Robert Whittaker and Darren Till have been enjoying friendly back-and-forth exchanges on social media for the better part of the year.
It started with Till’s repeated question of “Rob?” on Instagram and Twitter. Then the two joked about the kind of junk food they were eating during their respective pandemic-related quarantines. In April, the two agreed to a catchweight of 195 pounds — rather than a 185-pound middleweight bout — so neither had to diet.
The two genuinely like each other, but there’s no doubt the time for quips will be over when they enter the Octagon for the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi.
ESPN has Whittaker ranked No. 2 and Till ranked No. 6 in the world at middleweight.
Whittaker (20-5) has not fought since dropping the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya at UFC 243 last October. The New Zealand-born Australia resident was on a nine-fight winning streak prior to that and had held gold since 2017. Whittaker, 29, was the first Aussie to win a UFC title.
Till (18-2-1) moved up to middleweight from welterweight and beat Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 244 last November. The England native had lost two straight before that, to Jorge Masvidal and Tyron Woodley in a welterweight title bout. Till, 27, was undefeated before falling to Woodley.
In the co-main event, Brazilian legends will meet in a trilogy bout. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua takes on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in a light heavyweight battle. Rua (26-11-1) has defeated Nogueira twice and has just one loss in his past six fights. Nogueira (23-9), a 44-year-old veteran of 19 years in MMA, has said he will retire after this bout.
Also on the card, former light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson comes out of retirement and moves up to heavyweight to take on former champion Fabricio Werdum. Plus, former strawweight champion Carla Esparza meets up-and-comer Marina Rodriguez, and top prospect Khamzat Chimaev returns after an excellent debut two weeks ago to face Rhys McKee.
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Fight in progress:
Men’s featherweight: Movsar Evloev (12-0, 2-0 UFC, -190) vs. Mike Grundy (12-1, 1-0 UFC, +170)
Results
Heavyweight: Tanner Boser (19-6-1, 3-1 UFC) defeats Raphael Pessoa (10-2, 1-2 UFC) by second-round KO
Recap to come.
Women’s bantamweight: Pannie Kianzad (14-5, 2-2 UFC) defeats Bethe Correia (11-5-1, 5-5-1 UFC) vs. by unanimous decision
0:30
Bethe Correia thinks Round 1 is over, not realizing there are still 10 seconds left, and Pannie Kianzad takes advantage.
Kianzad has started putting together somewhat of a run in the UFC’s women’s bantamweight division with two straight wins and three out of four.
After years of bouncing around promotions and struggling with her weight cut, Kianzad now has her first UFC winning streak, courtesy of a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) victory over Correia, the former UFC title challenger.
Kianzad looked solid the whole fight with her boxing and knees in the Thai clinch. She did solid damage at the end of the first when Correia thought the clacking sound that signifies there are 10 seconds left in the round meant that the round was over. Kianzad landed a hard combination when Correia let her guard down.
Kianzad was the more accurate, powerful striker throughout. Correia had moments, including solid ground-and-pound striking in the second round. But Kianzad showed off the better standup.
Kianzad, the Iran-born Sweden native, had a crack at the Invicta FC bantamweight title in 2015, but missed weight. She moved up to featherweight and went to the finals of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter women’s 145-pound tournament in 2018, falling to Macy Chiasson. Kianzad, 28, has looked solid back at 135 pounds now.
Correia (11-5-1) has dropped three of four and only has one victory since 2016. The 37-year-old Brazilian famously fought Ronda Rousey in the main event of UFC 190 in 2015. That remains Rousey’s last win.
— Raimondi
Welterweight: Ramazan Emeev (19-4, 4-1 UFC) defeats Niklas Stolze (12-4, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision
0:22
Niklas Stolze lands a huge knee to the chin of Ramazan Emeev at the end of Round 1 of their bout at UFC Fight Night.
Emeev used four takedowns and several spells of forward pressure to control the fight for all but a few moments and take the decision.
The 33-year-old Dagestani, who lost in November to Anthony Rocco Martin to end a seven-fight winning streak, started strong and secured a submission attempt within the first half of Round 1, but Stolze, making his UFC debut on a four-fight winning streak, defended well and hurt his opponent seconds before the horn, dropping Emeev with a knee to the face.
But Emeev seized back control of what turned into a slow fight at the start of Round 2, and other than absorbing the occasional low kick, jab or knee, kept the German on the defensive.
Two judges scored the bout 30-27 and the other had it 29-28.
— Wagenheim
Men’s bantamweight: Nathaniel Wood (17-4, 4-1 UFC) defeats John Castaneda (17-5, 0-1 UFC) by unanimous decision
0:29
Nathaniel Wood and John Castaneda trade massive blows in the middle of Round 2 of their bout at UFC Fight Night.
Coming off a momentum-killing defeat earlier this year, Wood got himself right back into the flow with a poised and relentless attack.
Solid performance here from @TheProspectMMA Nice showcase of his striking against a tough opponent.
— michael (@bisping) July 25, 2020
The 26-year-old out of London, who saw an eight-fight winning streak ended by a John Dodson left hook in February, did not have it easy against Castaneda, but his fluid movement and array of punches and kicks from all angles got him back on the winning track. All three judges scored the fight 30-27.
Castaneda, 28 and out of Minnesota, put on a strong performance in his UFC debut. He got hit a lot, bloodied in the second round, but never stopped coming forward and clipped Wood on many occasions. He just could not string together the kind of combinations that kept Wood a step ahead.
— Wagenheim
Still to come:
Middleweight: Robert Whittaker (21-5, 11-3 UFC, -125) vs. Darren Till (18-2-1, 6-2-1 UFC, +105)
Light heavyweight: Mauricio Rua (26-11-1, 11-8-1 UFC, -185) vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (23-9, 6-6 UFC, +165)
Heavyweight: Fabricio Werdum (23-9-1, 9-4 UFC, +285) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (18-6, 12-4 UFC, -350)
Strawweight: Carla Esparza (17-6, 7-4 UFC, +160) vs. Marina Rodriguez (12-0-2, 3-0-2 UFC, -180)
Light heavyweight: Paul Craig (12-4-1, 4-4-1 UFC, -130) vs. Gadzhimurad Antigulov (20-6, 2-2 UFC, +110)
Welterweight: Alex Oliveira (20-8-1, -170) vs. Peter Sobotta (17-6-1, 4-2 UFC, 10-6-1 UFC, +150)
Welterweight: Khamzat Chimaev (7-0, 1-0 UFC, -1400) vs. Rhys McKee (10-2-1, 0-0 UFC, +800)
Lightweight: Francisco Trinaldo (25-7, 15-6 UFC, -145) vs. Jai Herbert (10-1, 0-0 UFC, +125)
Welterweight: Nicolas Dalby (18-3-1, 2-2-1 UFC, -250) vs. Jesse Ronson (21-10, 0-2 UFC, +210)
Heavyweight: Tom Aspinall (7-2, 0-0 UFC -235) vs. Jake Collier (11-4, 3-3 UFC, +195)
