UFC Fight Island 5 took place Saturday, October 10, 2020 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The card was headlined by a bantamweight bout between Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen.
Closing odds are courtesy of one of the most popular Las Vegas based sportsbooks Circa Sports. Here’s a quick recap of each of those fights.
Favorites that Won
In the main event of the evening, Cory Sandhagen used his length to snipe Marlon Moraes from distance, and after damaging his orbital, Sandhagen dropped Moraes with a spinning wheel kick to earn a second round TKO victory. Sandhagen was victorious as a -140 favorite while Moraes was +120
Edson Barboza kept his fight against Makwan Amirkhani upright for the majority of the contest, and picked Amirkhani apart with picture-perfect technique to earn a one-sided unanimous decision victory. Barboza was -238 while Amirkhani was +203
Dricus du Plessis made an incredible first impression, crushing Markus Perez via first round knockout in his UFC debut. Du Plessis was -210 while Perez was +180
Tom Aspinall left no doubt in his first against Alan Baudot, quickly taking Baudot down and destroying him on the canvas with elbows and punches to earn a 95 second victory. Aspinall was the biggest betting favorite on the card at -665 while Baudot was +505
Tom Breese absolutely annihilated KB Bhullar, landing accurate strikes, then dropping Bhullar with a beautiful right jab to set up a ground and pound TKO finish in the first round. Breese was a -215 fav while Bhullar was +185
Ali AlQuasi worked for takedowns against Tony Kelley, but Kelley battled back with aggressive submission attempts and landed heavy strikes to earn a unanimous decision. Kelley was -165. AlQuasi was +145
Tracy Cortez scored takedowns while avoiding submission attempts from Stephanie Egger to earn a unanimous decision. Cortez was -145. Egger was +125
In the opening bout of the evening, Bruno Silva and Tagir Ulanbekov put on an exciting back-and-forth scrap, with Ulanbekov doing enough to earn a competitive decision. Kenney was -495while Alateng was +390
Underdogs that Won
Ben Rothwell won the first round, but couldn’t keep up the same pace for rounds two and three, as Marcin Tybura took control of the fight, dominating the final two rounds to take a decision. Rothwell was -138, while Tybura was +118
In a competitive back-and-forth scrap, Ilia Topuria did enough in each round to sway the judges to side in his favor against a game Youssef Zalal, with Topuria earning a unanimous decision in his UFC debut. Topuria was +128 while Zalal was -148
Chris Daukaus blitzed Rodrigio Nascimento, dropping Nascimento early, then knocking him out as he got back to his feet less than a minute into the first round. Daukaus was +195 while Nascimento was -235
Joaquin Buckley had a kick caught by Impa Kasanganay, then did a jumping spinning kick right on the button to score one of the greatest knockouts in MMA history in the second round of their fight. Buckley was -205 while Kasanganay was -240
Giga Chikadze utilized his superior striking to rock Omar Morales multiple times en route to a one-sided unanimous decision victory. Chikadze was +170 while Morales was -195
