Paddy Pimblett delivered a ruthless performance to dominate Michael Chandler in a stunning career-best win at UFC 314.
With American President Donald Trump watching on, Liverpool favourite ‘Paddy The Baddy’ left his opponent a bloodied mess as he easily aced what was widely expected to be by far his most significant test to date inside the octagon, with the referee forced to step in to wave off a one-sided bout in round three.
Such a statement triumph will see Pimblett now move inside the top 10 of the lightweight rankings for the first time as he made it nine successive wins and seven in a row in the UFC, where he remains unbeaten since debuting in 2021.
Victory was particularly poignant as it came just weeks after he watched close friend and Next Generation team-mate Molly McCann, with whom he has shared so much of his incredible UFC journey, retire from MMA following a surprise loss to Alexia Thainara at UFC London last month.
The 30-year-old has now set his sights on a high-profile clash against one of the top contenders in the men’s 155lbs division that is currently ruled by reigning champion and the UFC’s pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev, calling out all of Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, Arman Tsarukyan and Justin Gaethje, the latter of whom was in attendance at Kayesa Center.
Pimblett will hope that another headline victory against one of those big names leads quickly to a world title opportunity as he continues to prove his doubters wrong.
In Saturday night’s main event in Miami, Alexander Volkanovski became a two-time undisputed UFC featherweight champion.
The popular Australian picked up the belt recently vacated by Ilia Topuria following the latter’s move up to lightweight, defeating tough Brazilian contender Diego Lopes by unanimous decision after five warring rounds.
It was a stunning comeback from Volkanovski, who sat top of the division for more than four years before being dethroned and knocked out by Topuria at UFC 298 14 months ago, having previously unified at 145lbs against interim champion Yair Rodriguez and lost twice to Makhachev in pursuit of lightweight gold.
Earlier on, the keenly-anticipated UFC debut aged 37 of Brazil’s legendary four-time Bellator world champion Patricio Pitbull ended in a disappointing points defeat to the superior Rodriguez of Mexico.
On a huge night in the men’s featherweight ranks, Pitbull’s compatriot Jean Silva continued his rise by choking out Bryce Mitchell in the second round.
Dominick Reyes opened the main card with a stunning first-round knockout of light-heavyweight rival Nikita Krylov - his third stoppage victory in a row.
Headlining the prelim bill was featherweight Dan Ige, who recovered from back-to-back losses to defeat Sean Woodson - albeit with the referee’s stoppage heavily criticised by both commentators and spectators alike as being far too premature.
Brazil’s Virna Jandiroba became the top contender for Zhang Weili’s women’s strawweight title after dominating Yan Xiaonan on the ground, after Chase Hooper had done similar to veteran Jim Miller in an all-American battle in the men’s lightweight division.
Julian Erosa stopped Darren Elkins in the first round back at featherweight, with middleweight Michal Oleksiejczuk doing likewise to Sedriques Dumas after Su Mudaerji had won a split decision against Mitch Raposo at flyweight.
Ascending middleweight talent Marco Tulio also stopped Tresean Gore in the second round after the night opened with France’s Nora Cornolle - the only fighter on the UFC 314 card to miss weight on Friday - submitted Hailey Cowan by rear-naked choke in round two.
