October 23, (THEWILL) – In the UFC 280 main event on Saturday night, Islam Makhachev defeated Charles Oliveira through submission, to claim the vacant lightweight championship, following in the footsteps of his childhood friend, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
After retiring in 2020 undefeated, Nurmagomedov immediately relinquished the lightweight title he had won in Abu Dhabi. Makhachev won the same belt there, nearly two years to the day after Khabib’s real successor, Oliveira, was defeated, making Makhachev his fellow Russian spiritual successor in the Octagon.
Khabib’s title was taken over by Oliveira in May of last year, and the Brazilian later successfully defended it in December. But the 33-year-old lost the championship due to underweighting one day before his own scheduled defence against Justin Gaethje in May.
At the highly anticipated in-ring confrontation that took place at the Etihad Arena on Saturday, the 31-year-old Makhachev defeated Oliveira with an arm-triangle choke in Round 2 to claim the vacant title.
In other bouts of UFC 280, TJ Dillashaw lost his bantamweight title fight against Aljamain Sterling in the second round of the co-main event due to a TKO. Despite his best efforts to fight through a dislocated shoulder, Sterling retained the title. The previous match of the evening featured rising 135-pound star, Sean O’Malley, defeating former bantamweight champion, Petr Yan, in a contentious decision.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
