Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado are back to breakdown this Saturday’s, October 10th., UFC FIGHT ISLAND 5: ‘MORAES VS. SANDHAGEN’. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event.
Zane Simon & Eddie Mercado are back to breakdown the UFC FIGHT ISLAND 5 event, which was broadcast from The Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE — aka: #UFCFIGHTISLAND. The guys will have hot takes, possible next fights, as well as reactions to the overall event in the player above or on our Bloody Elbow Presents YouTube Channel and BE Presents Podcast Network. (SPOILERS…)
Overall, this thirteen-bout card saw five swift finishes in Round 1, surprisingly no submissions, but a total of six KO/TKOs, and an overwhelming seven decisions!, Rounding things out, bonuses for putting forth POTN efforts went to Joaquin Buckley, Cory Sandhagen, Chris Daukaus, and Tom Breese; and FOTN honors went to… no one this time around. Wow, what a night of fights we have to discuss with you!
Tonight’s card showcased a bantamweight bout for the main event. It was between the #1 ranked superlative veteran kickboxer, Brazilian ‘Magic’ Marlon Moraes, mixing it up with the #4 ranked fellow knockout artist from Colorado, Cory Sandhagen. ‘Magic’, working on his third year in the UFC, last defeated José Aldo at UFC 245, in December, 2019, via a controversial Split Decision; which many felt he should have lost. Sandhagen walked into the Arena in his fifth year with the UFC, coming off a title-eliminating loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 250, back in June of this year; which brought his win streak to a grinding halt. Both men appeared to be looking to prove something, while seeking some sort of redemption in this fight. But more than that, both men were fighting with the title shot in mind. Moraes was predicted to utilize his speed advantage here, while Sandhagen was expected to gain an advantage in later rounds with his ability to pace himself — we didn’t get to find out, since the clash ended in the second round!
Also on the card, a co-main event at featherweight, which was a collision between the Muay Thai specialist, Edson Barboza, Jr., who had only won one of his last six bouts, (two of which were debatable losses, especially after his brutal weight cut) and Makwan ‘Mr. Finland’ Amirkhani, who was coming off an impressive first-round submission win, via Anaconda Choke, against Danny Henry at UFC 251, back in July of this year. Amirkhani entered this bout considered to be a talented wrestler with an excellent strangle game, having also taken time recently to work on his boxing skills. The Finnish model ‘slash’ knockout artist was perhaps best remembered for his first-round eight-second knockout of Andy Ogle five years ago, we were waiting to see if he would obtain another swift knockout tonight, but that was not the case.
As if that’s not enough action, we had an exciting, but short and sweet, middleweight brawl between Markus ‘Maluko’ Perez and Dricus ‘Stillknocks’ du Plessis — the South African kickboxer impressing us all in his short-notice UFC debut tonight with a first-round knockout victory; which was one of five first-round finishes we would get to enjoy on this card — all of this MMA entertainment was preceded by a surprisingly decent undercard…
Here’s a look at the UFC FIGHT ISLAND 5: ‘MORAES VS SANDHAGEN’ RESULTS & UPDATED FIGHT RECORDS:
ESPN+ MAIN CARD | SAT. OCT 10
13. Cory Sandhagen (13-2) DEF. Marlon Moraes (23-7) – KO/TKO, Spinning Wheel Kick at 1:03 of Rd 1
12. Edson Barboza (21-9) DEF. Makwan Amirkhani (16-5) – DEC, Unanimous
11. Marcin Tybura (20-6) DEF. Ben Rothwell (38-13) – DEC, Unanimous
10. Dricus du Plessis (15-2) DEF. Markus Perez (12-4) – KO/TKO, Left Hook at 3:22 of Rd 1
9. Tom Aspinall (9-2) DEF. Alan Baudot (8-2) – KO/TKO, G & P at 1:35 of Rd 1
8. Ilia Topuria (9-0) DEF. Youssef Zalal (10-3) – DEC, Unanimous
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: ($50K ea.) NONE
PERFORMANCES OF THE NIGHT: ($50K ea.) 1. Joaquin Buckley 2. Cory Sandhagen 3. Chris Daukaus 4. Tom Breese
ESPN+ PRELIMS
7. Tom Breese (11-2) DEF. KB Bhullar (8-1) – KO/TKO, Power Jab & Hammerfists at 1:42 of Rd 1
6. Chris Daukaus (10-3) DEF. Rodrigo Nascimento (8-0) – KO/TKO, Hooks at 0:45 of Rd 1
5. Joaquin Buckley (11-3) DEF. Impa Kasanganay (8-1) – KO/TKO, Jump Spinning Back Kick at 2:03 of Rd 2, Total 7:03
4. Tony Kelley (7-2) DEF. Ali AlQaisi (8-5) – DEC, Unanimous
3. Giga Chikadze (11-2) DEF. Omar Morales (10-1) – DEC, Unanimous
2. Tracy Cortez (8-1) DEF. Stephanie Egger (5-2) – DEC, Unanimous
1. Tagir Ulanbekov (13-1) DEF. Bruno Silva (10-6) – DEC, Unanimous
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