Winners And Losers From Whittaker Vs. Aliskerov Card

The UFC was at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for tonight’s UFC Saudi Arabia fight card on ABC. In the main event, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker faced late replacement Ikram Aliskerov in a 185-pound contest. In the evening’s co-headlining matchup, top-five ranked fighters Sergei Pavlovich and Alexander Volkov met in a heavyweight scrap.

The UFC had initially scheduled Whittaker to face Khamzat Chimaev in the main event of UFC Saudi Arabia, but that fight fell apart when illness prevented Chimaev from competing. Aliskerov, who was training for a fight on last week’s UFC Vegas 93 fight card, was moved to the Saudi Arabia event.

Whittaker, who entered UFC Saudi Arabia as the No. 3 fighter in the official UFC middleweight rankings, dispatched the unranked Aliskerov in devastating fashion in the first round.

Whittaker moved to 26-7 with the knockout win. The former UFC champion looked poised throughout the short bout. The close odds of the fight and the hype behind his foe, who was 2-0 in the UFC with two first-round knockout wins, did little to shake the confidence of the ex-titleholder.

The fight was risky for Whittaker. Had he lost, his future title hopes would have likely evaporated in the heat of Saudi Arabia. Instead, Whittaker walked out of Kingdom Arena unscathed, and his stock will likely rise in the aftermath of the knockout win.

In the evening’s co-main event, Alexander Volkov scored an enormous win, shutting down the powerful Sergei Pavlovich in a fight that saw the betting underdog score a big upset victory. Volkov entered UFC Saudi Arabia as the No. 5 ranked heavyweight, while Pavlovich was at No. 3.

Below we look at the winners, losers, full fight card results and fight-night bonuses from UFC Saudi Arabia. The main card for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event was on ABC, following prelims on ESPN.

UFC Saudi Arabia Winners

Robert Whittaker: One saying we hear often in combat sports is that there are levels to this. Ikram Aliskerov found out on Saturday that he was not on the level of former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.

Whittaker took care of Aliskerov, who entered the fight with a lot of hype behind, by knocking him out in devastating fashion in the first round.

Whittaker showed his veteran acumen in picking up the finish.

Alexander Volkov: Alexander Volkov took a measured approach to this fight, which was wise. He didn’t overextend himself. He didn’t take unnecessary risks. He stuck to a game plan of using kicks and jabs, and never allowed his foe, the hard-hitting Sergei Pavlovich, to get a bead on him.

Volkov’s technical approach might not have been the most fan-friendly style, but facing an opponent who had never left the first round as a UFC competitor, Volkov did precisely what he needed to do to get the win.

With the victory, Volkov who has been with the UFC since 2016 and has never fought for the UFC heavyweight title, picked up his fourth straight win.

Daniel Rodriguez: Kelvin Gastelum left Daniel Rodriguez in a bad spot. Signed to fight at 170 pounds, Rodriguez found out on Thursday that Gastelum was not going to make weight. The UFC moved the fight to 185 pounds, which left Rodriguez, who was on pace to make weight, in a bad spot. Despite that, he accepted the fight.

Gastelum was unprofessional. Rodriguez was not.

Shara Magomedov: Shara Magomedov smiled after his opponent Antonio Trocoli scored with strikes early in the middleweight scrap. That would be the only moment that Trocoli had success. After that, Magomedov used his kicks to keep his opponent at bay. With Trocoli offering little to no offense in the second and third rounds, Magomedov grew more confident and comfortable, picking up points via kicks and power punches to the head.

In the end, the patient Magomedov picked up a third-round knockout victory in what became a glorified sparring session.

Volkan Oezdemir: The heavy-handed Volkan Oezdemir scored his first knockout win in nearly five years with a vicious stoppage of Johnny Walker. The defensively suspect Walker seemed tailor-made to provide Oezdemir with a highlight reel KO, and that’s exactly how this fight played out.

Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon: Output, pressure, and heart were displayed during this lightweight fight. In a closely contested conflict, Haqparast and Gordon had themselves a back-and-forth battle that could have gone either way on the judge’s scorecards.

Haqparast was comfortable fighting off his back foot and responding to Gordon’s pressure with counters. Meanwhile, Gordon, who was more flat-footed, used his power and pressure to pick up points. Both men did a lot of damage with their blows, Haqparast closing one of Gordon’s eyes while Gordon opened several cuts on his opponent’s face.

The judges scored it in favor of Haqparast via split decision, but Gordon lost no ground in the 155-pound division.

This was a great fight to close out the prelims of UFC Saudi Arabia

Felipe Lima: Felipe Lima had an impressive performance on Saturday. An Oktagon MMA bantamweight champion who was training for a title defense with that promotion jumped at the chance to fight Muhammad Naimov at featherweight on the UFC Saudi Arabia fight card.

With nothing to lose, Lima was aggressive in every way against Naimov. The 26-year-old scored a monster third-round submission win over Naimov, who was on a six-fight winning streak, three of which were with the UFC.

Lima is on a 13-fight winning streak following the UFC Saudi Arabia fight card.

Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Nicolas Dalby: Spirited would be a good way to describe the welterweight bout between Rinat Fakhretdinov and Nicolas Dalby. Fakhretdinov, who was a -345 betting favorite, put together good striking combinations and showed some solid power in his strikes. Meanwhile, Dalby, who was the +275 betting underdog, showed a lot of toughness and resilience, and he never gave up on himself.

Had this fight been five rounds, Dalby might have won, as Fakhretdinov seemed to concentrate on control rather than damage as the contest went deeper.

With the split-decision victory, Fakhretdinov moved to 4-0-1 with the UFC, while Dalby saw his four-fight winning streak end.

This fight was a clear front-runner for early “Fight of the Night” honors.

Muin Gafurov: Muin Gafurov picked up his first win under the UFC banner in his third fight with the promotion, beating Kang Kyung-ho via decision.

Gafurov showcased solid striking in this bantamweight battle. What stood out during the 15-minute contest was Gafurov’s combinations, which he used to great effect.

If Gafurov can rein in his desire to sometimes overthrow on his strikes, he should reduce the chances of his opponents picking up takedown attempts when he’s off balance.

Magomed Gadzhiyasulov: Magomed Gadzhiyasulov picked up a majority decision win over Brendson Ribeiro in a light heavyweight scrap. Gadzhiyasulov showed a kick-heavy striking game and a heavy top game on the mat. One thing that stood out about Gadzhiyasulov’s performance was that he needed to lead the dance more. He was too reactive to what Ribeiro offered. This is something Gadzhiyasulov will need to work on going forward. If Ribeiro had better cardio and higher fight IQ, Gadzhiyasulov might have been in danger of losing this fight, his UFC debut.

Chang Ho Lee: Officially the matchup between Chang-ho Lee and Xiao Long was not a UFC fight as it was the bantamweight final for “Road to UFC 2.” Lee won the bout via split decision by applying a lot of pressure to his opponent and doing a lot of work to the body.

Lee moved to 10-1 in his MMA career with the win, but the 30-year-old looks like he’s going to have some problems with UFC-level competition.

UFC Saudi Arabia Losers

Ikram Aliskerov: Ikram Aliskerov took a short-notice fight against Robert Whittaker at UFC Saudi Arabia. It did not work out well for him, as Whittaker knocked him out in highlight-reel fashion.

The loss will take some of the hype off Aliskerov, but to be fair, with just two UFC fights on his record ahead of Saturday, he was not ready for a man as accomplished as Whittaker.

Sergei Pavlovich: Sergei Pavlovich struggled mightily with the range management of Alexander Volkov, losing a one-sided decision win.

Kelvin Gastelum: Kelvin Gastelum accepted his UFC Saudi Arabia fight opposite Daniel Rodriguez at welterweight. However, the UFC moved the fight to middleweight after it became clear that Gastelum was not going to be able to reach the 170-pound limit.

