UFC brings fight fans the second instalment of Fight Island featuring Dan Ige and Calvin Kattar form of UFC on ESPN 13.
Calvin Kattar is coming off of a win over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249 and on the other hand, Dan Ige is coming off of a close decision win over Edson Barboza at UFC on ESPN 8. His confidence will be at an all-time high as he is riding on a six-fight winning streak.
In the co-main event, Tim Elliott will take on Ryan Benoit. Later on the card, Jimmie Rivera takes on Cody Stamann.
UFC on ESPN 13: Kattar vs Ige (Prelims):
Men’s bantamweight: Jack Shore (13-0, 2-0 UFC) defeats Aaron Phillips (12-4, 0-3 UFC) by second-round rear-naked choke
Post-fight interview:
“It feels very good, like I say, the fans of this sport want to see finishes, they don’t want to see drawn out decisions and I’m not the type of guy that wants to be in three rounds wars. To come away with another finish, that’s 12 out of 13 fights now, happy man. It’s an honor, Bisping is a Hall of Famer and a legend, just to have him call my fights is an honor, but to mention me with the likes of GSP – that was my hero growing up as a kid, so it’s taking me back a little bit, but it’s a compliment I’ll definitely take.
“I felt a little bit sloppy first round. It’s been a tough fight week with the quarantine in London for two days, flight to Abu Dhabi, stuck in the hotel room for two days here, the weather, the sleeping pattern, the change of opponents, but it is what it is, as fighters we’ve got to learn to deal with adversity.
“Other than a sloppy start to the first round, I can’t complain, second round finish – I’m a happy man. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I’m one of those guys, I want to go out there and win every second of every round of every fight. I’ll probably go back and watch it on the TV or on my phone and I’ll have a different view like I always do. I just felt a little bit sloppy starting off, but once I got in my rhythm and loosened up, I got the job done.
“I want to keep getting better between fights, I want to bring a better version of myself to every single fight, I don’t want to be that guy who is fighting every month. Give me a month or two now to improve my skill set and it’d be great to come back to the Octagon. October or November time, perfect. I’d like to come back to Abu Dhabi as well, I didn’t get to see much of this beautiful place, been stuck in the hotel for a week cutting weight, so I’d love to come back here for a trip and have a look about and enjoy it a little bit more too,” Shore said.
Women’s flyweight: Liana Jojua (7-3, 0-1 UFC) defeats Diana Belbita (13-5, 0-1 UFC) by the first-round armbar
Post-fight interview:
“I feel very good, I’m very happy, this is a good day for me. I think submission, not arm bar, but any submission will do, but arm bar is my favorite submission and I make do. I didn’t think I would make this in the first round, I think one or two rounds, but she took me down and I finish. I’m very happy because I haven’t won in two years, it’s very hard for me. Now I’m very happy because this is perfect. This is my first UFC win and fight at the new weight. I felt very good, but the weight cut is very hard for me, it’s very crazy for me. But then I think it will become easier for me because it won’t be new for me and only having one month for the fight was a little bit short notice.
“I don’t know when I want to fight next, I haven’t thought about it. I think I want to go to new camps, make a visa for America. I want to go to America and train there and then I will think about fighting. Right now it’s very hard for training, if I don’t change camps, it’s not good for me,” Liana Jojua said.
Men’s featherweight: Jared Gordon (16-4, 4-3 UFC) defeats Chris Fishgold (18-4-1, 1-3 UFC) by unanimous decision
Post-fight interview:
“Coming to Fight Island, all the ups and downs and the obstacles I had to get through to get here, I dodged Corona Virus, every situation you can think of I went through before getting here – false positives, coming here and getting tested, “oh you have Corona virus”, how? I got tested a million times before I get here, I get here and they tell me I have Corona virus, false positive, I’m negative obviously, I feel great. I felt the fight was maybe a little boring, but I got the job done. Fight Island, history in the making for UFC, so I’m happy. It was dominant, I was close to the finish, very close, but I didn’t get it. My first time back at 45, so I was feeling it out, I feel good, this is my division, so I’m ready to go on a tear now.
“I felt bigger, stronger, everyone at 55 is taller, bigger, longer. The first round I felt a little rusty on my feet, but then I was able to start landing punches, take the guy down, hold him there, dominate him on the floor and that’s what I did, so I’m happy with that. Staying at 45 for sure. I’m going to take a little bit of a break, but I want to get back in there. Now is the time to make a run and make a name. Everything that’s going on, we’re the only sport, I want to be in the spotlight, I feel good, I’m not injured, so I’m ready to go.
“I haven’t thought about who is next, the last couple of weeks have been insane. All the people in my gym tested positive, all my coaches, friends, my fiancé. I’ve been so focused on this fight, getting to Fight Island alone was enough, am I even going to make it there? What happens where I get there? I’ve been quarantined for weeks, I wasn’t in the gym for two weeks before I got here. I’ve got to go home, see my fiancé, be with her with a little while, she hasn’t seen me in days, I was quarantined for days before I left, so she hasn’t seen me in 20 days, so I gotta get back, take a little time and get back to the gym, if the gym is even operational by the time I get back,” Jared Gordan said.
Light heavyweight: Modestas Bukauskas (11-2, 1-0 UFC) defeats Andreas Michailidis (12-4, 0-1 UFC) by first-round TKO
Post-fight interview:
“I feel absolutely amazing. I’ve been visualizing this moment, every single time the opponent got announced, I was visualizing it every single day. Visualizing the finish, writing it on my board and everything like that, for it finally to come to fruition in the cage is absolutely amazing, to be part of such a historic event as well, I couldn’t have asked for anything better, it feels absolutely amazing.
