The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday paid a visit to Brasilia, Brazil, with UFC Fight Night 170—an event that featured a lightweight showdown between Kevin Lee and Charles Oliveira inside an arena emptied by the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. While there were several stirring performances, five stood out.
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UFC Fight Night 170
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5. Nikita Krylov
Despite some glaring weaknesses, the former Fight Nights Global champion has enjoyed a surprising amount of success in his two stints with the UFC. Krylov rebounded from his contentious Sept. 14 defeat to Glover Teixeira and improved to 8-5 inside the Octagon, as he laid claim to a unanimous decision over Johnny Walker in their three-round light heavyweight showcase. The 28-year-old Ukrainian raced out to a lead, then held off the hard-charging Brazilian across the final five minutes to win on points for the first time in his 34-fight career.
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4. Amanda Ribas
A new threat has surfaced in the women’s strawweight division. Ribas, 26, continued her climb on the 115-pound ladder, as she cruised to a unanimous decision over Randa Markos on the undercard. Scores were 30-26, 30-25 and 30-25, all for Ribas—a once-beaten prospect who now finds herself on a four-fight winning streak. She executed multiple takedowns in the first round, hammered Markos with ground-and-pound, mixed in a damaging spinning back kick to the body and never looked back. Ribas outstruck “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 20 semifinalist by a staggering 173-56 margin in the three-round affair.
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3. Renato Carneiro
Carneiro bounced back from consecutive losses to Jose Aldo and Chan Sung Jung at 145 pounds, as the Brazilian made a rousing return to the lightweight division with a quick submission of Damir Hadzovic on the main card. Hadzovic, who had never before been submitted, succumbed to a rear-naked choke 44 seconds into Round 1. Operating out of the star-studded American Top Team camp in Coconut Creek, Florida, the 30-year-old Carneiro becomes an immediate person of interest at 155 pounds following his first sub-minute finish as a professional.
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2. Gilbert Burns
Burns has made it impossible to ignore him in the welterweight division. The ascendant Hard Knocks 365 representative bolstered his resume in stunning fashion, as he wiped out 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist Demian Maia with punches in the first round of their co-main event. Burns drew the curtain 2:34 into Round 1, becoming the first fighter to stop Maia with strikes since Nate Marquardt did the honors more than a decade ago. “Durinho” has won five fights in a row and appears poised to make waves at 170 pounds.
Photo: Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
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1. Charles Oliveira
“Do Bronx” extended his UFC record for submission wins to 14, as he dispatched Kevin Lee with a guillotine choke in the third round of their headliner. Lee, who missed weight for the match by more than two pounds, conceded defeat 28 seconds into Round 3. Oliveira throughout the first five minutes set the tone with a hyperactive submission game, alternating between leg locks and triangle chokes while his counterpart attempted to navigate his venomous guard. Lee bounced back in a far more competitive second round, only to be undone by a brief moment of carelessness in the third. He ducked into the choke, found himself hopelessly entangled in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt’s clutches and became the fifth man to tap to an Oliveira guillotine inside the Octagon, joining Jonathan Brookins, Nik Lentz, Myles Jury and Clay Guida.
Photo: Buda Mendes/Zuffa LLC (Getty Images)