Gastelum looked as if he did not attempt to make weight for Saturday’s event and one is left to wonder why the fight wasn’t moved to 185-pounds before fight week. If Gastelum kept it a secret to get an advantage, that’s unforgivable.

Antonio Trocoli: Antonio Trocoli was on a freeroll on Saturday. He accepted the fight against Shara Magomedov days before the event. He opened the contest by landing some potent punches and then forced things to the fence in the hope of reducing time and space for his hyped foe.

However, Trocoli showed no sense of urgency outside the fight’s opening moments, which made him little more than a target for Magomedov during the second and third rounds.

Marc Goddard: Marc Goddard is a very good referee, but he allowed Shara Magomedov to get away with a blatant fence grab in the second round of his bout opposite Antonio Trocoli that looked as if it prevented a takedown.

Johnny Walker: The wild Johnny Walker of his early UFC career is long gone. In his place is a fighter who works behind leg kicks with suspect defense. His patient style resulted in a terrible knockout loss to the powerful Volkan Oezdemir.

Jason Herzog: Jason Herzog is a very good referee, but his stoppage of the Volkan Oezdemir vs. Johnny Walker fight showed no sense of urgency, which resulted in Walker eating an undefended strike on the mat.

Muhammad Naimov: Muhammad Naimov struggled with the pressure and pace of his late replacement opponent, Felipe Lima. Naimov never seemed to get settled or comfortable against Lima, a fighter he had not trained for.

Brendson Ribeiro: Brendson Ribeiro put together a good 10 minutes against Magomed Gadzhiyasulov, but he ran out of gas in the third stanza of their light heavyweight contest. Had his cardio been better, Ribeiro might have a chance in this matchup. He fell to 0-2 in the UFC with the loss.

UFC: The UFC had no women working the event, and there were no women’s fights on the card.

UFC Commentary Team: I understand that Saudi Arabia put a lot of money into bringing the UFC to Kingdom Arena, but the UFC commentary team doing what came across as public relations work for Saudi Arabia during the broadcast felt like unnecessary sportswashing.

UFC Saudi Arabia Full Fight Card Results

UFC Saudi Arabia Main Card (ABC)

Robert Whittaker defeats Ikram Aliskerov via knockout at 1:49 of Round 1 (Punch to head at distance)

Alexander Volkov defeats Sergei Pavlovich via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Kelvin Gastelum defeats Daniel Rodriguez via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

Shara Magomedov defeats Antonio Trocoli via knockout at 2:27 of Round 3 (Punches to head at distance)

Volkan Oezdemir defeats Johnny Walker via knockout at 2:28 of Round 1 (Punch to head at distance)

UFC Saudi Arabia Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)

Nasrat Haqparast defeats Jared Gordon via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Felipe Lima defeats Muhammad Naimov via submission (Rear-naked choke at 1:15 of Round 3)

Rinat Fakhretdinov defeats Nicolas Dalby via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Muin Gafurov defeats Kang Kyung-ho via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)

Magomed Gadzhiyasulov defeats Brendson Ribeiro via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)

Chang Ho Lee defeats Xiao Long via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

UFC Saudi Arabia Fight Night Bonuses

Performance of the Night: Robert Whittaker

Performance of the Night: Shara Magomedov

Performance of the Night: Volkan Oezdemir

Performance of the Night: Felipe Lima

Related Stories

UFC Saudi Arabia Fight Card Odds & Predictions: Whittaker Vs. Aliskerov

Dana White: It Was Impossible For Ronda Rousey To Grow As UFC Fighter

NSAC Policy: UFC Must Offer Refunds If UFC 303 Main Event Is Canceled

Don’t Expect Dana White To Speak Much About Conor McGregor For Now

Dana White: Michael Chandler Wants To Wait For Conor McGregor

Dana White On Conor McGregor: Maybe He’ll Fight Again. Maybe He Won’t