Aiemann Zahabi had to dig deep to keep his winning streak going tonight at UFC 315 after being rocked by Jose Aldo in the final round, before giving the legend a taste of his own medicine late in the round to win the round and emerge with a unanimous decision victory.
Round One
Side-to-side movement from Zahabi to start. A minute gone and no strikes landed yet. Aldo with a body kick. He fires off a few punches, but doesn’t connect.
Aldo again presses forward behind punches, showing some real aggression in his work there. Aldo lands a nice punch. Body kick for Zahabi.
Missed high kick from Zahabi. Aldo rips to the body. Low kick from Zahabi. He lands another and gets a punch upstairs through too.
Thigh kick from Aldo. Zahabi rifles off a few punches, but they come up short. Push kick from Aldo. Zahabi with an aggressive surge forward now and lands a few punches. Aldo tries to fire back but misses on a loaded-up hook. Good pressure from Zahabi. He tries to go for the thai clinch and work a couple of knees to the body. Hook for Aldo.
Round Two
Knee to the body from Zahabi. Push kick for Aldo. Calf kick from Zahabi. Jab for Aldo. Both men staying active but not quite finding the mark. Zahabi then does land a couple of punches. Now it’s Aldo who finds a home for his jab.
Right hand for Aldo. Zahabi marching forward, but Aldo connects nicely to the body. Aldo working behind the jab. He lands a right hand now.
Aldo with a jab. Zahabi reaching a bit with some punches. He does land one now though. Kick from Zahabi strays to the cup and forces a brief time-out for Aldo.
Back to it now. Triple jab from Aldo. Zahabi pressures, but Aldo uses side-to-side movement to escape. Another kick from Zahabi lands to the groin according to Aldo who complains, but replay suggests it was perhaps higher to the belt.
Aldo doesn’t need much time to recover. Zahabi with a leg kick. He lands a jab too. Now a left hand. Aldo misses and Zahabi catches him. Good end to the round from Zahabi as he starts to find the target a bit more.
Round Three
Zahabi active with punches but then Aldo comes back with an aggressive flurry. Knee to the body from Aldo. Good three-piece combo from Zahabi.
Punch and a knee from Aldo. He lands another punch to the body. Grazing hook from Zahabi. Knee from Zahabi and a punch.
Suddenly a hard punch from Aldo has Zahabi in trouble. Aldo chasing after him looking to land more offense. Big kick puts Zahabi down for a moment and he’s in survival mode for now as he gets back up and tries to keep his legs under him as scurries away.
Zahabi survives the onslaught though and now seems to have found a second-wind, while by contrast Aldo appears to be running out of steam all of a sudden.
Zahabi with strikes and Aldo doesn’t respond well. Aldo forced to shoot for a takedown, but it doesn’t work out and Zahabi gets on top and blasts him with hard ground-and-pound. Aldo eating a few hard shots here. Zahabi tiring too though and his offense slows temporarily.
Zahabi with a big elbow and opens up a cut to Aldo’s forehead! More hard elbows land and now it’s Aldo who is just clinging on in survival mode late in the round. We’re headed to the scorecards!
Decision
This fight took a while to really get going, but the third round was a thriller in which both men had to fight through big moments of adversity. And the judges are unanimous in their verdict – and it’s Zahabi who defeats the legend Aldo, with that late rally in the final round swinging the fight in his favor (29-28 x3).
Aldo is clearly disappointed with the result and slumps down against the cage afterwards. He’s taken off his gloves, and goes on to confirm in his post-fight interview that he’s thinks that this is his last fight.
