The first numbered tournament of the year is behind us. UFC 283 was a showcase of mainly Brazilian fighters. Two title matches were also on display, one of which also apparently gave rise to the name of Jiří Procházka’s next opponent. How was the whole gala evening?
Early Prelims
UFC 283 started in quite a big way and the very first fight offered a surprise. Daniel Marcos went into the fight against Simon Oliveira as an underdog, but in his UFC debut, he absolutely ran over the home fighter and finished him in the first round.
The Peruvian fighter thus improved his score to a great 14-0. He couldn’t have started his tenure in the best organization on the planet better.
Two matches followed, which ended in points. One of the women’s duels at the event was provided by Josiane Nunes and Zarah Fairn, with the Brazilian confirming her role as the favorite and winning unanimously.
On the other hand, the role of the favorite was not fulfilled by the local fighter Warlley Alves, who lost on a split-decision to the Danish 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 immediately went to the ground.
The fight between Luan Lucarda and Cody Stamann ended on points. The second named man became the winner.
The Early Prelims card was then ended by another termination, taken care of by Jailton Almeida, who tormented Shamil Abdurakhimov on the ground.
Prelims
The middle card of the tournament was opened by the brother of the man who provided the most beautiful knockout of the first card. And he didn’t stay in the cage twice either. Gabriel Bonfim needed only 49 seconds to force Mounir Lazzez to tap away.
Only one match of the prelims card made it to the second round. In a fight between two Brazilian fighters, Thiago Moises confirmed the role of the favorite and pinned Melquizael Costa with a rear-naked choke.
Costa tapped out 55 seconds before the end of the second round.
But then there were more KOs/TKOs in the first round. And another favorite fell. Gregory Rodrigues couldn’t get enough of Brunn Ferreira and went down after a clean left hook.
The match lasted four minutes and 13 seconds.
A sad end to the legend followed. Mauricio Rua went into the last fight of his career, his last opponent was Ihor Potieria, who was favored by bookmakers and the UFC itself.
And he confirmed the role of favorite. Rua was unable to withstand his opponent’s pressure and it was all over at 4:05 in the first round.
Main tab
The most watched and main part of UFC 283 started in style. In an almost football-like atmosphere in Rio de Janeiro, the entire main card was opened by local Johnny Walker as a top 12 light heavyweight.
His opponent was the ninth light heavyweight fighter, specifically Scotsman Paul Craig. Walker went into the match as a slight favorite and lived up to that role. He ended the match in the first round when Craig attempted a takedown.
The last women’s match of the evening was provided by Lauren Murphy and Jessica Andrade, the four and six flyweights. Andrade was the heavy favorite and showed why in the first round. She hit hard, did what she wanted. However, Murphy showed great stamina.
The Brazilian clearly dominated the position, the American tried takedowns, but in vain. Andrade refused all attempts and in complete calmness and with complete insight analyzed her opponent’s stance even in the second five-minute round. Even the enormous pressure at the end of it did not lead to the termination of Murphy.
The demolition continued in the last, i.e. the third, round. Andrade wanted to end the match, but she couldn’t. In any case, she won the match absolutely superbly, after all, Murphy’s face looked like that after the match. The Brazilian scored a clear win on points.
This was followed by Gilbert Burns’ fight with Neil Magny. For Burns, the match was risky, as a top five welterweight, he took the match against the twelfth ranked man. If he lost, he could lose a lot. However, he wanted to make up for his loss to Khamzat Chimaev, and it showed.
The Brazilian went into the match cautiously. He was in no hurry, he waited for his opportunities and he got them. Without being threatened in any significant way, he managed to get the match to the ground, where he slowly and patiently worked to finish Magny with an arm triangle, which he managed 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 each other for the fourth time. The Brazilian entered as champion, the Mexican held the interim belt.
And how was their fourth game? It was expected that we would see a real fight, as was the case in the previous three duels. And the first round lived up to expectations. At the beginning, Moreno tried for a takedown, but Figueiredo applied a guillotine, which he did not pull off successfully.
Moreno was better, faster and more convincing in the stance, however, he ran into trouble at the end of the round when Figueiredo tried to leverage the leg, but again to no avail.
Even in the second round, Moreno had the upper hand. However, he also once again found himself in a situation where he had to solve problems. Figueiredo used the guillotine and had it caught more than well. But Moreno escaped from it and checked the rest of the bike on the ground.
The third round decided everything. Moreno had the upper hand in it again, with one blow he hit Figueiredo’s eye so hard that not only was there a laceration, but also the Brazilian fighter’s eye was completely closed. He defended the rest of the round on the ground, however, after it ended, the doctor did not allow Figueireda to continue the fight.
Moreno was victorious and took the title in front of a hostile crowd. There was only a loud whistle during his post-match interview. When leaving the cage, beer cups were thrown at him from the audience, for example.
Teixeira is not human! Hill the new champion!
Battle of the vacant title of Jiří Procházka. The second one. The first between Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz ended in a draw, so Glover Teixeira got a chance, who was surprisingly challenged by Jamahal Hill.
In addition, Hill was marked as the favorite, which was surprising for several reasons. One of them was Teixeira’s experience, we could also mention the Brazilian audience or Teixeira’s great performance against Procházek along with a much longer preparation.
The American is a notorious puncher, however the Brazilian veteran is much more complex and it was expected that he would want to prove it in the match. Right after the start of the first round, he started hinting at takedowns and also tried a couple of times, but to no avail.
In addition, Hill set the pace in stance. He was much faster than Teixeira, hit well and hard a few times. The Brazilian could not get into the match for a long time. As if he didn’t like Hill’s style too much.
The second round offered a much more interesting and better spectacle. Teixeira was more mobile and better in it than in the first five-minute round, however, he eventually “ate” several high kicks in a row and danced to Hill.
But he was able to knock himself out despite several more punches and took the fight to the ground. In addition, he himself managed to hit Hill several times. He certainly didn’t win the round, but he showed his opponent that he shouldn’t wait for anything.
In the third round, however, Hill’s high kick was another story. He made Teixeira dance again, but he didn’t want to take a risk and didn’t follow him to the ground. On the contrary, he waited for her to stand up. However, the Brazilian survived another critical moment and tried to hit Hill himself. He even made him run away a few times at the end of the round. But in the last seconds, he received a knee to the chin, but he still held on.
Hill and his kicks? Even in the fourth five-minute period, something incredible happened, but Teixeira still stood. He even managed to bully Hill once. But that was not enough. What he endured even in the first round of the champions was something incredible. A few straight punches to the chin, kicks to the body. What kept him going? After four rounds, he landed 192 significant punches, giving away just over 50 of them.
The last round started promisingly for Teixeira. The match went to the ground and it looked like he had plenty of time to set up some successful submissions. But as soon as he went into full mount, Hill escaped him and there was an exchange of positions.
The American controlled the match on the ground, only at the last minute he decided to end the match in a standing position. But nothing major happened there and Hill became the new champion after winning on points.
Teixeira threw his gloves on the floor of the Octagon after the fight and thus decided to end a spectacular career.
Source: UFC, Twitter
