Fight Island 3: Whittaker vs Till Results

British bantamweight Nathaniel Wood returned to the win column in the opener, outpointing newcomer John Castaneda over three rounds.
 
Both competitors fought at a fast pace, each landing their share of shots as they kept it standing, but as the fight wore on, Wood began pulling ahead as he bloodied his foe and refused to slow his work rate down. Castaneda wasn’t ever in serious trouble, despite taking several flush blows, but he was just a step behind the Brit, who prevailed via three scores of 30-27.
 
Wood moves to 17-4 with the win; Castaneda, who replaced Umar Nurmagomedov, falls to 17-5.

Russian welterweight Ramazan Emeev picked up his 19th pro win, scoring a three-round unanimous decision over German newcomer Nikolas Stolze.
 
Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28 for Emeev, now 19-4. Stolze falls to 12-4.
 
Emeev scored a quick takedown to open the bout, but Stolze was upright quickly and back to working his striking from long range. A second takedown would follow, though, and this time Emeev nearly sunk in a choke before the German got upright. Emeev continued to control the grappling exchanges, but Stolze was game throughout and he caught the Russian late with a right knee that certainly made a statement.
 
Keeping the pressure on, Emeev outworked Stolze in the second round, but “Green Mask” got back to work in the third, actually scoring a takedown of his foe. But outside of that, a crisp 1-2 and a late guillotine attempt, it was Emeev’s round and the fight.

Bantamweight up and comer Pannie Kianzad delivered the best performance of her UFC career to date, outpointing Bethe Correia over three rounds.
 
Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28 for Kianzad, now 14-5. The No. 13-ranked Correia falls to 11-5-1.
 
Kianzad fought a near flawless first round, picking Correia apart from range, while mixing in good clinch work and perfect takedown defense.
 
Correia got a break early in the second when Kianzad lost her balance and fell to the mat, allowing her to get on the board offensively from the top position. Two minutes into the frame, Kianzad got back to her feet, and this time, Correia was getting busier and making the fight closer.
 
A left hook in the second minute by Correia rocked Kianzad briefly, but Sweden’s “Banzai” stuck to the game plan even as she began showing swelling under her right eye. Midway through, Kianzad returned the favor with a hard combination and then tossed a Correia takedown aside, and as she kept her pace high, she was able to cruise to victory.

The summer of Tanner Boser continued, as the heavyweight prospect scored his second knockout in a month’s time, halting Raphael Pessoa in round two.

Russia’s Movsar Evloev improved to 13-0 in featherweight action thanks to a three-round unanimous decision victory over England’s Mike Grundy.
 
Grundy (12-2) scored his first takedown in the opening minute, implementing his wrestling attack effectively. Evloev scrambled out of trouble but was soon back in it, as Grundy appeared to have a choke locked in tight. Again, though, Evloev got free and back to his feet and marked up his foe’s face with a right hand before the end of the round.
 
Evloev’s precise and patient striking game served him well in the second, even though Grundy did put the Russian on the deck briefly with his takedowns. There was more of the same in the third, with Evloev leaving the Octagon with the victory via scores of 30-27 twice and 29-28.

Liverpool’s Tom Aspinall was spectacular in his UFC debut, as he knocked out Jake Collier in less than a minute in their heavyweight bout.
 

Dalby came out fast, trying to put an early end to matters, but Ronson weathered the storm, found his rhythm and then stunned and dropped the Denmark native with a left hand. Seconds later, Ronson locked in a rear naked choke and Dalby tapped, with the official time of the finish 2:48 of the first round.
 
Ontario’s Ronson moves to 22-10 with the win. Dalby falls to 18-4-1, 1 NC.

A right hand by Herbert drilled Trinaldo and sent him to the deck as round two began, and the Brit took his opponent’s back. Midway through the round, the two stood and Trinaldo went on the attack, but he was tiring and Herbert was still going strong, stinging the veteran with right hands.
 
But in the third round, Trinaldo cracked Herbert with an overhand left that, for all intents and purposes, ended the fight. Trinaldo held back, but referee Herb Dean didn’t step in, and it took a couple more ground strikes to bring Dean in to halt the bout at 1:30 of the final frame.
 
With the win, Trinaldo, who missed weight for the bout at 160 pounds, moves to 26-7. Herbert falls to 10-2.

Apparently Khamzat Chimaev is as dangerous at welterweight as he is at middleweight, and in stopping newcomer Rhys McKee just 10 days after his UFC debut victory over John Phillips, he continues to look like the next big thing in the Octagon.
 
It took just 14 seconds for Chimaev to take McKee down and the rude welcome continued with strikes on his grounded foe. With three minutes, left Chimaev got into the mount and kept the ground-and-pound assault coming until referee Rich Mitchell stepped in at 3:09 of round one.
 
With the win, Chechnya’s Chimaev moves to 8-0 and sets the modern-day UFC record for quickest turnaround between victories. Northern Ireland’s McKee falls to 10-3-1.

Welterweight veteran Alex Oliveira made it two in a row in his bout with Peter Sobotta as he won a shutout three-round unanimous decision.
 
