Highlights
Last Time In Atlanta
Before UFC Fight Night: Usman vs Buckley Gets Underway June 14, We Flash Back To Our Last Visit To The ATL: UFC 236
It’s hard to believe six long years have passed since we last touched down in Georgia, and that’s mostly because the last time we were here, State Farm Arena played to host to one of 2019’s most electric events: UFC 236: Holloway vs Poirier 2.
This Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Usman vs Buckley is packed with the same sort of ingredients that made last time so special. If you missed it, or want to relive it, here were some of those highlights.
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50 Minutes Without Oxygen
Remember when you were a kid in the swimming pool, and you and your friends would see who could hold their breath underwater the longest? The final two fights of UFC 236’s main card were a lot like that. I was fortunate enough to be working from the venue that night, and if the main event had gone on one minute longer, I might have turned blue and fainted. Most fans are hoping fights end in a finish, but the main and co-main events proved you don’t need one to have a historic bout.
A Killer Co-Main
Israel Adesanya vs Kelvin Gastelum Enters UFC Hall of Fame
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Israel Adesanya vs Kelvin Gastelum Enters UFC Hall of Fame
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Case in point: Israel Adesanya vs Kelvin Gastelum. This fight was so good it’s being inducted into the UFC Hall Of Fame at International Fight Week in Las Vegas later this month. The interim middleweight belt was on the line when these two met, and both men gave every inch of themselves in pursuit of claiming it.“The fight between Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 236 was one of the greatest fights I’ve ever seen in my life,” said UFC President & CEO Dana White.
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That’s not hyperbole, just straight facts. Adesanya would score three knockdowns in the final round—the most ever landed in the fifth round of a UFC title fight—and that seemed to make the difference when he got the unanimous nod on the scorecards. But until that verdict was read, a case could be made for either man in a true clash for the ages.
A Diamond-Tier Rematch
There could not have been a tougher act to follow than Adesanya vs Gastelum, but Dustin Poirier and Max Holloway rose to the occasion in the way that only the two of them can, leaving the arena with Fight of the Night honors.
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“When you fight a guy who throws volume like that and you try to match his volume and disrupt his timing…I knew the workload was going to be a lot,” Poirier would say later. He was right. Between the two of them, they landed more than 350 significant strikes. Holloway got touched more times than at any point in his career, but left the Octagon that night without ever having been knocked down.
Full Fight | Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway 2
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Full Fight | Dustin Poirier vs Max Holloway 2
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A nail-biter in every sense, it’s the perfect prelude to their third and final showdown in New Orleans: Poirier’s retirement fight. When it happens, it will mark the end of the longest-spanning trilogy in UFC history : 13 years, 5 months and 16 days.
On The Come-Up
Alexandre Pantoja was busy building up the résumé that would eventually lead him to his current reign as flyweight champion. His opponent this night was former title challenger Wilson Reis, and Pantoja still somehow made it look easy.
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After weathering some staunch grappling in the early-going, the future champ got to his feet and dropped Reis with a clean right hand, swarming in for some fight-ending ground-and-pound with more than two minutes remaining in the first round.
Belal Muhammad was still five years away from becoming welterweight champion, but he started the campaign towards welterweight gold on this night in Atlanta. After coming off a loss to Geoff Neal, Muhammad found himself on the early prelims versus a then-hot prospect named Curtis Millender.
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Muhammad’s trademark grappling was on full display, even earning a 30-26 scorecard for the final frame. It was pure dominance and the beginning of an 11-fight win streak that wouldn’t end until May 2025 when he met Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.