MMA Weekly
Michael Chiesa moved another rung up the ladder to the welterweight championship with his UFC Fight Island 8 domination of Neil Magny. UFC Fight Island 8 took place on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. It marks the promotion’s second event of a three-event stint that culminates with UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2 on Saturday. Michael Chiesa smothers Neil Magny en route to unanimous decision Following a feeling out period for the first few minutes of the fight, Chiesa clinched and took Magny to the canvas, quickly moving to half guard. He briefly attacked Magny’s arm, but then moved to an arm triangle while putting all his weight on Magny’s chest. Chiesa couldn’t find the submission he was searching for, but finished round one in dominant fashion. Magny came out swinging in round two, but Chiesa quickly clinched, the two trading controlling positions along the fence. Chiesa maintained his grip and eventually dragged Magny to the canvas. Magny regained his feet, but Chiesa immediately took him down, again smothering him from top position in the half guard. Magny defended well, but Chiesa dropped elbows and hammerfists, all the while keeping himself heavy on Magny’s chest. It was another solid round for Chiesa. Round three started with Magny punching his way into the clinch and eventually tossing Chiesa to the ground. Chiesa quickly regained his feet and cracked Magny with a straight left hand after they separated. They again clinched and exchanged control, but Chiesa scooped Magny and put him on the canvas. He quickly moved to full mount. Magny scrambled out, but Chiesa regained control, attaining half guard, where he finished the third frame. Chiesa cracked Magny with a right hand and again put him on his back to start the fourth round. He spent a couple minutes in Magny’s full guard, but again advanced to half guard. Magny scrambled, but Chiesa took his back, moved to full mount, and then return to back control as they scrambled to their feet, ending up in the clinch. Chiesa dropped for a takedown, but Magny locked on an inverted triangle hold and attacked with elbow strikes. Chiesa eventually worked back to top position in half guard, again finishing the round in control. Knowing he likely had a comfortable lead on the scorecards, Chiesa stayed just out of Magny’s range, dancing away from him for the better part of the final frame until he could once again control from the clinch. Having returned the fight to the ground, Chiesa masterfully shifted positions, again smothering Magny and punching him in the head from half guard. He briefly attained full mount, but Magny regained half guard, though he was unable to escape Chiesa’s clutches. Chiesa finished the fight on top, smothering Magny, the way he had each of the previous rounds, putting on one of his most dominant performances to date, and likely moving himself into the thick of title talks. Before he even thinks about a shot at the champion, however, Chiesa took aim at another welterweight contender. “The election is over. Colby Covington, your schtick is done. I want you next boy!” Michael Chiesa smothers Neil Magny at UFC Fight Island 8 Warlley Alves makes quick work of Mounir Lazzez Warley Alves made quick work of Mounir Lazzez in the UFC Fight Island 8 co-main event. Dominating the early going on the ground and on the feet, Alves put Lazzez up against the fence a couple of minutes into the fight. Lazzez reversed the position along the fence, but after they separated, Alves landed three kicks to the ribs that dropped Lazzez. He then followed with punches while on the canvas, forcing the referee to stop the fight. It was Alves's first fight in more than a year, but he made the most of his return. https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1351978631917137920 Ike Villanueva turned out the lights on Vinicius Moreira Ike Villanueva used his boxing to keep Vinicius Moreira on the backfoot throughout the first round, stunning him on a couple of occasions with a sharp right hand. Moreira landed a good superman punch in the latter part of round one, but mostly struggled to match his combinations. Having gotten the better of Moreira in round one, Villanueva’s confidence was high. Moreira tried to throw a punch, but Villanueva’s timing was perfect, as he put out the lights with a counter right hand that ended the fight. https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1351972746289414147 Viviane Araujo dominates Roxanne Modafferi Viviane Araujo lit Roxanne Modafferi up with her jab and boxing combinations for the better part of the first round. She then nearly submitted Modafferi with a rear-naked choke as the round wound down on the first frame. Modafferi tried to follow her corner’s advice and get Araujo to the canvas. She managed to do so on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t keep the Brazilian fighter down. Araujo kept attacking with her brilliant jabs, causing swelling around Modafferi’s eyes as the fight wore on. Modafferi tried to finish the fight from her back in the final minutes, but Araujo passed to side control to end in a dominant position, taking a unanimous nod from the judges. Viviane Araujo rocks Roxanne Modafferi with a punch at UFC Fight Island 8 Omari Akhmedov was impressive in the UFC Fight Island 8 main card opener. He submitted Tom Breese with an arm-triangle choke in the opening minutes of round two. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1351942623305592845?s=20 Bantamweight Ricky Simon closed out the preliminary bouts with dominating performance over Gaetano Pirrello, finishing him with an arm-triangle choke. https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1351934993476497409?s=20 Umar Nurmagomedov, cousin of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, gave an impressive accounting of himself in his Octagon debut, submitting Sergey Morozov in the second round of their preliminary bout. https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1351902653081669634 TRENDING > Conor McGregor faces multi-million dollar lawsuit, as UFC 257 approaches UFC Fight Island 8: Chiesa vs. Magny results Main Card Michael Chiesa def. Neil Magny by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)Warlley Alves def. Mounir Lazzez by TKO (kicks and punches) at 2:35, R1Ike Villanueva def. Vinicius Moreira by knockout (punch) at 0:39, R2Viviane Araujo def. Roxanne Modafferi by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)Matt Schnell def. Tyson Nam by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)Lerone Murphy def. Douglas Silva de Andrade (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)Omari Akhmedov def. Tom Breese by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 1:41, R2 Preliminary Card Ricky Simon def. Gaetano Pirrello by submission (arm-triangle choke) at 4:00, R2Su Mudaerji def. Zarrukh Adashev by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)Dalcha Lungiambula def. Markus Perez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Francisco Figueiredo def. Jerome Rivera by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Mike Davis def. Mason Jones by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)Umar Nurmagomedov def. Sergey Morozov by technical submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:39, R2Manon Fiorot def. Victoria Leonardo by TKO (strikes) at 4:08, R2
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