UFC 280: Oliveira vs Makhachev main card results, video highlights

Keep up with what’s happening today on the highly anticipated UFC 280 PPV main card, which is going down from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. at a special early start time.

In this post, we are going to cover the first-two matchups of the PPV portion of the event. We will be starting with the UFC’s #1 ranked women’s strawweight, Katlyn Chookagian, who will be tangling with the #6 ranked, Manon Fiorot. After that, we’ll be covering the promotion’s #6 rated lightweight, Beneil Dariush, who is dancing with the #9 rated, Mateusz Gamrot.

The PPV main card is slated for 2:00pm ET/11:00am PT, and can be purchased on ESPN+. The preliminary bouts begin at an extra early 10:30am ET/7:00am, PT, which can be streamed on ESPN+.

Main card:

Beneil Dariush def. Mateusz Gamrot by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 29-28): Lightweight

The first round was extremely close. Gamrot shot in for an early takedown, but Dariush did a great job of initiating a scramble. The ear of Gamrot began bleeding, likely from some cauliflower exploding. The wild grappling entanglements continued, with neither man finding a way to truly impose his will.

Dariush brought his kicks in the second round, and kept tagging Gamrot from range. The takedowns from Gamrot were getting stuffed with relative ease. Behind his strikes, Dariush was starting to pull away from a less active Gamrot.

Gamrot forced a grappling sequence to begin the final round, but Dariush stayed on top and quickly returned to his feet. Dariush returned to his range striking, picking off Gamrot as he would close the distance. Dariush was also threatening with up knees, which were certainly discouraging the takedown attempts. With about 90-seconds to go, Dariush unleashed a massive overhand left that briefly dropped Gamrot. Mateusz quickly got up, and pressured Beneil, but it wasn’t enough to find a finish.

Manon Fiorot def. Katlyn Chookagian by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): (W) Flyweight

The flyweights were content to stand and bang throughout the bulk of this one. There was a lot of back and forth exchanges, with both fighters having their moments, but neither athlete able to really take over. It was highly competitive overall, but there weren’t any big wow moments to make a statement. Fiorot did hit a late takedown with less than a minute to go in the fight, but Chookagian immediately scrambled right back to her feet. This was a tough one to score.