The Combat Sport Poll Guy

Petr Yan vs Merab Dvalishvili goes all 5 rounds once again #UFC333 15 rounds, 75 minutes shared together in the UFC octagon. Did the judges get the decision right? Was it the right winner or was this a robbery? How did you guys score it?

6 years ago today October 31, 2020 🎃 The UFC has held events on almost every kind of date imaginable. October 31, 2020 was a first. UFC Fight Night: Hall vs. Silva took place at the APEX on Halloween. No giant crowd. No costume-filled arena. Just an unusual date in the middle of the pandemic-era UFC schedule. Uriah Hall stopped Anderson Silva in the main event. And the card quietly became the first event in UFC history ever held on Halloween. A small historical footnote — but a unique one.

6 years ago today October 31, 2020 👋 Anderson Silva had given the UFC some of the greatest moments in its history. Sixteen straight wins. Ten title defenses. The front kick on Vitor Belfort. The comeback against Chael Sonnen. On Halloween night in 2020, Silva fought in the UFC for the final time. Uriah Hall was the opponent. Silva had moments and still showed flashes of the old movement. In Round 4, Hall dropped him and finished the fight with punches. The result hurt. But the bigger story was the ending. One of the greatest championship runs in MMA history had reached its final UFC chapter.

"That's back of the head, ref!" Alex Pereira already blamed Herb Dean for how the Ciryl Gane fight went. And now the UFC's own corner footage has his coach Plinio Cruz yelling about shots to the back of the head. This controversy isn't going away. 👀

Islam Makhachev just said the winner of Carlos Prates Vs Michael Morales is one of his last fights ever. Islam is close to the end of his career, and he's still asking for the most dangerous fight available. That says a lot about who he is. 💪 Who gives him the tougher fight, Prates or Morales? 👇

5 years ago today October 30, 2021 🥊 Marcin Tybura entered UFC 267 on a five-fight winning streak. Alexander Volkov was the veteran gatekeeper near the top of heavyweight. Tybura tried to wrestle. Volkov used the size. Kept the fight at range. Landed the cleaner shots. Three rounds later: 30-27. 30-27. 29-28. Unanimous decision for Volkov. Winning streak over. The heavyweight division had once again reminded everyone how difficult it was to move past the established names.

5 years ago today October 30, 2021 🥋 Khamzat Chimaev had been away for more than a year after a serious battle with COVID. At one point, he even talked about walking away from fighting. His return came against Li Jingliang. Chimaev looked like nothing had changed. He shot immediately. Picked Li up. Carried him across the cage. Put him down. Then finished a rear-naked choke in Round 1. Li did not land a significant strike. After months of wondering whether Chimaev would even fight again, the hype came back in a single, absurdly dominant performance.

Eddie Hearn is smiling like a man who just found his next big signing. Arman isn't smiling at all, which might be even more interesting. 😂 What do you think Arman Tsarukyan and Eddie Hearn talked about? 👇

Imagine walking up to Justin Gaethje on a golf course to tell him you're a big Paddy Pimblett fan. Without knowing Gaethje beat Paddy back in January. Worst small talk in golf history. 😭⛳ What's the most awkward thing you could say to a UFC fighter when you meet them? 👇

Imagine being an elite Muay Thai striker like Magomed Zaynukov and spending every single day in the gym defending takedowns from Islam Makhachev's team. Fighting normal opponents in the cage must feel like a vacation after that. 🔥

5 years ago today October 30, 2021 🥊 Magomed Ankalaev had quietly built one of the best winning streaks at light heavyweight. Volkan Oezdemir had already fought for the UFC title. This was another serious step up. Ankalaev stayed disciplined. Controlled the range. Mixed kicks with straight punches. Oezdemir kept trying to turn the fight into something bigger. Ankalaev never let him. Three rounds. Unanimous decision. Another former title challenger beaten. The slow march toward a championship fight kept moving.

"At least I don't need to do more interviews now." Every fighter hates fight-week media obligations so much that even right after losing his "0," Movsar Evloev's first silver lining was skipping the press conference. 😅🎤

5 years ago today October 30, 2021 🥋 Dan Hooker stepped in on short notice to fight Islam Makhachev. Hooker was ranked. Experienced. And one of the toughest lightweights in the UFC. Islam made it look simple. He shot almost immediately, took Hooker down and isolated the arm. Kimura. Tap. Official time: 2:25 of Round 1. A ranked opponent on short notice. Finished in 145 seconds. Makhachev had spent years being called the dangerous contender nobody wanted to fight. After this, the UFC lightweight title shot was getting very hard to keep away from him.

Having a recent win over Song Yadong AND a split-decision win over the new champion Petr Yan is a pretty strong trump card for Sean O'Malley to play in title-shot negotiations. 🎯 Does Sean O'Malley's head-to-head win over Song Yadong lock him in as the clear #1 contender for Petr Yan's belt? 👇

5 years ago today October 30, 2021 🏆 Petr Yan had lost the UFC bantamweight title in one of the strangest ways possible. An illegal knee against Aljamain Sterling. Disqualification. Title gone. With Sterling unavailable for the rematch, Yan faced Cory Sandhagen for the interim belt at UFC 267. They gave fans 5 rounds of elite striking. Sandhagen started well. Yan adjusted and took over. After 25 minutes, all three judges gave it to Yan. Fight of the Night. Interim champion. The belt was not fully his again yet — but Yan had put himself right back into the championship story.

5 years ago today October 30, 2021 🏆 Glover Teixeira was 42 years old when he finally stood across from Jan Błachowicz with the UFC light heavyweight title on the line. His first UFC title shot had come seven years earlier against Jon Jones. He lost. Then he rebuilt almost everything. Five straight wins later, Glover got one more chance. In Round 2, he took Błachowicz down, got to the back and locked in a rear-naked choke. Tap. Glover Teixeira was UFC champion at 42. One of the best late-career championship stories MMA has ever produced.