Former
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight king Robert
Whittaker (26-7, 17-5 UFC) was unfazed by a late opponent
change and he proved again tonight that he is still one of the
premier 185-pound competitors in mixed martial arts. Whittaker
knocked out rising star Ikram
Aliskerov (15-2, 2-1 UFC) in the
UFC on ABC 6 main event, which took place in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia.
Whittaker, who was originally slated to face Khamzat
Chimaev, sent a message to the rest of the division by becoming
the second man – after Chimaev – to defeat Aliskerov. After
establishing his jab during the opening minute, Whittaker badly
wobbled Aliskerov with a right hook. The Russian stumbled backward
against the cage and
Whittaker closed in with an uppercut that dropped him to his
knees. Whittaker then landed three left hands to the
side of a dazed and defenseless Aliskerov’s face before referee
Marc
Goddard waved off the fight at the 1:49 mark of Round 1.
Whittaker has won two in a row this year and he has put himself
back into title contention after falling to current champion
Dricus Du
Plessis in July.
Advertisement
Alexander
Volkov (38-10, 12-4 UFC) took a step closer to a title shot
with a well-deserved unanimous decision win over former training
partner Sergei
Pavlovich (18-3, 6-3 UFC) in the heavyweight co-main event.
While Pavlovich did have some success with boxing during the fight,
his refusal to mix up his offense allowed Volkov to pick him apart
and wear him down across the three-round contest. Volkov constantly
circled to his left in the opening round while throwing leg kicks
or quick one-twos, and it was more of the same in the second round.
He added a few body kicks as well that left Pavlovich open to
follow-up punches, and Pavlovich’s face began to show the damage.
As Volkov landed rapid-fire jabs in the final round, cuts were
opened on the bridge of Pavlovich’s nose and below both of his
eyes. The fight went to the scorecards, but not before a frustrated
Pavlovich shoved his former friend after the bell had sounded. The
judges returned scores of 29-28 and 30-27 twice for Volkov, who has
put together a four-fight winning streak since losing to Tom
Aspinall in March 2022.
In what was originally scheduled as a welterweight fight, “The
Ultimate Fighter” Season 17 winner Kelvin
Gastelum (19-9, 1 NC; 13-9, 1 NC UFC) prevailed in his
middleweight clash with Daniel
Rodriguez (17-5, 7-4 UFC), which was changed due to Gastelum’s
inability to make the welterweight limit. Gastelum kept Rodriguez
on his back foot during the opening round and he landed hooks and
overhand lefts as Rodriguez tried to find his timing. A big right
hook landed for Rodriguez later in the round, but his best work was
done in the middle stanza as Gastelum’s output slowed. Each time
Gastelum missed with a looping punch, Rodriguez made him pay for it
with three or four punches to the face in response. Gastelum
adjusted his strategy in the final round, however. He charged at
Rodriguez with punches in the opening minute and later took him
down. Rodriguez was unable to mount any offense from his back and
Gastelum immediately took him back down when Rodriguez did briefly
stand up. Scores were 29-28 and 30-27 twice for Gastelum, who took
the unanimous decision victory in what was potentially a must-win
situation.
Despite a slow start, highly-touted middleweight prospect Sharabutdin
Magomedov (13-0, 2-0 UFC) kept his perfect record intact with a
third-round knockout victory over Antonio
Trocoli (12-4, 1 NC; 0-1 UFC), who took the fight on extremely
short notice and faded after the first round. Trocoli’s best
success came in the opening minute when he landed two hard right
hands and pinned Magomedov against the cage in a prolonged clinch.
Magomedov shifted the momentum in the second round by targeting
Trocoli’s legs with a series of kicks that further limited
Trocoli’s movement in addition to obvious fatigue. Trocoli tried in
vain to take Magomedov down, but Magomedov blatantly grabbed the
cage and received no punishment for doing so aside from a “stern
warning.” Trocoli stood still as Magomedov began to throw flashy
spinning kicks in the final round.
He backed Trocoli up with a knee and a barrage of punches before
finishing him with a lunging left hook to the temple at the 2:27
mark of Round 3. Magomedov has now won 11 fights via
knockout or TKO.
Opening up the main card, Volkan
Oezdemir (20-7, 8-6 UFC) scored a vicious first-round knockout
win against Johnny
Walker (21-9, 1 NC; 7-6, 1 NC UFC) at light heavyweight. Living
up to his nickname, Oezdemir wasted “No Time” in dispatching the
popular Walker, who was hurt by an early combination to the body
and dropped by a left hook. Walker stood,
only to be sent back down to the canvas by a crushing right
uppercut, and Oezdemir finished him off with one more
right hand on the ground at the 2:28 mark of Round 1. It was
Oezdemir’s second straight first-round finish.
In the featured lightweight prelim, Nasrat
Haqparast (17-5, 9-4 UFC) narrowly outpointed Jared
Gordon (20-7, 1 NC; 8-6, 1 NC UFC) via split decision (29-28,
28-29, 29-28) after three action-packed rounds; Felipe Lima
(13-1, 1-0 UFC) moved up to featherweight on short notice and won
his UFC debut by submitting Muhammajon Naimov (11-3, 3-1 UFC) with
a rear-naked choke at the 1:15 mark of Round 3; Rinat
Fakhretdinov (22-1-1, 4-0-1 UFC) extended his unbeaten streak
to 22 with a split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) win over Nicolas
Dalby (23-5-1, 2 NC; 7-4-1, 1 NC UFC) in welterweight action;
bantamweight Muin
Gafurov (19-6, 1-2 UFC) secured his first UFC win by defeating
Kyung
Ho Kang (19-11, 1 NC; 8-5, 1 NC UFC) via unanimous decision
(30-27, 30-27, 30-27); Magomed
Gadzhiyasulov (9-0, 1-0 UFC) overcame a shaky first round to
take a majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28) win against Brendson
Ribeiro (15-7, 1 NC; 0-2 UFC) at light heavyweight; and
Chang
Ho Lee (10-1) took a hard-fought split decision (29-28, 28-29,
29-28) victory over Long Xiao
(26-8) in the Road to UFC Season 2 bantamweight final, which was
postponed from February.