UFC Fight Night Main Event
Ex-UFC champ Robert Whittaker is back in the win column. It is a great technical striking match between Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till as they headlined the 3rd event on Abu Dhabi's UFC Fight Island. Now after losing his title against Israel Adesanya, it is certainly a good bounce back for him to look forward to his next match.
Now going back to the main event fight between Whittaker and Till. Both men got their back on the mat, both got visibly wobbled, and it is an entertaining striking match. Robert Whittaker even called it a stressful match because Darren Till is a very good technical skillful striker. Both fighters also were bloodied but eventually, Whittaker got the upper hand winning a unanimous decision with 48-47 scores from the three judges.
If you haven't checked it yet, below are the results of tonight's event:
UFC Fight Night card and results
- Robert Whittaker def. Darren Till via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Mauricio Rua def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Fabricio Werdum def. Alexander Gustafsson via first-round submission (armbar)
- Carla Esparza def. Marina Rodriguez via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Paul Craig def. Gadzhimurad Antigulov via first-round submission (triangle choke)
- Alex Oliveira def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Khamzat Chimaev def. Rhys McKee via first-round TKO (punches)
- Francisco Trinaldo def. Jai Herbert via third-round TKO (punches)
- Jesse Ronson def. Nicolas Dalby via first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
- Tom Aspinall def. Jake Collier via first-round TKO (punches)
- Movsar Evloev def. Mike Grundy via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Tanner Boser def. Raphael Pessoa via second-round TKO (punches)
- Pannie Kianzad def. Bethe Correia via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Ramazan Emeev def. Niklas Stolze via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Nathaniel Wood def. John Castaneda via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Whittaker Still A Championship Prospect.
Having won this time, Whittaker has an interesting outlook. Making himself ready as a replacement just in case any of the fighters in UFC 253 main event will not be available.
That makes a lot of sense, just in case he's putting himself very much in line with the championship belt. Another win on that match could immediately propel him as a champion or as the main contender.
Watch and listen to this interview:
The big roadblock on his championship quest though is the current champion himself Israel Adesanya. Israel is Whittaker's conqueror and holds a good psychological advantage of knocking him out. This time around, Whittaker vows to be different. It looks to me that he has a different mindset now. And a rematch is interesting, as a fan I still would love to see the fight happening again. How about you? Do you think a rematch will provide a different result this time?