Everything That Happened At UFC Fight Island 4 Last Night!

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC

The vacation at “Fight Island” continued last night, as UFC remained inside the Flash Forum on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates last night (Sat., Oct. 3, 2020) for UFC Fight Island 4. Last weekend’s pay-per-view (PPV) event decided the fate of two championship belts and their respective decisions, while UFC Fight Island 4 … happened. There were a pair of relevant women’s Bantamweight bouts, but otherwise, the focus was on the action rather than implications.

Let’s take a closer look at the slickest techniques and best performances:

Ring Generalship

Holly Holm’s boxing credentials have not always equated to incredible boxing inside the cage. However, even if she had failed to land a single punch in her performance last night — and spoiler alert: she landed dozens — her display of footwork and ring generalship would have revealed her craft in that realm.

Aldana could not reach Holm. In 25 minutes, she landed a decent amount of inside low kicks and a handful of jabs. That’s it. Holm was routinely circling outside the range of Aldana’s reach, yet whenever Aldana really broke his stance to grow over-aggressive, it didn’t pay off.

Holm would sit down on her punches, and Aldana would crash right into them.

It may not earn her a similar level of acclaim as her knockout win over Ronda Rousey, but this was arguably an even better performance from Holm. She executed the game plan to perfection, and her return to the title mix feels more than justified.

No F’ing Way

Did Germaine de Randamie seriously strangle Julianna Pena with a guillotine? I write this literal moments after the fight ended, before the official result has even been announced, and I’m already questioning my memory!

De Randamie can be a rather frustrating fighter. She’s such an incredible striker, but her wrestling and grappling has simply never caught up. Progress has been slow, and defensive grappling is really the only thing preventing her from being a major threat to Amanda Nunes’ title. It forces one to ask how much she actually likes the wrestling bits of MMA.

In this match, Pena was able to score a takedown and win the second. In general, “The Iron Lady” wasn’t urgent enough along the fence. and it seemed like Pena was building momentum en route to a decision win. However, that unexpected power guillotine gives me hope. It was so quick and so well-executed in a high pressure scenario. It very easily could have went disastrously wrong.

Yet, it put Pena to sleep.

Maybe there’s indeed hope for everything to click for “GDR?” Even at 36 years of age, she appears quite athletic, and she’s just a couple small adjustments from really shoring up her takedown defense.

If that happens, an Amanda Nunes trilogy bout is suddenly very interesting.

Condit Gains Confidence

Let’s be clear right away: Carlos Condit earned the unanimous decision nod last night opposite Court McGee, but this was not vintage Condit. The former strap-hanger is not “back.” That’s okay though. It was still nice to see him win after five years and six bouts without a victory.

There were a pair of interesting technical notes here. For one, Condit fought almost entirely from Southpaw, capitalizing on the left kick and right check hook combination well. Secondly, McGee spent 15 minutes fighting Carlos Condit without shooting a single takedown … that’s weird! Even Nick Diaz took down Condit!

Regardless, the most interesting moment of the fight was the knockdown. One punch changed Condit’s entire posture and activity. He lost 4:58 of the opening round, but after dropping McGee at the bell, Condit suddenly starting feinting and moving around loosely, and his volume skyrocketed.

That’s the power of confidence. If Condit can keep the positive momentum moving into his next bout, perhaps there are more wins to come.

Additional Thoughts

• Kyler Phillips defeats Cameron Else via second-round TKO (HIGHLIGHTS): Unless a dramatic weakness is discovered shortly, Kyler Phillips is going to prove to be a major problem at 135 pounds. The 25-year-old is a jiu-jitsu brown belt with a wrestling background, extremely athletic, and has a deep kickboxing arsenal — what more could one ask for? Against Else, Phillips was never anything less than dominating, as he styled all over his opponent. On the mat in particular, Phillips showed off has aggression, jumping into dominant positions with ease, abandoning them in pursuit of submissions, then simply working right back into killer positions. He was a level ahead of his competition, and he made it more than apparent.
• Dusko Todorovic defeats Dequan Townsend via second-round TKO (HIGHLIGHTS): Todorovic made his UFC debut last night following a “Contender Series” win, and he really impressed. The young Serbian pretty methodically broke down and beat up Townsend, starting quickly by backing him into the fence with a combination of hooks. Once he had his foe on the defensive, Todorovic kept the pressure high, really just making it a miserable fight for his opponent, who was simply getting roughed up. He maintained a high pace into the second, when he switched it up and scored a takedown. From top position, the mauling continued, as Todorovic sealed the deal on a successful debut with punches from mount.
• Luigi Vendramini defeats Jessin Ayari via first-round knockout (HIGHLIGHTS): Both Lightweights entered this bout following extended layoffs, and the two were clearly looking to make up for lost time. Ayari really pressed his way into the pocket early, but Vendramini was waiting for him with counters. In general, the Italian seemed a touch quicker and more powerful, which made the difference in early exchanges. To end the bout, Vendramini slipped his off the center line with a simultaneous cross that partially connected, but more importantly, loaded his weight up for a major left hook that dropped his opponent. In the ensuing flurry, Vendramini also showed some craft by sneaking a close range high kick directly to the jaw.

For complete UFC Fight Island 4: “Holm vs. Aldana” results and play-by-play, click HERE!