“This is a great way to introduce myself to the UFC, but I’m only going to keep getting better and keep putting on better performances. I knew once those shots were landing that they were going to be hard because in my last fight in Cage Warriors I finished the guy with the exact same finish. Even when I went with the guy to the medical room, he was completely dazed and confused, so I wish for a speedy recovery for my opponent.
“I would have liked to finish it in a different way because I was just starting to feel my range and as well I had a bit of a leg injury coming into the fight, so it was a little bit more difficult to show more of myself, but to come out there and see those elbows and land them, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“I’m looking at opportunities, if I see an opportunity to land something, I’m going for it. I’m a finisher like you said, 10 out of my 11 fights are finishes so I’m looking for the finish any way possible, if there’s an opening, I’ll take it. I didn’t’ even know that was the end of the round, when the guy said that the bell went it was absolutely mad, so I’m glad it went that way.
“I saw that he was going after my leg, so I had to be a bit more weary of that, I couldn’t really find my range or my timing as much because I had to be worried about the leg. I didn’t feel it so much in the fight, it was just a case of finding my rhythm, trying to get out of it as much as I can and trying to capitalize when I could. I was given an opportunity and I took it on full stream.
“I’m really hoping to get on the next Fight Island card. I know they are going to be running events in Las Vegas and depending on the pandemic, they’re going to come back here, so I would love to be back on a show on Fight Island the next time around. I’m going to let this leg heal, get the swelling down, but then I’ll be back into training and ready to go and take on new challenges. Keep getting better, keep improving my skillset, and keep improving my performances and put on even better performances,” Modestas Bukauskas said.
Men’s featherweight: Lerone Murphy (9-0-1, 1-0-1 UFC) defeats Ricardo Ramos (14-3, 5-2 UFC) by first-round TKO
Post-fight interview:
“I wanted to prove that I belong here in the UFC. I plan to spend the rest of my career in the UFC, climb to the top, get into that top 15 and obviously one day be champion. I’m just going to go back, heal up for a month and then get back to training and grow and grow. That’s all I want to do, grow. Dana White has done a fantastic job with keeping these fights on with what’s going on. I’m very grateful to even get out of the house and come to Abu Dhabi where the hospitality is amazing. If Fight Island comes back later in the year, I’ll be here,” Murphy said.
Middleweight: Khamzat Chimaev (6-0, 0-0 UFC) defeats John Phillips (22-9, 1-3 UFC) via D’Arce choke.
Post-fight interview:
“I feel amazing. This was the plan, smash the guy, take the money and go home. My coach told me, “you have to do wrestling now, take him down and smash him.” I listen to my coach, I did this. This division is not my division, it is one more heavier, but I felt good. I did this before, same weight class, but down in weight is much better for me. I want to be champion at welterweight, I’m going to be champion in that.
“I never felt in trouble, I do this with all my opponents, I smash them all, first round, second round. I have seven wins, seven finishes. I could fight next week if they have. I told them, give me Donald Cerrone, if they give me, it’d be an amazing fight for me. I’m gonna smash him and everybody going to talk about it,” Khamzat said.
UFC on ESPN 13: Kattar vs Ige (Main Card):
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Mounir Lazzez
ROUND 1: Abdul comes forward-firing jabs and knees. Alhassan is lighting up Mounir with hard punches and combinations. Head kick lands for Mounir, but Alhassan is still landing huge punches and body shots on Lazzez.
Mounir with an elbow, leg kicks and knee to the body of Alhassan. After a surge in the opening minute of the first round, Alhassan has slowed down and now Mounir is walking down the African and landing knees and uppercuts.
ROUND 2: Mounir firing his leg kicks and keeping Alhassan at bay. He is backing the African to the cage and landing huge punches on him. Low kick followed by a head kick and a knee to the body lands for Mounir. Mounir now goes for a takedown, but Alhassan manages to get a guillotine on Mounir but fails to execute it.
Mounir lands elbows and combinations pressing Alhassan towards the cage and then scores a takedown.
ROUND 3:Alhassan eats a knee when he goes for the takedown. But Mouniris showing terrific takedown defense. He has Lazzez in a guillotine, but it hasn’t materialised into anything yet. Mounir landed a massive elbow from the top after escaping the guillotine.
Alhassan turning the heat up late in the fight and manages to sink in some punches.
Welterweight: Mounir Lazzez (9-1, 0-0 UFC) defeats Abdul Razak Alhassan (10-1, 4-1 UFC) via unanimous decision.
Post-fight interview:
“I love to be the underdog and to show my skill and that’s exactly what happened tonight. I came in as the underdog and I enjoy the victory. When he put me in the first round against the cage, I said, “what, this is all that you got?” I still have a lot of weapons and just step by step I killed his will with the kicks, moving around, high kick, low kick, I showed my wrestling, my takedown defense.
“I kept visualization this over and over as just another fight, don’t put pressure on yourself and just go enjoy what you do. I love this craft, I loved when I get clipped and I see the will inside the eye of my opponent, that mental game, I love that, I love that deep water stuff. My mental game, I’ve said it before, maybe you can be more technical and maybe you can be more powerful, but my will and my mental game, you can’t beat it.
“I’m healthy, 100%, I swear to God I’m ready to go in two weeks, but I let my management speak to the UFC, and when that idiot is ready, I’m ready to go,” Lazzez said.
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