5 biggest winners from UFC 286: Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman 3
UFC 286 is in the books, and despite a lack of finishes on the main card, the promotion’s latest visit to London was generally a triumph. Notably, a number of fighters won big at UFC 286, with a couple of upsets on the card as well as some of the big favorites picking up victories.
Naturally, some of these winners are likely to go onto even bigger fights in the future, but it’s unlikely they’ll forget their visit to London any time soon. Here are the five biggest winners from UFC 286: Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman 3.
#5. Gunnar Nelson – defeated Bryan Barberena in a UFC welterweight bout
Given that he hadn’t fought for an entire year despite suffering no disclosed injuries, it was hard to know what to expect from Gunnar Nelson at UFC 286. Initially, the UK-based Icelandic welterweight was set to face Daniel Rodriguez last night, but with Bryan Barberena stepping in as a late replacement opponent, it was easy to predict problems for ‘Gunni.’ After all, Barberena’s entire octagon career was built on him being able to outwork and eventually put away more technically skilled fighters in dirty brawls.
Despite this, Nelson performed marvelously and ended up claiming a $50k performance bonus for his efforts, his first since 2017. Refusing to allow ‘Bam Bam’ to force him into one of his trademark brawls, ‘Gunni’ instead struck from the outside early on before taking him down. From there, he ran a grappling clinic on the veteran with ease and eventually submitted him with a textbook armbar with seconds to go in the first round.
Remarkably, Nelson now finds himself on his first winning streak since 2017. When you consider that the last two men to beat him – Gilbert Burns and Leon Edwards – now sit at the top of the welterweight division, a surge back into the rankings at 170 lbs doesn’t seem impossible. Essentially, all that ‘Gunni’ has to do is fight a little more. But for now, he should definitely be considered as one of the night’s biggest winners.
#4. Jennifer Maia – defeated Casey O’Neill in a UFC flyweight bout
Despite having far more experience than her opponent, both inside and outside the UFC, few fans were favoring Jennifer Maia to come out of her bout with Casey O’Neill with a win. After all, ‘King Casey’ had looked like arguably the best prospect in the flyweight division before last night’s event. The Scottish-born, Australian-based fighter had ran through four opponents in the octagon, including highly-rated veterans Antonina Shevchenko and Roxanne Modafferi.
However, last night saw her struggle with the superior striking of Maia, who was able to keep O’Neill on the end of her punches throughout the first two rounds. ‘King Casey’ did come back a little in the third round, but by that point, she was well behind on the scorecards. When the fight went the distance, the judges unsurprisingly awarded Maia a unanimous decision.
Sure, the Brazilian didn’t finish her foe, but considering the hype around O’Neill, she did fight an excellent fight and proved that she’s probably one of the more underrated flyweights on the roster.
More to the point, with Valentina Shevchenko no longer holding the flyweight crown, it’s no longer impossible for a former challenger like Maia to get back into contention.
#3. Muhammad Mokaev – defeated Jafel Filho in a UFC flyweight bout
It’s arguable that the best prospect in action at UFC 286 was the Dagestan-born, UK-based flyweight Muhammad Mokaev.
‘The Punisher’ was coming into his bout last night off the back of three octagon wins in a row, taking his record to an overall 9-0. Given that his opponent, Jafel Filho, was largely unknown and hadn’t fought in the big leagues before, most fans were expecting Mokaev to win handily.
In the end, he did pull off a victory, but it wasn’t without a fight. Filho proved to be a surprisingly tricky foe and even appeared to have injured Mokaev's knee with a kneebar attempt in the third round.
Despite the hold looking deep, it only seemed to anger ‘The Punisher.’ Once he’d escaped, it didn’t take him long at all to gain a dominant position, and from there, he slapped on a brutal neck crank to force the debutant to submit.
Whether any real damage has been done to Mokaev’s knee remains to be seen, but overall, he proved why he’s so highly touted and showed that he’s got the toughness to make it to the top. Despite suffering a potential injury, he should definitely be considered one of last night’s major winners.
#2. Justin Gaethje – defeated Rafael Fiziev in a UFC lightweight bout
Most fans expected UFC 286’s best fight to come in the co-headliner, where former lightweight title challenger Justin Gaethje was set to face fast-rising contender Rafael Fiziev. Unsurprisingly, the two 155-pounders delivered the goods and deservedly claimed the bonus award for the Fight of the Night. However, despite some difficult moments, it was Gaethje who came out on top.
Early on, it didn’t look like it would be his night. ‘The Highlight’ looked a little slower than Fiziev, and that meant that ‘Ataman’ was able to land better strikes in the first round and even caught him with some clean kicks. As always, though, Gaethje was tough enough to absorb the shots thrown his way, and in the second round, he began to turn the tide.
The key seemed to be Gaethje’s ability to land rapid-fire combinations from close range, and those blows were able to bust Fiziev up around both eyes, leaving him bloodied and bruised. He did enough to survive the third round and ate punches from ‘The Highlight’ that would’ve knocked out most fighters. In the end, though, there was only one winner, despite one dissenting judge calling the fight a draw.
Will Gaethje get a title shot off the back of this? It feels unlikely, but it was still a huge victory for him, and more to the point, he showed tons of guts to even take the fight in the first place, given Fiziev’s lack of star power. Overall, ‘The Highlight’ definitely saw his stock rise last night.
#1. Leon Edwards – defeated Kamaru Usman to retain the UFC welterweight title
Naturally, the biggest winner at UFC 286 was Leon Edwards. Sure, his win over Kamaru Usman wasn’t as dramatic as his previous knockout, but it’s arguable that he actually performed better this time around.
In the earlier fight, ‘Rocky’ was largely dominated by Usman after a strong first round and would’ve lost a clear decision had he not delivered the fight-ending head kick in the fifth round.
Here, though, he clearly outstruck Usman and hurt him on multiple occasions. Although he didn’t come close to putting him away, he was able to avoid being dragged into lengthy grappling exchanges. More to the point, he faced some adversity as an unfortunate fence grab in the third round saw him get a point deducted, meaning that the scorecards were essentially even going into the final two rounds.
Lesser fighters would’ve crumbled under the pressure at that stage, particularly as the fight was Edwards’ first title defense and in front of his home fans to boot. Instead, ‘Rocky’ just upped the ante and was able to claim the final two rounds as well, deservedly earning 48-46 scorecards from two judges, with the lone dissenter labeling the fight a 47-47 draw.
This win should not only quieten the doubters who labeled Edwards’ title win a fluke, it should also elevate him slightly above Michael Bisping as the greatest fighter from the UK in UFC history, too. It’s safe to say that this was an absolutely triumphant night for ‘Rocky,’ and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see his title reign last for some time.