There is a new lightweight champion crowned Oct. 21 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, and his name is Islam Makhachev, who dropped and submitted former champion Charles Oliveira to win the vacant 155-pound title.
Clearly the crowd favorite, Makhachev was first to walk into the environment, filled to the brink with electricity. The boos rained down for Oliveira, who even appeared to have an altercation with someone in the crowd on the way to the cage.
After Bruce Buffer’s introductions, Makhachev was first to connect. A big left hand put Oliveira on his back foot. They reset and clinched. Oliveira pulled guard and shot for a triangle. Makhachev snuck out and they rose back to their feet.
Once on the feet again, Makhachev hip-tossed Oliveira to the canvas right in front of his corner, much to the delight of MMA Junkie’s 2022 Co-Coaches of the Year Khabib Nurmagomedov and Javier Mendez. The round ended with Makhachev on top of Oliveira, who was bloodied.
In the second round, Makhachev dropped Oliveira with a punch, hopped into mount, and squeezed. An arm-triangle choke resulted in a quick tap and a new champion.
Now Makhachev will move forward with his first attempted title defense, which comes against reigning featherweight titleholder Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia.
