A fight at UFC Abu Dhabi was not like the others.
The return from the UFC to the VAE ended with former champions Reinier de Ridder and Petr Yan who get their hands in the most important events of the evening.
De Ridder defeated Whittaker through a unanimous decision and Yan called for a title shot after he had handed Marcus Mcghee his first UFC loss.
The first finish of UFC Abu Dhabi came to the Feed Waard Division, when Steven Nguyen broke a UFC Knockdown record by his opponent Mohammad Yahya officially dropped eight times, six times.
Yahya survived two rounds with Nguyen, but the fight was stopped between the rounds because Yahya's left eye was swollen with a solid hematoma that formed around his eye. Referee Jason Herzog caught a recoil because he did not stop the fight before, preventing further damage to Yahya.
Fortunately, Yahya is not in poor condition after stopping his doctor TKO loss.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
UFC Abu Dhabi Update about Mohammad Yahya
The UFC broadcast gave an update on the health of Yahya different fights after his fight.
According to John Gooden, Yahya had no facial fractures in his defeat against Nguyen.
The CT scans also came back negatively for Yahya.
UFC CEO Dana White shared a photo of what Yahya looked like after the fight.
Steven Nguyen responds to the breaking of Knockdown record
Steven Nguyen wrote history in his first UFC victory.
We have never seen a hunter fall six times in a round, that is, until Nguyen came by.
The Fortis MMA product weighed on breaking the knockdown record in his interview after the fight.
“They told me that, I had something like that, wow,” said Nguyen (via Red Corner MMA).
“I want to keep breaking records. That's great. I couldn't have done it without him, you know?” Nguyen said about his opponent Yahya.
“He was cool and I would never stop. It could have been seven or eight times and I would never have stopped …”