Mateusz
Rebecki and Myktybek
Orolbai were rewarded for painting the canvas red at UFC
308.
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Rebecki and Orolbai engaged in a bloody battle in their 160-pound
catchweight affair, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Saturday,
earning “Fight of the Night” honors and $50,000 apiece. Rebecki
landed heavy shots early, causing serious swelling under his
opponent’s eye in the opening stanza. Orolbai kept coming, however,
even after being dropped and nearly finished in the final stanza.
Ultimately, Rebecki emerged with a hard-fought split decision
triumph.
Elsewhere, Ilia
Topuria padded his bank account with a $50,000 “Performance of
the Night” bonus thanks to his third-round knockout of Max
Holloway in the featherweight main event. By putting the
durable Hawaiian away at the 1:34 mark of Round 3, “El Matador”
became the first person to stop Holloway with strikes in his
34-fight professional tenure.
Meanwhile, Khamzat
Chimaev garnered a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” check for
a dominant showing against former middleweight champion Robert
Whittaker in the UFC 308 co-main event. Chimaev grounded his
opponent, transitioned to the back and created an opening to secure
a face crank, eliciting a tap from Whittaker 3:34 into the opening
stanza.
Finally, Sharabutdin
Magomedov captured the card’s final $50,000 “Performance of the
Night” thanks to a spectacular finish of Armen
Petrosyan in a featured 185-pound bout. “Shara Bullet” made
jaws drop when he knocked out Petrosyan with a double spinning
backfist 4:52 into Round 2 to earn his fourth straight promotional
triumph.