Michael Chiesa showed he’s a legit welterweight contender on Wednesday night at Fight Island 8, Yas Island, having out-grappled and out-pointed Neil Magny over five rounds in the night’s main event.
‘The Maverick’ moved to 18-4 with a unanimous decision victory over Magny (24-9) on Wednesday night, putting him on a four fight win streak.
Between injury layoffs and Covid-19 pandemic, it’s a year since Chiesa stepped into the cage, last time out seeing off former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos but the time out of the cage seems to have paid off.
And with wins over Diego Sanchez and Carlos Condit under his belt before that, Chiesa can expect to be knocking on the door of the top five.
The Ultimate Fighter 15 winner executed a solid game plan, getting the game to the ground and edging virtually every scramble. Never one to back down, Magny went fishing for submissions of his own when things got to the ground in the third round but had no answer for Chiesa’s superior grappling.
With Chiesa intent on moving up the welterweight rankings, there was only one man on his mind, with a call out for the second time.
Called out! đź—Ł@MikeMav22 had only one name in mind after that!
[ #UFCFightIsland8 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/dXBQcdShL8
— UFC (@ufc) January 20, 2021
Jones debut
Elsewhere Mike Davis and promotion newcomer Mason Jones picked up Fight of the Night honours on the prelims in a back-and-forth contest over three rounds.
Welshman Jones (10-1) was making his UFC debut having signed from Cage Warriors late last year. Like Conor McGregor before him, Jones is a former two weight division champion under Cage Warriors at lightweight and welterweight but he showed his belonging in the UFC on Wednesday night.
Unfortunately for him, it would be Davis to take the decision victory, his second win on the bounce. Both fighters pick up an additional $50,000 for their efforts while the latest Nurmagomedov in the UFC, Umar, grabbed a performance bonus along with Warlley Alves.
Quick one from me. Lost a great fight to someone who had a better night & a better game plan. No excuses my end. Great fight from Mike.
Will be back better than ever— Mason Jones (@MasonJones1995) January 20, 2021
Watch: UFC Fight Island 8 post-fight press conference
Results: UFC Fight Island 8
- Michael Chiesa def. Neil Magny via unanimous decision (49-46 x3)
- Warlley Alves def. Mounir Lazzez via TKO, 2:35 R1
- Ike Villanueva def. Vinicius Moreira via KO, 0:39 R2
- Viviane Araujo def. Roxanne Modafferi via unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
- Matt Schnell def. Tyson Nam via split decision (28-29, 29-28 x2)
- Lerone Murphy def. Douglas Silva de Andrade via UD (29-28 x2, 30-27)
- Omari Akhmedov def. Tom Breese via submission (arm triangle choke), 1:41 R2
- Ricky Simon def. Gaetano Pirrello via submission (arm triangle choke), 4:00 R2
- Su Mudaerji def. Zarrukh Adashev via unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27)
- Dalcha Lungiambula def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
- Francisco Figueiredo def. Jerome Rivera via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
- Mike Davis def. Mason Jones via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
- Umar Nurmagomedov def. Sergey Morozov via submission (RNC), 3:39 R2
- Manon Fiorot def. Victoria Leonardo via TKO, 4:08 R2
All Things MMA
We’ll be looking back at a busy week of fights and looking ahead to UFC 257 on this week’s All Things MMA, out Friday evening online and on air this Saturday.
