5 most explosive moments from UFC 266: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega

#2. Robbie Lawler folds Nick Diaz to ruin his UFC return

Robbie Lawler took revenge over Nick Diaz by stopping him in the third round of their clash

While last night’s main event was the fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, arguably the fight with the most hype going in was the rematch between Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler.

And naturally, it was Diaz – making his first appearance in the UFC since January 2015 – who garnered the most attention. Even a late decision to change the fight into a middleweight bout – seemingly helping Diaz to avoid missing weight – didn’t prevent fans being pumped up for his big return.

But Lawler evidently wasn’t bothered about the change in weight division, nor the hype around Diaz. He was clearly laser-focused on gaining revenge over Diaz for his 2004 defeat, and came out looking better than he has done in years.

‘Ruthless’ didn’t look gun-shy at all last night, taking the fight to Diaz from the off. And even when Diaz fired back with his trademark ‘Stockton Slap’ style of striking, Lawler was undeterred, and simply refused to take the pressure off.

In the end, all that pressure told. A combination folded Diaz, causing him to drop to the ground in a delayed reaction. Initially it looked like a bait job from the Californian. But when Lawler refused to go to ground with him, it quickly became clear that Diaz was in fact done.

Sure, it wasn’t a one-punch knockout from Lawler. But this was an explosive finish nonetheless, as nobody had finished Diaz with strikes since 2002, making it a huge achievement for Lawler.

Judging by that, those fans figuring Lawler's career to be over may have to wait a little longer for that.

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#1. Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega put on one of the best rounds in recent UFC history

Quite how Alexander Volkanovski survived this guillotine from Brian Ortega is anyone's guess

UFC 266’s headline bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega may have gone the distance, but that didn’t make it any less explosive. In particular, the third round stood out as one of the most explosive, memorable and overall great rounds in UFC history.

At that stage, it looked like Volkanovski was set to largely cruise to victory. Sure, Ortega got his fair share of shots in. But it was clear that he was outgunned by ‘The Great’ on the feet. Volkanovski’s volume, pressure and overall striking skills looked too much for Ortega to handle, and it would’ve been no surprise to see the challenger wilt.

Instead, though, when the Aussie threw a low kick, Ortega countered with a left hand that dropped Volkanovski to his back. From there, ‘T-City’ sensed his opportunity and pounced. He locked on a mounted guillotine, and seconds later, Volkanovski appeared to be turning purple, signaling the end of his title reign.

Somehow, though, ‘The Great’ gutted it out, kicked his legs in desperation, and managed to pop his head free. If that wasn’t incredible enough, moments later he pulled off another insane escape, this time from Ortega’s trademark triangle choke.

Naturally, Volkanovski wasn’t content to just escape Ortega’s submissions. On both occasions, he followed the escape with some brutal ground-and-pound – almost ending the fight in his own right before the buzzer finally sounded.

While the fight was a hugely memorable one and resulted in Volkanovski holding onto his title via unanimous decision, the amount of explosive action in the third round meant a highlight reel could be made purely of those five minutes.

Simply put, this was what the UFC is all about, and it was awesome.