Scores were 30-27 across the board for Oliveira, now 21-8-1 with 2 NC. Sobotta falls to 17-7-1
 
After the two fighters got acclimated to the bout, Oliveira hurt Sobotta with a body kick in the second minute, but the German product was able to recover as he kept the Brazilian at bay. Oliveira kept targeting the midsection, though, something Sobotta was picking up as he tried to implement his own offense.
 
Sobotta tried to implement his grappling game early in round two, but got cut with an elbow for his trouble and was then forced on the defensive again as Oliveira picked his shots beautifully, at least until a low kick brought a brief halt to the action. Later in the round it was an eye poke by the Brazilian that interrupted the bout, but in terms of legal strikes, Oliveira dropped Sobotta with a right hand, making it 2-0 on the cards, and “Cowboy” stayed smooth and steady in the third, wrapping up a solid victory.

The Scottish submission king struck again in light heavyweight action, as Paul Craig finished Russia’s Gadzhimurad Antigulov in the first round.
 
Antigulov got a takedown early, not an issue for Craig, who has pulled off some of his best finishes with his back on the mat, and that’s just what he did, as he withstood some thudding strikes from Antigulov to lock in the triangle choke that produced a tap out at 2:06 of the first round.
 
Scotland’s Craig moves to 13-4-1. Antigulov falls to 20-7.

Former strawweight champion Carla Esparza continued to surge as she removed Marina Rodriguez from the ranks of the unbeaten via split decision, extending her winning streak to four in the process.
 
Scores were 30-27, 29-28 and 28-29 for the No. 7-ranked Esparza, now 18-6. The No. 9-ranked Rodriguez falls to 12-1-2.
 
It only took 40 seconds for Esparza to put the fight in her wheelhouse on the mat and while she kept Rodriguez grounded for a long stretch, the Brazilian was able to cut the former champion with elbows from the bottom, and when the two rose with under a minute left, it was Rodriguez punishing Esparza with more strikes.
 
Esparza was able to ground Rodriguez again in the second, but a late ankle lock attempt again allowed Rodriguez to surge and make a case for stealing the round.
 
It was mainly a ground battle in the third again, with good action from both, but it was Esparza largely controlling the fight with her strikes and her positioning, leaving Rodriguez unable to catch up.

Fabricio Werdum spoiled the heavyweight debut of returning Alexander Gustafsson in main card action, with the Brazilian’s victory coming via first-round submission.
 
Werdum went all-in for a takedown in the second minute, and despite some scrambling and hard hammerfists from Gustafsson, he got his wish and went for the arm of “The Mauler.” Moments later, he had the arm and the armbar forced Gustafsson to tap out at 2:30 of the first round.
 
With the win, the No. 14-ranked Werdum moves to 24-9-1. Gustafsson falls to 18-7.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira didn’t get the victory in the final fight of his storied career, but the Brazilian has nothing to hang his head about after another spirited effort against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, who won their third fight via split decision.
 
Scores were 29-28 twice and 28-29 in the light heavyweight bout for Rua, now 27-11-1. The 44-year-old Nogueira retires with a record of 23-10. Rua defeated Nogueira via decision in 2005 in PRIDE and 2015 in the UFC.
 
It was a war of nerves between the Brazilian stars early on, with Rua landing a couple hard leg kicks before pinning Nogueira to the fence for a brief spell. Once separated, Nogueira nailed his foe with a hard left to the face, prompting some brief, but heated, exchanges that Nogueira edged until Rua scored a late takedown.

Robert Whittaker’s first fight since the loss of his middleweight title last October was a victorious one, as he earned a close, but unanimous, decision over Darren Till in the Fight Island 3 main event.
 
Scores were 48-47 across the board for the No. 1-ranked Whittaker. The No. 6-ranked Till falls to 18-3-1.
 
Whittaker’s jab stopped Till in his tracks twice in the opening moments, forcing the Liverpool native to take a more patient approach. Till put Whittaker on the deck with an elbow in the second minute, but the Aussie quickly recovered and got back to his feet. A clinch ensued, but the two separated quickly, Till remaining in control as he kept the pressure on. Whittaker finished the stronger of the two, though.
 
A minute into the second round, Whittaker got even with Till, knocking “The Gorilla” down with a right hand. Whittaker followed Till to the mat and got in several hard shots from the top position. With a little over two minutes left, Till, his face bruised up, but he kept marching forward. He wasn’t as busy, and it looked like the fight was now dead even.
 
Till’s defense was airtight in the third, but as the two looked for offensive openings, it was Whittaker doing more from that end, and when the former champ did land with his kicks to the leg, it was having an impact on Till.
 
In the fourth, Till landed his best shots since the first round, rattling Whittaker briefly, but he didn’t press his advantage, letting “The Reaper” off the hook. Yet in a tactical round, it may have been enough for him to take it.
 
Till started fast in the fifth and landed some good shots, only to slow down and let Whittaker get his own offensive charges off, with it clear that Till’s leg was giving him issues. With a minute left, Till drew blood with a shot upstairs but Whittaker responded with a series of quick takedowns that likely cemented his victory.