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Fourier's victory, McGregor's knockout, the crowd's loss

Dustin Fourier did a McGregor clinic with the knockout, but his win ensured no further battle was seen between the Irishman and Normgomedov, who was apparently breaking viewing records.

What does the future hold and will Normgomedov really return?

Daniel Hershkovitz sums up a stormy week in the arena

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• Conor McGregor

Daniel Hershkovitz

Sunday, January 24, 2021, 1:25 p.m.

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Who believed it would end so quickly?

McGregor tries to hit Fourier, American's hand was on top (Photo: Reuters)

No script could have prepared us for what happened this morning (Saturday through Sunday), when some 2,000 enthusiastic spectators at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi watched Dustin Fourier win by knockout in the rematch against Conor McGregor.

The first fight between the two took place more than six years ago, weighing 145 pounds, in which McGregor won by knockout.

McGregor was a favorite according to the agencies in Vegas, but Fourier had his own plans and he gave his opponent a knockout in the second round.

McGregor opened the fight as expected with pressure on his opponent and managed to strike with precise blows that characterize his style, but Fourier managed to stand firm in the face of the storm and take the fight to the ground for a few moments.

The Irishman managed to get back on his feet not long before the two entered the clinch on the fence and exchanged blows including stylish blows with the shoulders.

Fourier's game plan seemed to be mainly to kick McGregor in the front leg, to hurt his standing ability and center of gravity.

The plan bore fruit, when in the second round, after a powerful kick, Fourier sent a punch to McGregor's face and stunned him, and immediately afterwards rained a streak of deadly blows that sent the Irishman to the floor and with a few more punches the referee stopped the fight and awarded the victory to Malafite, Louisiana.

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Main Disappointed: Dana White

In the build-up to the fight, McGregor said: "The training camp went great and I plan to provide the audience with another masterpiece."

Unlike many other rivals, the relationship between him and Fourier was very friendly.

He cheered him on every stage.

It became clear to him, unfortunately, that the superlatives were justified.

At the end of the fight McGregor said: "Congratulations to Dustin, he is a real fighter and I had the honor to share the Octagon with him once again. I want to come back once or twice this year, I always said rust is accumulating and I must get as many minutes as possible inside the arena."

This is certainly a blow to Iri, who has built on a rematch with General Habib Normgomedov, but he will have a number of possible options for other intriguing battles, for example a trilogy with Nate Diaz, perhaps a meeting with Tony Ferguson or Justin Gage, who have both lost their last fights And still ranked in the top 5 in the category.

It is possible that later he will also arrive at the trilogy with Fourier himself.

And what about the big winner?

Fourier will likely fight for the belt in the next battle, but the opponent is still unknown.

The organization's president Dana White said at the post - fight press conference that "the amount of PPV acquisition would probably be second in the company's history, and if McGregor had won and Habib had fought against him for the second time, a fight between them could have come first in martial arts history, including boxing. Class ".

It will no longer happen.

Impressed by what he saw?

We'll see.

Normgomedov (Photo: Reuters)

The UFC has been holding no-crowd fights for ten months as usual during the Corona period, but this week, as mentioned, we saw a first swallow when the three events held on Fight Island in Abu Dhabi were attended by a small crowd of about 2,000 spectators.

Normgomedov told White last week that he would agree to return to a final fight only if he saw something unusual from the fighters and we surveyed him enough to return, and he may have gotten what he wanted this morning and got the rematch that was unpredictable - lovable against Fourier 2, or alternatively the great "Iron" Michael Chandler , A former 155-pound division champion at the Blatter organization, who defeated Dan "The Executioner" Hooker by a great knockout in the first round of the semifinals.

Immediately after the battle, in an interview in scene Octagon, called "Iron Mike" Connor McGregor and Dustin fertile, but the Callout true Adjust champion but not least, when he said that before he retires he has to fight a fighter "real" in an attempt to lure him back into the ring. "

On the other hand, to Let us forget that the excellent Charles Oliveira also defeated Ferguson only a few weeks ago in a rather one-sided and very convincing battle, and he too can challenge the undisputed champion Habib Normgomedov. Days will tell if Habib relented from this morning's shows, but in any case promised not to leave the class stuck And the decision will be made

soon.2021 opened in a storm with three excellent cards in a week full of events under the title "Triple header on Fight Island", with the heroic battle in the main battle in the featherweight category of Max Holloway over his excellent rival Calvin Keiter last Saturday. Midweek on Wednesday, in which he fought in the main battle Michael "Maverick" Casea defeated veteran Neil Mageni in an excellent battle that could and should advance Casea to bigger future fights.The great week ended somewhat surprisingly as mentioned, with Fourier's mighty knockout over McGregor.

Now only the corona will not disrupt the business

A number of notable battles are expected to take place in the first quarter of this year, led by PPV 260 in March with a heavyweight bout between Stipa Miocic and contender Francis Ingano in a rematch between the two, after more than two years ago the American champion of Croatian descent defeated the Cameroonian Ingano in a judicial decision is right.

In this event, the semi-central battle is expected to be between featherweight champion Alex Volkanovsky and crown contender Brian Ortega in a battle marked "Fight of the Night."

Other interesting fights are set to take place in February and March in the semi-medium (170 lbs) category between champion Camaro Osman who rides on a stunning winning streak and contender for the great Brazilian Gilbert Burns crown, and also No. 3 ranked in the same weight category Leon Edwards and meteor prospect Hamzat Chambeat The same is already being called "the new favorite."

The winner in this battle will most likely be placed to fight for the championship belt against the winner between Champion Osman or Burns.

There are more great battles that are expected to take place in the coming months, and with the Corona still refusing to end we have only to keep our fingers crossed and hope that indeed everyone will take place in order.

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