Key takeaways
Khabib Nurmagomedov beat Dustin Poirier by submission at 2:06 of round three in the main event of UFC 242 at the Arena in Abu Dhabi. In the co-main event, Paul Felder beat Edson Barboza by split decision after three rounds.
Across the twelve bouts that produced a result, four ended by knockout, two by submission and six on the judges' scorecards — six stoppages in twelve fights. Two of the six decisions divided the judges.
The quickest finish belonged to Ottman Azaitar, who stopped Teemu Packalen at 3:33 of round one, and two of the six finishes came inside the opening round. The longest was Sarah Moras's knockout of Liana Jojua, 12 minutes and 26 seconds in. End to end, the twelve fights filled two hours and 22 minutes of cage time.
The preliminary card out-finished the main card: four of its seven results came early, against two of the five above it. Sarah Moras (knockout, round three), Ottman Azaitar (knockout, round one) and Belal Muhammad (submission, round three) all closed before the judges were needed.
Four ranked fighters appeared, among them champion Islam Makhachev.
