Makhachev chokes out Oliveira to claim lightweight crown at UFC 280

Islam Makhachev pulled off a sensational submission win over Charles Oliveira to win the lightweight title and Aljamain Sterling beat TJ Dillashaw by TKO to successfully defend his bantamweight belt at UFC 280 at the Etihad Arena on Saturday.

Makhachev capped his ascent to the lightweight throne with a brilliant win by arm triangle choke against Brazilian Oliveira, the holder of the UFC record for submission wins with 16.

Oliveira was stripped of the lightweight belt in May when he missed the weight for his title clash with Justin Gaethje and though he beat the American the title remained vacant, setting up the showdown with Russian Makhachev.

That tactic looked like it was paying off until he was decked by a punch from Makhachev, who wasted no time jumping on his opponent, locking in the choke and forcing the tap for Oliveira.

Makhachev dedicated the win to his late coach Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, who died in 2020, saying: "Many years ago he told me just train hard and I will be champion," before handing the belt to Khabib Nurmagomedov who took over from his father as the Russian's coach and is himself a former UFC lightweight champion.

His 11th submission win moves the 31-year-old Makhachev on to a record of 23 wins and one loss as a pro.

In the co-main event Dillashaw, who had to give up the belt and serve a two-year suspension after testing positive for EPO in 2019, suffered a dislocated shoulder early in the first round but somehow made it through the first frame.

"I probably popped it out about 20 times in training camp... I told the ref in the back that my shoulder is probably going to pop out, we'll put it back so if it does don't stop [the fight]," American Dillashaw said in his post-fight interview.

In the main card's other big fight, American Sean O'Malley won a close split decision over Russian Petr Yan after a three-round brawl to put himself in pole position for a shot at the bantamweight title.

Canadian flyweight Gordon loses via submission 

Muhammad Mokaev submitted Canadian flyweight Malcolm Gordon with 34 seconds remaining in the third round on the UFC 280 undercard Saturday.

The unbeaten Mokaev, who was born in Russia but fights out of Manchester, England, was a minus-1200 favourite to win. And while he dominated on the ground, he failed to do much damage from top position.

Gordon (14-6-0) proved to be a prickly opponent with a sound defence off his back. He resisted Mokaev until the dying seconds when the two fighters tangled at the fence. Mokaev (9-0-0 with one no-contest) locked in an armbar, forcing Gordon to tap.

"To be honest I underestimated this guy," said the 22-year-old Mokaev, an accomplished wrestler. "I can't do this any more when there's 10 years [age] difference.

"But I know I'm comfortable on the ground everywhere. This guys's a black belt [in Brazilian jiu-jitsu]. I just got my purple belt. I don't give a [expletive] what belt he has."

Mokaev was credited with 10 minutes 18 seconds of control time, compared to 2:49 for Gordon.

The 32-year-old Gordon, a native of Calgary who now calls Toronto home, came out swinging in the first round. Mokaev punched back and then took the Canadian down to the ground.

Gordon got back up but went down again, fighting off an attempted choke. Mokaev spent the rest of the round in control, on top of Gordon.

The second round was more of the same, with Mokaev on top of Gordon. The Canadian defended well from below but Mokaev continued to pile up points.

Gordon showed some offence from his back, trying for a triangle choke in the final minute of the round. And he was close to locking up a rear-naked choke when the round ended.

Gordon rushed in to start the third, only to be taken down again immediately. He reversed position and slammed Mokaev to the ground 90 seconds in the round and took his back, looking for a submission.

Mokaev fought him off and eventually got back to his feet, dumping Gordon to the ground at the fence.

Mokaev was good on six of seven takedown attempts while Gordon was one-for-one, according to UFC Stats.

With most of the fight contested on the ground and Gordon defending well, Mokaev finished with a slim 21-17 edge in significant strikes. He had a 119-38 advantage in total strikes.

Gordon was coming off wins over Ukraine's Denys Bondar and Brazil's Francisco Figueiredo. He lost his UFC debut by submission to Sweden's Amir Albazi in July 2021.

Mokaev had won his two previous UFC fights, defeating Americans Cody Durden and Charles Johnson.