Alexander Volkanovski vowed to keep “proving all them doubters wrong” after he retained his featherweight title at UFC 266 following a stunning five-round clash with Brian Ortega on Sunday morning.
The Australian, making his first appearance since his successful first title defence in Abu Dhabi last summer, recorded his 20th consecutive professional victory in mixed martial arts via unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Volkanovski had began well, impressing in the opening two rounds, but in the next was forced to somehow escape two choke attempts from Ortega – much to the amazement of the capacity crowd at T-Mobile Arena. The champion, 32, still finished the round raining down heavy blows on his seemingly exhausted opponent.
Ortega, beaten only once previously in 16 pro MMA outings, was then inspected thoroughly by the doctor between rounds and subsequently deemed OK to continue. In the end, and after surviving another choke attempt in the fourth, Volkanovski emerged the clear victor, with scores of 49-46, 50-45, 50-44.
"I'm a normal human being,” he told Daniel Cormier in the octagon afterwards. “I've said it time and time again. Just hard work got me to where I am. All them doubters, I'm going to keep proving you wrong time and time again.
“I don't care. I'll be an underdog until the day I die. Bring it."
Defending the belt for the second time – he defeated former champion Max Holloway on Fight Island in July last year – Volkanovski’s past 10 victories have come in the UFC. The bout against Ortega received a bonus from the promotion for fight of the night.
In the night’s co-main event, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko dominated Lauren Murphy before sealing a fourth-round TKO to equal Ronda Rousey's record for successive UFC title defences by a female fighter (6). The Kyrgyzstan athlete, 33, now has 22 pro wins in mixed martial arts.
Elsewhere, Nick Diaz lost on his much-anticipated return to the octagon, going down in his rematch against Robbie Lawler via third-round TKO. The pair first met in 2004, when Diaz won, but the popular American could not replicate the result after six years away from the UFC.
"I'm glad I at least put on the show,” Diaz said inside the octagon. "I don't have no excuses. I had a long time off and I knew I had it coming."
The biog
Job: Fitness entrepreneur, body-builder and trainer
Favourite superhero: Batman
Favourite quote: We must become the change we want to see, by Mahatma Gandhi.
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETuhoon%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYear%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFares%20Ghandour%2C%20Dr%20Naif%20Almutawa%2C%20Aymane%20Sennoussi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ehealth%20care%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E15%20employees%2C%20%24250%2C000%20in%20revenue%0D%3Cbr%3EI%3Cstrong%3Envestment%20stage%3A%20s%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWamda%20Capital%2C%20Nuwa%20Capital%2C%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
