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Built up as one of the biggest UFC events of 2021, UFC 266: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega delivered some serious action inside the octagon.
Featuring a total of 13 fights, UFC 266 saw knockouts, submissions and more than one memorable war, as well as plenty of explosive moments.
With so much to choose from, it’s tricky to whittle down a few. But here are the five most explosive moments from UFC 266: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega.
#5. Chris Daukaus shows he’s a contender in the UFC heavyweight division
Ranked at #10 in the UFC’s heavyweight division, thanks to his win over Aleksei Oleinik in February, Chris Daukaus was handed another opportunity to impress last night when he was matched with Shamil Abdurakhimov.
The Dagestani native hadn’t fought since September 2019, so Daukaus was favoured to beat him. But few would’ve imagined that he’d do so in such style,.
Seemingly in far better shape than in his previous UFC fight, Daukaus looked quicker than Abdurakhimov from the off. He tagged the latter with several heavy strikes in the early going.
But it was a brutal left hook that landed in the dying seconds of the first round, which was the telling blow. The punch sent Abdurakhimov crashing to the ground. Had there been some more time left in the stanza, the fight would surely have been over.
Thankfully, Daukaus wasted no time in sealing the deal in the second round. He quickly closed his Dagestani foe down, slipped a jab and waylaid him with a violent right hand.
Somehow Abdurakhimov wasn’t knocked unconscious from the shot. But he couldn’t stop a follow-up flurry from Daukaus, and his lights quickly went out from there. Unsurprisingly, the finish netted Daukaus a well-deserved $50K bonus cheque.
This was a hugely explosive showing from Daukaus. He essentially finished Abdurakhimov twice in the same bout. That was proof that he almost certainly belongs in contention for the UFC heavyweight title.
#4. Jessica Andrade gets back to winning ways in style
The last time we saw Jessica Andrade in the octagon, she was thoroughly whitewashed by UFC flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko in one of the most one-sided title bouts in UFC history.
Despite her berserker reputation, it probably would’ve been understandable if ‘Bate Estaca’ had come into last night’s fight with Cynthia Calvillo looking a little gunshy. Thankfully for the fans in attendance, that wasn’t the case at all. Andrade battered Calvillo in an excellent – and violent – performance, ensuring she’ll remain near the top of her division for some more time.
It wasn’t that Calvillo couldn’t get anything going in this fight. In fact, she landed plenty of strikes of her own, including some genuinely crisp jabs. However, she simply couldn’t match the power of her Brazilian opponent, and every time Andrade landed cleanly, it looked like she hurt her opponent.
In the end, it was a wild flurry of punches that did for Calvillo. Andrade was so aggressive and threw so many shots that in all honesty, it was difficult to tell which was the killer blow. In fact, the sequence resembled something from Wanderlei Silva’s highlight reel.
The finish unfortunately didn’t net Andrade a $50K bonus – probably because Calvillo wilted rather than being knocked completely unconscious. But it did hand her a big UFC win on her birthday. How can you complain about that?
#3. UFC 266 - Merab Dvalishvili unleashes hell on Marlon Moraes
The UFC doesn’t have awards for comebacks of the night. But if they did, Merab Dvalishvili would’ve been a definite winner at UFC 266. ‘The Machine’ picked up the biggest win of his UFC career last night, but he had to swim through some deep waters to do it.
Early on in the fight, it looked like Marlon Moraes would be the fighter getting his hand raised. The former UFC bantamweight challenger hammered Dvalishvili with his striking game in the first round, knocking him from pillar to post and seemingly having him on the verge of going out on two occasions.
However, somehow ‘The Machine’ survived, secured a trademark takedown, and then turned the tables. He beat Moraes with brutal ground-and-pound for the remainder of the stanza.
In the second round, the Georgia native continued his assault, taking Moraes down and unleashing hell in the form of continuous punches, elbows and forearm strikes. Moraes managed to escape at one point. But – living up to his nickname – Dvalishvili was simply relentless. He retook the Brazilian down, and continued to batter him en route to a TKO stoppage.
The victory put Dvalishvili on a seven-fight winning streak in the UFC. But more to the point, it showed he has absolutely tremendous heart – making him a tricky match for anyone in the bantamweight division.
#2. Robbie Lawler folds Nick Diaz to ruin his UFC return
While last night’s main event was the fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, arguably the fight with the most hype going in was the rematch between Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler.
And naturally, it was Diaz – making his first appearance in the UFC since January 2015 – who garnered the most attention. Even a late decision to change the fight into a middleweight bout – seemingly helping Diaz to avoid missing weight – didn’t prevent fans being pumped up for his big return.
But Lawler evidently wasn’t bothered about the change in weight division, nor the hype around Diaz. He was clearly laser-focused on gaining revenge over Diaz for his 2004 defeat, and came out looking better than he has done in years.
‘Ruthless’ didn’t look gun-shy at all last night, taking the fight to Diaz from the off. And even when Diaz fired back with his trademark ‘Stockton Slap’ style of striking, Lawler was undeterred, and simply refused to take the pressure off.
In the end, all that pressure told. A combination folded Diaz, causing him to drop to the ground in a delayed reaction. Initially it looked like a bait job from the Californian. But when Lawler refused to go to ground with him, it quickly became clear that Diaz was in fact done.
Sure, it wasn’t a one-punch knockout from Lawler. But this was an explosive finish nonetheless, as nobody had finished Diaz with strikes since 2002, making it a huge achievement for Lawler.
Judging by that, those fans figuring Lawler's career to be over may have to wait a little longer for that.
#1. Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega put on one of the best rounds in recent UFC history
UFC 266’s headline bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega may have gone the distance, but that didn’t make it any less explosive. In particular, the third round stood out as one of the most explosive, memorable and overall great rounds in UFC history.
At that stage, it looked like Volkanovski was set to largely cruise to victory. Sure, Ortega got his fair share of shots in. But it was clear that he was outgunned by ‘The Great’ on the feet. Volkanovski’s volume, pressure and overall striking skills looked too much for Ortega to handle, and it would’ve been no surprise to see the challenger wilt.
Instead, though, when the Aussie threw a low kick, Ortega countered with a left hand that dropped Volkanovski to his back. From there, ‘T-City’ sensed his opportunity and pounced. He locked on a mounted guillotine, and seconds later, Volkanovski appeared to be turning purple, signaling the end of his title reign.
Somehow, though, ‘The Great’ gutted it out, kicked his legs in desperation, and managed to pop his head free. If that wasn’t incredible enough, moments later he pulled off another insane escape, this time from Ortega’s trademark triangle choke.
Naturally, Volkanovski wasn’t content to just escape Ortega’s submissions. On both occasions, he followed the escape with some brutal ground-and-pound – almost ending the fight in his own right before the buzzer finally sounded.
While the fight was a hugely memorable one and resulted in Volkanovski holding onto his title via unanimous decision, the amount of explosive action in the third round meant a highlight reel could be made purely of those five minutes.
Simply put, this was what the UFC is all about, and it was awesome.
