Fight fans won’t soon forget the third round of Alexander Volkanovski’s championship victory over Brian Ortega.
In a breathtaking 5 minutes, the defending champion found himself in a deep mounted guillotine and a threatening triangle choke before nearly pounding out the challenger, leaving Ortega in a heap on the mat who could barely stand before the stool was placed underneath him.
The scores from their unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-44) won’t reflect how competitive their bout was, but they appropriate represent the fact that Volkanovski (23-1, 14 finishes) clearly made his second consecutive title defense on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in the UFC 266 headliner.
“I’m a normal human being,” Volkanovski said in the octagon after the scores were read. “I say it time and time again: just hard work got me where I am. Anyone can do what I’ve done, anyone. Sky’s the limit for any of you.”
Both men found a measure of success with their hands in the opening frame, with each opening a cut on the other — Ortega’s above an eye, Volkanovski’s below.
The champ’s best success in round two came as he kept Ortega on the outside for much of the first half of the frame. The challenger, while working a stiff jab, also found a home for some heavy outside leg kicks. Again, each man had his moments, but the champ appeared to have the better of the action.
Then came the immortal middle frame. Volkanovski bloodied Ortega’s nose early as the result of a clash of heads one minute in, and the champ took advantage of the apparently inadvertent foul — which went undetected by the referee — by going on the offensive and pressing the action.
But Ortega soon found the first major success of the fight when Volkanovski stumbled off a straight left and the grappling ace locked in a quick mounted guillotine. The champ furiously kicked his legs while his head darkened to a shade of purple, looking to wriggle free. The Aussie broke Ortega’s grip after about 12 seconds of eternity, then scrambled to the top and into Ortega’s guard to reign down stiff punches.
“I thought it was done. That’s what I was training for exactly my whole camp,” Ortega said in the cage.” … I grabbed onto that neck. I tried to squeeze it. Trust me, guys, I tried to finish him. I heard him gargling. And he f—ing slipped out.”
But Ortega (15-2, 10 finishes) wasn’t done. He struck like a viper with his specialty, a triangle choke from the bottom, that appeared to have Volkanovski on the ropes again. But as the challenger looked to reverse to mount for extra leverage, Volkanovski again escaped the tight spot.
“Obviously, when he got some of the submissions, some of them were pretty tight,” Volkanovksi said. “For some reason, I stayed on the ground with him. Man, he’s good.”
In yet another swing of the pendulum, Volkanovski again found his way top of Ortega after the challenger’s failed attempt to take the back. The champ punished Ortega for the final 30 seconds of the round with huge strikes that looked to have Ortega all but unconscious as the horn sounded.
Barely recovered from the whirlwind third, Ortega again sought a submission early in round four. But Volkanovski managed to stave off the attack before it got quite so close and again found his way on top in Ortega’s guard, landing stiff punches and posturing up for extra velocity. The mounting damage made for another clear round in the champion’s column.
By the fifth round, each powered through with whatever energy could be mustered. In the closing seconds, Ortega pushed Volkanovski one final time, find a home for his hands but unable to clip the champ, who made it through to the other side with his 20th consecutive victory.
Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler II was worth the wait.
After 17 years, Lawler scored retribution for a knockout loss in both fighters’ youth with a third-round TKO victory over Diaz on Saturday during UFC 266 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I’ve always had respect for Diaz,” Lawler said in the octagon after their scheduled five-round middleweight bout. “He brings it every freaking time.”
Now in their late 30s and years removed from their championship days — Lawler previously reigned over the UFC welterweight division and Diaz was the longtime Strikeforce champ at 170 pounds — the two men set a torrid pace to start the fight. Diaz took a few minutes to settle into his typical high-volume boxing attack, while Lawler pressed forward throwing plenty of power punches in return.
Noticeably slower than his last outing in 2015, Diaz still managed to keep the fight close before Lawler began to build steam in the latter half of the second round. That momentum carried over into the third, as Lawler knocked down Diaz to his knee with a short right.
Lawler beckoned him to stand and, as he walked away, a lucid Diaz briefly clutched his knee and could not get back to his feet, forcing the referee to waive it off 44 seconds into the third frame.
Immediately after, Lawler walked back over to a downed Diaz to offer respect for the man who sent him face-planting into the canvas when they were in their early 20s.
Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko picked up a predictably lopsided victory over Lauren Murphy, the latest unsuccessful challenger to the crown, by securing a fourth-round TKO in the evening’s co-main event.
“I’m ready for anyone, no matter [what] weight class,” Shevchenko said in the octagon following the win. “No matter anything. I’m here. I’m the champion.”
Shevchenko (22-3, 15 finishes) was in control virtually from bell to bell, starting with a particularly dominant first frame and building her lead on the scorecards from there as the fight marched toward the championship rounds.
Murphy (15-5, nine finishes) offered no answers for the dominant kickboxing of the champ and could offer little resistance when taken down and grappled. A slip at the start of the fourth round by the champ that briefly convinced some in attendance that Murphy had stumbled her was perhaps the only time she appeared to have Shevchenko in any trouble.
A few minutes later, it was the champ who had Murphy in actual trouble with a furious flurry of punches following a right hook. After the challenger briefly weathered the storm from her back, a barrage of elbows from Shevchenko forced the referee to halt the assault at 4 minutes into the round.
The win gives Shevchenko her sixth consecutive title defense in less than three years since winning the vacant title with a win over former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in December 2018.
