn’t like it much, but it happened nonetheless. Even though he hadn’t fought in 651 days and his last opponent was Jorge Masvidal. Anyway, there was a lot of talk about his duel with Leon Edwards, as the American once again caused a lot of fuss.
He tried to get into the head of his English opponent in a nasty way, and the latter threw a bottle at him at the press conference. He said afterwards that he wasn’t taking it personally, however, it was questionable whether he would maintain that attitude in the match as well. He did.
Covington had tremendous respect for the champion. The first round was scrappy on both sides, but Edwards had the upper hand. He made it clear to his challenger what he was capable of and that he would punish his every attempt to attack.
With the exception of the fifth round, all five minutes looked more or less the same. Covington was on the defensive, he was passive. He was afraid to attack. Edwards wasn’t going anywhere for nothing. He punished his opponent at every sign of him and played it safe.
Only in the fifth round was Covington able to control the champion on the ground, trying for a submission and ending the fight, his only chance to win, but it didn’t happen. So Edwards remains the champion and it will be interesting to see who the next challenger is.
Source: UFC, Tapology
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