Teixeira is not human! The UFC has two new champions, the tournament offered some awesome finishes. What did UFC 283 look like?

The first numbered tournament of the year is over. UFC 283 was a showcase of mainly Brazilian fighters and fighters. There were two title fights, one of which apparently yielded the name of Jiri Prochazka’s next opponent. What did the gala look like?

Early Prelims

UFC 283 started in quite a big way and the very first fight offered a surprise. Daniel Marcos went into his fight with Saimon Oliveira as an underdog, but he completely outclassed the home fighter in his UFC debut and finished him in the first round.

The Peruvian fighter improved his record to a perfect 14-0. He couldn’t have started his stint in the best organization on the planet any better.

Two fights followed that ended on points. Josiane Nunes and Zarah Fairn catered one of the women’s bouts at the event, with the Brazilian confirming her role as the favorite and winning by unanimous decision.

The role of favourite, on the other hand, was not fulfilled by home fighter Warlley Alves, who lost on split-decision to Denmark’s Nicolas Dalby.

Ismael Bonfim took care of another surprise on the very first card. In the second round, he tried a jumping knee and it landed right on the chin of Terrance McKinney, who went down immediately.

The fight between Luan Lucarda and Cody Stamann ended on points. The winner was the latter man.

The Early Prelims card then saw another ending, taken care of by Jailton Almeida, who finished Shamil Abdurakhimov on the ground.

Prelims

The middle card of the tournament was started by the brother of the man who took care of the most beautiful knockout of the first card. And he didn’t exactly stay in the cage twice either. Gabriel Bonfim needed just 49 seconds to force his opponent Mounir Lazz to tap out.

Only one prelims card match made it to the second round. In a clash of two Brazilian fighters, Thiago Moises confirmed his role as the favorite and tightened up Melquizael Costa for a rear-naked choke.

Costa tapped out with 55 seconds left in the second round.

But then more KO/TKOs were falling in the first round. And another favorite fell. Gregory Rodrigues couldn’t keep up with Bruno Ferreira and went down after a clean left hook.

The fight lasted four minutes and 13 seconds.

It was a sad end to a legend. Mauricio Rua went into the last fight of his career, his last opponent was Ihor Potieria, who was favored by the bookmakers and the UFC itself.

And he was the favorite. Rua could not withstand his opponent’s pressure and at 4:05 of the first round it was all over.

The main card

The most watched and main event of UFC 283 started in style. In fact, in an almost football-like atmosphere in Rio de Janeiro, the entire main card opened with the home-grown Johnny Walker as the 12th welterweight.

His opponent was the ninth welterweight fighter, namely Scotsman Paul Craig. Walker went into the fight as a slight favorite and he lived up to that role. He ended the fight in the first round when Craig attempted a takedown.

The last women’s bout of the night was between Lauren Murphy and Jessica Andrade, the four and sixth men’s flyweights. Andrade was a big favorite and showed why in the first round. She was hitting hard, doing whatever she wanted. Murphy, however, showed great stamina.

The Brazilian clearly dominated the standup, so the American tried takedowns, but to no avail. Andrade refused all attempts and was calm and composed as she dismantled her opponent in the second five minutes. Even the tremendous pressure at the end of it, however, did not lead to a Murphy finish.

The demolition continued in the last round, the third. Andrade wanted to end the fight, but she couldn’t. Anyway, she won the fight completely, Murphy’s face looked like that after the fight. The Brazilian took a clear win on points.

Next up, Gilbert Burns and Neil Magny. It was a risky match for Burns, as he took the match with the 12th man in the rankings. If he lost, he could lose big. However, he wanted to make amends after his loss to Khamzat Khimaev and it showed.

The Brazilian went into the match cautiously. He didn’t rush anywhere, he waited for his opportunities and he got them. Without being threatened in any significant way, he managed to get the fight to the ground, where he slowly and patiently worked to finish Magny on an arm triangle, which he did in 4:15

Title Matches

Moreno is the new champion!

The first ever tetralogy in UFC history. Deiveison Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno were given the opportunity to face off for the fourth time. The Brazilian stepped in as champion, the Mexican held the interim belt.

And what did their fourth fight look like? It was expected to be a proper cleavage, as it had been in the previous three duels. And the first round lived up to expectations. Moreno attempted a takedown at the start, but Figueiredo set up a guillotine, which he didn’t pull off successfully.

Moreno looked the better, faster and more convincing in the standup, but he ran into trouble at the end of the round when Figueiredo attempted a leglock, but again without success.

Moreno had the upper hand in the second round as well. However, he also found himself in trouble again. Figueiredo set up a guillotine and had it caught more than well. Moreno escaped it though and checked the rest of the round on the ground.

The third round decided everything. Moreno again had the upper hand in it, one punch hitting Figueiredo’s eye so hard that not only was there a laceration, but the Brazilian fighter’s eye was completely closed. He defended the rest of the round on the ground, but after the round ended, the doctor wouldn’t allow Figueiredo to continue the fight.

Moreno thus won the fight and the title in front of a hostile crowd. During his post-fight interview, there was only loud booing. In addition, beer cups, for example, flew at him from the audience as he left the cage.

Teixeira is not human! Hill is the new champion!

The battle for Jiri Prochazka’s vacant title. The second one. The first one between Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz ended in a draw and so Glover Teixeira got his chance and was challenged by a surprising Jamahal Hill.

Hill was also marked as the favorite, which was surprising for several reasons. One of them was Teixeira’s experience, another could be mentioned the Brazilian crowd or Teixeira’s great performance against Prochazka along with much longer preparation.

The American is a reputed puncher, however the Brazilian veteran is much more complex and was expected to prove it in the fight. He started hinting at takedowns as soon as the first round started and also attempted a few, but to no avail.

Other than that, Hill was setting the pace in the standup. He was much quicker than Teixeira, landing good, hard shots several times. The Brazilian couldn’t get into the fight at all for a long time. It was as if he didn’t like Hill’s style very much.

The second round offered a much more interesting and better spectacle. Teixeira was more agile and better than in the first five minutes, but then he “ate” several high kicks in a row and danced Hill.

He managed to recover despite a few more punches and took the fight to the ground. He also managed to hit Hill several times himself. He certainly didn’t win the round, but he showed his opponent that he shouldn’t expect any giveaways.

In the third round, however, Hill’s highkick wrote another story. He danced Teixeira again, but he didn’t want to take any chances and didn’t follow him to the ground. Instead, he waited for him to stand up. However, the Brazilian survived another critical moment and tried to hit Hill himself. He even forced him to escape a couple of times late in the round. But in the final seconds, he took a knee to the chin, but he held on.

Hill and his kicks? Something incredible in the fourth five minutes, but Teixeira was still standing. He even managed to shit on Hill once. But it wasn’t enough. What he endured in the first round of the championship was incredible. Several punches right on the chin, kicks to the body. What was keeping him on his feet? After four rounds, he’d landed 192 significant punches, he’d only landed over 50.

The last round started promisingly for Teixeira. The fight went to the ground and it looked like he had enough time to set up some successful submissions. But once he went to full mount, Hill got away from him and the positions were exchanged.

The American finished the fight on the ground, only opting to end the bout in the standup at the last minute. Nothing major happened there though and Hill became the new champion after winning on points.

Teixeira threw his gloves on the octagon floor after the fight and thus decided to call it a day on a spectacular career.

Source: UFC, Twitter