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Former UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway hit the jackpot over the weekend. The American turned out the light on compatriot Justin Gaethje and took the “Most Dangerous Gangster” belt from the elite lightweight. Moreover, following the results of the promotion's 300th show, «Blessed» received a title chance (he will become the next opponent of undefeated champion Iliya Topuria) and, no less important, won the largest bonus in the history of the promotion. Holloway went home with an additional 600 thousand dollars (in honor of the significant event, the standard bonus of $50 thousand was increased six times), which he received for “Best Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night”.
You rewatch the main highlight of UFC 300 and understand: for such a fire in the cage, the promotion could have awarded Max a million. After all, a knockout at the last second of the fight is already called the greatest in the history of mixed martial arts (so says commentator Joe Rogan). It turned out really amazing!
Despite the general applause for the triumphant, the act at the end of the five-round fight was reckless. It’s stupid to give your opponent a chance and make an exchange 10 seconds before the siren, when you confidently win the match on points and are very close to the most important victory. But everything worked out — you couldn’t imagine anything better. Holloway had gone all out in the finish line before, but had never fallen. And at UFC 300 he also folded his opponent in half.
Gaethje a legend after the fight and explained why he gave Justin the opportunity to turn everything upside down. He admitted that in the battle for the title of “the toughest bastard,” such an episode makes an athlete worthy of this characteristic… And also expressed confidence that his opponent, if he had won, would also give him a chance and arrange a ten-second exchange.
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«Justin is a warrior, keep your head up, champion! Spectacular performance from Max, congratulations.»
Islam Makhachev
UFC Lightweight Champion
in a meeting designed for five rounds.
The record for the latest early victory in the world's main MMA promotion was set by Demetrius «Mighty Mouse» Johnson. In April 2015, the American successfully defended the flyweight title for the sixth time: in Montreal, Kyoji Horiguchi lasted 24 minutes and 59 seconds, but the Japanese fell for a painful hold (elbow lever) and was forced to surrender a second before the end of the confrontation.
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But Johnson still did not knock out his opponent — the story with a terrible finish had to wait until 2018, when the Octagon was shared by the Mexican Yair Rodriguez and Chung Chan Song, known as the Korean Zombie.
What happened in the main event in Denver is a clear example of what could happen to Holloway in Las Vegas. The Korean Zombie won four out of five rounds, and there was no point in arranging a fight in the center of the octagon at all. But Chung Chan Son became famous thanks to his animal style, and in the fight with Rodriguez he remained true to himself. The Korean rushed into an exchange with the Mexican and went face-first to the canvas after an inexplicable elbow strike, thrown from the most unnatural position imaginable.
Text about the coolest knockout is attached.
However, similar defeats also happened in three-round fights. Unfortunately for Russian MMA fans, our Magomed Ankalaev became a “victim” of this phenomenon. In 2018 in London, the current contender for the light heavyweight title lost ahead of schedule to Scotsman Paul Craig. Moreover, it was the Russian who took the fight. He was better both on the ground and in the standing position, and Craig was also noticeably tired towards the end — nothing foreshadowed an upset. However, a shocking sensation happened: the Scot managed to throw a “triangle” on Ankalaev’s neck, and the domestic fighter gave up a second before the end of the fight.
To this day, the offensive defeat remains the first and last in the Russian light heavyweight’s record.
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