The champions remain the same! Volkanovski defended, Yan feels wronged, Chimaev won in the shootout. What did UFC 273 look like?

UFC 273 offered several interesting fights, but the main card was the most interesting, offering three extremely high-profile duels. Khamzat Chimaev had the biggest challenge ahead of him, Peter Yan had a rematch with Aljamain Sterling and Alexander Volkanovski defended again.

While UFC 273 offered some great fights, there were few early finishes. The first two cards offered only one submission and one TKO. So one waited to see if the main card would offer more excitement in that regard, but no where.

The first early stoppage of the tournament was provided by 44-year-old veteran Alexei Oleinik, who notched an incredible 60th career win by finishing a successful first-round submission and forcing a knockdown of the 15-years-younger Jared Wareed.

The second early finish was offered in the very first bout on the prelims card, taken care of by Mike Malott, who made a successful UFC debut. Less than four minutes into the first round, he sent Mickey Gall to the ground where he had no problem finishing the fight.

The main card

A nice two appetizers before the main course

The whole world was looking out for the last three fights of the main card in particular, but the first two fights offered a quality spectacle as well. In fact, they could be described as very tasty starters.

In the first, Mark Madsen took Vince Pichel on points, however the first two rounds were mostly standing, with Pichel giving his opponent problems. As a result, Madsen took the fight to the ground, scoring points, which he eventually had enough to win.

In event two, Mackenzie Dern and Tecia Torres entertained the crowd. The first round offered an attractive stand-up battle, the pace was truly frantic in places. The second round saw Dern attempting a submission, but she didn’t get a single takedown. In the third, Torres tried to be active, but did not reverse the loss on points.

Candidate for match of the year? Chimaev showed that he is also a “just” man

Khamzat Chimaev entered the toughest match of his career. He was facing welterweight number two Gilbert Burns in the cage, who is not afraid of anyone. However, the favourite was the Swedish fighter despite the gap in the rankings.

Chimaev did come close to winning on points, with all the judges seeing him win 29 to 28, but the Brazilian really tested him thoroughly on all counts.

The Swedish fighter had to prove that he can fight standing and that he can take hard shots. Burns landed several of them. However, it was the Brazilian who went down first after a punch from his opponent. However, Chimaev was also sent down.

Thus, Chimaev spent a record time in the stand-up at least in his UFC career, he was in trouble several times, but he got Burns in trouble many times as well. In addition, the Brazilian came close to a disqualification, but fortunately didn’t hit Chimaev.

Either way, it was a great stand-up shootout that was definitely entertaining.

When it comes to the end of the year best fights, this one will definitely not be one of them! Plus, both fighters showed respect for each other after the fight. A beautiful sporting moment.

Sterling the undisputed champion, Yan talked about stealing

One of the biggest stories has come to a head. Aljamain Sterling proved that he is the rightful bantamweight champion by defeating Peter Yan on points.

Yan lost the fight last year due to an illegal knee strike, a disqualification he took hard. He called Sterling a clown, saying he was only faking to win the title. So he promised his opponent a big beating going into the rematch, but the American fighter was ready.

Sterling scored the first round from the retreat, but he was dominant in the second and third rounds, getting on Yan’s back and threatening with chokes. The fourth and fifth rounds saw Yan being more active for a change, even getting top position on the ground in the fourth, but he did nothing to threaten the American on the whole.

Two judges saw Sterling winning 28 to 27, one saw it the other way around. Sterling thus retained his belt and proved that he did not deserve to be challenged. The Russian fighter, however, disagreed with the result, saying he should have won and that’s why he asked for a third fight with the American.

Korean Zombie lived up to his nickname again, but Volkanovski defended

The main fight of the entire card had a clear favorite. Alexander Volkanovski hasn’t lost in the UFC yet, he’s only lost once overall in his career. However, he was opposed by Korean Zombie, who lived up to his nickname in the bout.

The Korean fighter replaced Max Holloway, who was supposed to face the Australian for the third time, however, the Hawaiian sympathizer was injured and could not take part in the fight.

Although Chan Sung Jung was number four in the featherweight rankings before the fight, Volkanovski showed that he is on a completely different level.

Zombie was able to threaten at times, but the Australian was destroying him, landing almost every punch and forcing the referee to stop the fight even though the Korean was still on his feet. It happened in the fourth round.

Source: UFC, Twitter