UFC light heavyweight Ibo Aslan drew calls for his release following a head-scratching showing at UFC Abu Dhabi.
UFC Abu Dhabi featured wild knockouts, a gruesome eye injury, and rising stars earning their first promotional victories during the prelims.
But one of the preliminary portion’s bouts will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons.
UFC light heavyweight Ibo Aslan and Billy Elekana squared off on the prelims in what was labeled an intriguing matchup by analysts. Despite the pre-fight hype, the light heavyweights failed to deliver many notable moments in the cage.
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Fans don’t hold back on Ibo Aslan after ‘worst fight in MMA history’
Aslan and Elekana struggled to deal out heavy striking activity over three rounds inside the cage. Both light heavyweights seemed content in throwing single strikes at their opponent, in a matchup that drew boos from the UFC Abu Dhabi live audience.
The fight was difficult to score due to the lack of consistent activity by both Aslan and Elekana. After three rounds of sluggishness, Elekana walked away with a unanimous decision victory to pick up his first promotional win.
Despite arguably the biggest win of Elekana’s career, fans weren’t thrilled on social media.
“Might be one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen,” one fan wrote on X.
“How can a fighter go to Dagestan and come back even softer…Ibo surprised all of us,” another said.
“Disgrace. Both fighters should never fight for UFC again. Do your thing [Dana white].”
“Worst fight in UFC history. Boys almost kissed each other.”
“BOOOO.”
“Worst fight I’ve seen in a while. Both just doing cardio. Cut Aslan.”
“You are given the opportunity to fight in UFC and this is how you fight? Honestly they don’t deserve to be there.”
“Historical fight. The worst fight in MMA history. Great job boys!”
Aslan’s performance was especially surprising given some of his recent performances. At UFC 308, Aslan knocked out an undefeated contender with a 32-punch combination that drew rave reviews from fans.
Earlier this year, Aslan suffered a stunning first Octagon loss to Ion Cutelaba at UFC Seattle by submission. After a scorching-hot start to his UFC tenure, the former Dana White’s Contender Series star Aslan has dropped back-to-back fights in the cage.
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Ibo Aslan vs. Billy Elekana was the low point of the UFC Abu Dhabi prelims
Luckily, fight fans had many other highlights to catch during the UFC Abu Dhabi prelims.
Tabatha Ricci earned a stunning elbow knockout against Amanda Ribas to continue her rise up the women’s flyweight rankings. 41-year-old Muslim Salikhov needed under a minute to earn a walkoff KO over former PFL star Carlos Leal.
Mohammad Yahya’s left eye blew up like a balloon at the hands of Steven Nguyen. Nguyen earned a UFC record six knockdowns before referee Jason Herzog waved off the fight after Round 2.