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Last night saw the biggest MMA event in some time – UFC 285 – and exactly as advertised, the show produced an amazing amount of action.
With a major upset title change and a new champion also crowned in the heavyweight division, UFC 285 had something for everyone.
So with plenty of knockouts, submissions and even a rare corner stoppage on offer, this was an event that should live long in the memory.
Here are the five best finishes from UFC 285: Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane.
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#5. Bo Nickal defeated Jamie Pickett via submission in a UFC middleweight bout
Despite making his official UFC debut, no fighter was favoured to win more at last night’s event than Bo Nickal.
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One of the most highly-touted prospects in the promotion’s history, ‘The Allen Assassin’ was faced with a clearly beatable opponent in the form of Jamie Pickett. It didn’t take him long at all to show why there’s so much hype around him.
Nickal wasted no time in dominating Pickett, snatching him up in a D’Arce attempt early on, and when he escaped that, quickly taking him down.
From there, the former NCAA Division I national champion simply locked up a classic arm triangle choke and forced his foe to tap out with relative ease.
Nickal will undoubtedly get harder tests in the near future. But there’s no shame in blowing away an overmatched foe in a debut fight – particularly when the finish nets a bonus $50k as it did here!
#4. Dricus du Plessis defeated Derek Brunson via corner stoppage in a UFC middleweight bout
The most impressive showing on last night’s undercard definitely came from middleweight prospect Dricus du Plessis.
It wasn’t always a pretty performance, but ‘Stillknocks’ ended up finishing veteran Derek Brunson in style. He beat him down to the point where his corner threw in the towel at the end of the second round.
The first round suggested Brunson would probably be on his way to a win. ‘The One’ took Du Plessis down, and while the South African defended quite well, he was still firmly on the defense.
In the second, though, Brunson appeared to be tired – and that allowed ‘Stillknocks’ to pull through with his striking. He caught the stiff-looking veteran with a number of heavy strikes, and while Brunson did fire back, he was clearly outgunned.
Eventually, after eating a big flurry, the exhausted Brunson found himself stuck on his back eating heavy punches. While the buzzer appeared to save him, that wasn’t actually the case.
It turned out that his corner had in fact thrown in the towel, a smart decision given how exhausted the veteran was and the damage he’d taken.
Was this as cool a finish as a clean knockout would’ve been? Probably not, but the fact that Du Plessis did enough to force a corner stoppage was impressive in itself. That alone makes it one of the best finishes of the night.
#3. Shavkat Rakhmonov defeated Geoff Neal via submission in a UFC welterweight bout
Even on a card as stacked as UFC 285, it always felt like the frontrunner for the Fight of the Night award would be the welterweight bout between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Geoff Neal.
Sure enough, the two prospects put on a major show and rightfully claimed a $50k bonus each for their efforts. But it was the undefeated ‘Nomad’ who came out on top, taking his overall UFC record to 5-0.
Was it a flawless showing from the native of Kazakhstan? The real answer is no. Rakhmonov, in fact, took plenty of clean hits from ‘Handz of Steel’ – almost as many as he dished out.
The first round saw him remarkably fight for at least two minutes without a mouthpiece, while the second round also saw him take punishment.
In the third, though, ‘The Nomad’ turned up the heat on Neal and forced him to wilt. After channeling his inner Anderson Silva by abusing him with knees from the plum clinch, he eventually took his back standing.
From there, he locked up a crude choke variant that was almost closer to a stranglehold than anything else and simply squeezed the life from Neal, sending him to sleep.
The closest thing we’ve seen to this finish previously was probably Jon Jones’ scary finish of Lyoto Machida in 2011. It probably stands as one of the best finishes of 2023 thus far, and overall, one of the best fights too.
#2. Alexa Grasso defeated Valentina Shevchenko via submission for the UFC flyweight title
The most surprising finish of UFC 285 was definitely produced by Alexa Grasso. Nobody was really giving her a chance to dethrone flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko. Even fewer people were probably expecting her to submit ‘The Bullet’.
Remarkably, though, that’s exactly what happened. To make things more bizarre, the finish came in the fourth round of a fight that, up to that point, had largely been dominated by Shevchenko on the ground.
‘The Bullet’ primarily took Grasso down and used her wrestling and top control to clearly win rounds two and three. At that stage, it looked like business as usual for the champion.
In the fourth, though, Shevchenko threw an ill-advised spinning back kick. The slight opening allowed Grasso to hop onto her back with both hooks and drag her down.
From there, she sunk in a rear naked choke, and while it wasn’t technically perfect, the Mexican had enough squeeze in her to force the tapout.
This was a truly remarkable finish, particularly considering Shevchenko had not lost since 2017 and had never been submitted before. Whether Grasso can repeat the feat in their inevitable rematch remains to be seen, but for now, this finish was miraculous.
#1. Jon Jones defeated Ciryl Gane via submission for the UFC heavyweight title
While it wasn’t as stunning as Grasso’s submission of Shevchenko, nor as explosive as Rakhmonov’s dispatch of Neal, the biggest and best finish at UFC 285 was naturally produced by Jon Jones.
The former light-heavyweight champion made the move to heavyweight for the first time and needed just over two minutes to take out Ciryl Gane to claim the vacant heavyweight title.
The finish couldn’t have been simpler – and yet few other fighters could’ve pulled it off with such aplomb.
Jones simply struck at ‘Bon Gamin’ from range, and then tripped him down before snatching up what looked like a loose guillotine choke.
The choke clearly wasn’t as loose as it initially appeared, though. ‘Bones’ simply adjusted his grip and pushed his full bodyweight down onto the Frenchman, and seconds later, he tapped out.
Not only was it the first time that Gane had ever been finished in MMA, but it was actually Jones’ first win via stoppage since his 2018 TKO of Alexander Gustafsson.
Judging by this, Jones may well rule over the heavyweight division just as he did at 205lbs for a lengthy time. This was a truly scary finish in how simple Jones made it look.
