UAE Warriors 65 women’s strawweight title locked and loaded

Lany Silva 7-2 and Michele Oliveira 5-1 both balanced the scales this morning and have rubber-stamped the UAE Warriors 65 main event title fight for the Women’s Strawweight Championship tomorrow night in Al Ain. The two Brazilian brawlers made quick work in their previous promotional outings with first-round finishes and now vie for the 115lb gold on top of another stacked card at the ADNEC Centre in the historic oasis city, live on UFC Fight Pass.

The UAE Warriors 65 main event is even more intriguing considering that Silva is perhaps more well-known for her striking prowess yet finished her last fight in Abu Dhabi with a heel hook whilst Oliveira is a BJJ star whose previous outing saw her hand raised thanks to a TKO. At the fight week press conference Silva professed confidence in her jiu-jitsu and Oliveira promised to keep the fight standing. Either way, the clash of styles between two finishers looks to be a worthy contest for the vacant belt.

The co-main event sees fan favorite and former lightweight champion Bruno Machado 18-9 take on tough-as-nails Aussie vet Brentin Mumford 11-9. ‘Caveira’ has displayed ominous recent form, scoring three straight knockout victories, including a dominant display against Eduardo Garagorri 15-4 last October but Gold Coast’s Mumford is an Eternal MMA mainstay with a broad skillset with powerful Muay Thai abilities allied to an electric scramble and has exuded a confident mood throughout fight week.

A bout for the bragging rights of Dagestan will witness two athletes based in Makhachkala throw down with Abdurakhman Alimagomedov 12-1 taking on Anvarbek Daniyalbekov 11-0. A core member of Team Nurmagomedov, Alimagomedov recently returned in February after a long layoff, submitting Imran Taysultonov 6-2 in the first round and is looking as dangerous as ever, but ten of Azerbaijan’s Daniyalbekov’s eleven wins have come by KO, including a viral head-kick finish of veteran Jonas Boeno 44-22 earlier this year.

Sensational new signing and ONE Championship vet Reece McLaren 18-9 faces promotional regular Yamato Fujita 14-5 in a flyweight tussle, though the Tokyo grappler was the only fighter on the entire card to miss weight. Former XFC and Eternal champ McLaren hasn’t been stopped in over five years and with seventeen fights in ONE is undoubtedly one of the most-experienced athletes on the card. But Fujita has battled through adversity after losing his title shot to Ribeiro last year, taking two taps this year to continue a three-fight winning streak since then.

The main card curtain-riser is a mouth-watering bantamweight fight between two undefeated fighters, Mehemmedeli Osmanli 10-0 and Bakhtovar Yunusov 10-0. With a deadly submission game but training under kickboxing ace Zabit Samedov in Baku, Osmanli dominated Faeez Jacobs 12-6 at UAEW 62 to maintain a perfect finish rate in his first two promotional fights but Yunusov brings a wealth of international experience, including a regional featherweight title in Russia where he’s handed fighters their first career losses thanks to a granite chin and polished technical skillset.

With a nine-bout undercard featuring a plethora of massive names across a variety of global regions, UAE Warriors 65 is without a doubt the biggest card of the year not just for the promotion, but the entire Middle East and takes place on the 15th November at 18.00hrs in the ADNEC Centre in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates and is available streaming worldwide on UFC Fight Pass as well as Abu Dhabi Sports TV.