Main card
LM
✓
Lauren Murphy vs Liliya Shakirova
Submission R2 3:31
LS
Key takeaways
Khabib Nurmagomedov beat Justin Gaethje by submission at 1:34 of round two in the main event of UFC 254 at the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi. In the co-main event, Robert Whittaker beat Jared Cannonier, the division's No. 11, by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Across the eleven bouts that produced a result, five ended by knockout, four by submission and two on the judges' scorecards — nine stoppages in eleven fights. Every decision was unanimous: not one result divided the judges.
The quickest finish belonged to Phil Hawes, who stopped Jacob Malkoun after 18 seconds, and six of the nine finishes came inside the opening round. The longest was Lauren Murphy's submission of Liliya Shakirova, 8 minutes and 31 seconds in. End to end, the eleven fights filled one hour and 14 minutes of cage time.
The main card finished at the higher rate: five of six, against four of the five below it. Tai Tuivasa (knockout, round one), Shavkat Rakhmonov (submission, round one) and Miranda Maverick (knockout, round one) all closed before the judges were needed.
Six ranked fighters appeared, and three of them were in the top two bouts, among them champion Justin Gaethje.
