UFC 290 was one of the promotion's best events of 2023. Not
only did it feature an incredible four knockouts in 38 seconds or
less, but it boasted three huge fights, two of them for
championships.
In the main event,
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight kingpin
Alexander
Volkanovski defended his throne against interim king
Yair
Rodriguez. Volkanovski's much vaunted 22 fight winning streak,
12 of which came in the UFC, may have come to an end in a champion
versus champ showdown against
Islam
Makhachev, where he lost in a close five-round decision, but he
was still the man to beat at 145 pounds, having never lost in the
division, with four title defenses to his name.
Rodriguez had a winning streak of just two at featherweight despite
being the interim titlist. He had narrowly lost a five-round
verdict against former champion
Max
Holloway in late 2021, but had come back strong, triumphing
over a
Brian
Ortega who was injured late in Round 1, and then brutalizing
Josh
Emmett with kicks and punches before submitting him late in
Round 2 to win the interim crown.
Rodriguez landed a few powerful strikes on the feet, but he was
overwhelmed by Volkanovski, who repeatedly took him down and
shellacked him with punches and elbows. In the third round,
Volkanovski scored with a gorgeous right-hand counter to a kick
that badly hurt the Mexican challenger, eventually finishing him
with strikes on the ground. Yet again, the champion proves he is
the class of the UFC featherweight division.
In the co-main, flyweight champion
Brandon
Moreno sought to defeat nemesis Alexandre Patonja on a third
attempt. Moreno triumphed in his legendary quadrilogy against
Deiveson
Figueiredo, winning by TKO after the third round in January of
this year to become the UFC flyweight king for a second time. Eager
to finally face a different foe, he chose a hard challenger in
Alexandre
Pantoja, who holds two victories over a young Moreno. He had
tapped Moreno with a rear-naked choke on “The Ultimate Fighter”
back in 2016 and had then won a judges' verdict in 2018 on a Fight
Night card. Pantoja had experienced less success than Moreno
outside of that fight, having been utterly dominated by Figueiredo
back in 2019 and then losing to
Askar
Askarov in 2020, who the UFC bizarrely let leave the promotion.
However, Pantoja was riding a three-fight winning streak heading
into the title showdown, having easily outpointed Rizin champion
Manel
Kape before scoring back-to-back submissions of top contenders
in
Brandon
Royval and
Alex Perez.
He certainly hoped to have Moreno's number.
What transpired was a true martial arts classic, with both men
going back and forth for 25 straight minutes, attacking each other
in every area of battle; striking, the clinch, wrestling and the
ground. In the end, it was unclear who had done enough, but
Alexandre
Pantoja triumphed with a split decision verdict, becoming the
new flyweight king at the age of 33.
Lastly,
Dricus Du
Plessis and
Robert
Whittaker squared off in what was essentially a UFC No. 1
contender match at middleweight. Whittaker was the former champion
and had looked spectacular since losing his title to
Israel
Adesanya in late 2019, going 4-1 with victories over top
contenders in
Darren Till,
Jared
Cannonier,
Kelvin
Gastelum and
Marvin
Vettori, and only losing a rematch against Adesanya that many
scored for the Australian. Du Plessis was a perfect 5-0 in the UFC
but many questioned his gas tank, speed and overall ability, with
him frequently losing fights before pulling out a comeback victory.
This was reflected in Whittaker being a huge favorite. However, du
Plessis proved the doubters wrong in a huge way, not only beating
Whittaker but doing so in devastating fashion, knocking him out in
punches just under halfway through Round 2.
In the aftermath of an exciting pay-per-view, here are several huge
fights which will hopefully be booked.