The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to action in style yesterday (Saturday, January 15, 2021) with UFC Fight Island 7, which provided fight fans with an exciting fight afternoon at “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates. In the main act, Max Holloway had a tremendous performance against Calvin Kattar, earning a victory by unbalanced unanimous decision (see again here). In the main co-fight, Carlos Condit defeated Matt Brown in yet another fun fight.
Biggest winner: Max Holloway
This one is easy because “Blessed” looked better than ever, dominating Kattar for 25 minutes to achieve a much-needed victory after losing two in a row. His boxing was absolutely top notch, and it needed to be because he was up against one of the best boxers at 145 pounds. But, “Blessed” was more than up to the task, going toe-to-toe with “The Boston Finisher,” scoring him at will while eating several of his good opponent shots. In the fifth and final round, Holloway went full Matrix, marking Kattar with a straight-right no-look, sliding a combination of four punches, all while talking to Jon Anik and company. It was a sight to behold. With the win, Holloway reminded everyone that he is still at the top of his game and that he is not going anywhere anytime soon. He placed himself at the top of a short list to face the winner of the recently announced title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega.
Runner-up: Li Jingliang
Many were probably not giving “Leech” a high percentage of defeating Santiago Ponzinibbio – myself included – but the Chinese-born star silenced everyone and got the biggest victory of his career, putting “Gente Boa” to sleep with a spectacular first assault Knockout. Li has now won four of his last five and this specific victory should give him a big jump on the middleweight ladder. In all, he now has seven knockout victories within the octagon.
Honorable mention: Alessio Di Chirico
Di Chirico noted that he was not very impressed with what Joaquin Buckley did before the middleweight scrap, not even that spectacular knockout did much for the Italian-born fighter. On the night of the fight, Di Chirico reinforced his speech by completely flattening “New Mansa” with a kick to the head before ending the night with some subsequent attacks. In addition to putting an end to Buckley’s momentum, he also earned an extra $ 50,000 in post-fight bonus money. The victory also broke its three-game losing streak, so it was huge on all fronts.
Biggest loser: Santiago Ponzinibbio
More than two years have passed since “Gente Boa” stepped into the octagon, and it had been even longer since the last time he experienced defeat. In fact, the last time he was in the losers column was in 2015. Since then, he has accumulated a winning streak from seven fights. Despite all that work, he never got close to a shot at the title. And when you combine that with your long hiatus, Ponzinibbio’s momentum has slowed tremendously. Now, the loss will force you to start from scratch, and it will be a difficult path to return to the ranking, because the 170 pound weight category is absolutely full.
For more results and coverage of UFC Fight Island 7, click on here.