5 of the best welterweight fights in MMA history

Alex Oliveira vs. Yancy Medeiros – UFC 218

This violent brawl is why you need to tune in early for these fight cards.

Serving as the second to last preliminary bout of UFC 218, Alex Oliveira and Yancy Medeiros nearly stole the show with their three-round thriller. If it weren’t for Francis Ngannou’s uppercut from hell or Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje’s battle for the most violent, this preliminary bout most certainly would have. Fortunately, it will get all the shine it deserves right here.

Round one begins and Oliveira comes out aggressive, basically chasing Medeiros around throwing a high number of strikes, and utilizing kicks to the body a bunch. A half-minute in, Medeiros switches it up by putting Oliveira on his back foot and drops him to the canvas with a crisp left hand. Oliveira grabs a leg to threaten a takedown but ultimately uses it as leverage to get up. Once back to the feet, Oliveira again goes into attack mode by pursuing Medeiros with lunging strikes. The two engage in a clinch, where at some point Oliveira’s nose gets busted up and is leaking blood.

A low blow separates the two. When the action resumes Oliveira scores a knockdown on Medeiros with a stinging right hand. One minute later, Oliveira lands another lead right hand to drop Medeiros for a second time. Medeiros gets up and Oliveira starts gunning for the finish. Medeiros survives, but the two continue to slug it out for the remainder of the round.

The two share a hug and embrace to start round two, then the violence would commence. After some wild exchanges to start the round, Oliveira appears to show signs of fatigue. Regardless, Oliveira keeps up the volume with heavy use of the front body kick, while Medeiros’ left-hand starts to mount growing success.

A clinch is developed in the last minute of the round where Medeiros scores a trip takedown, quickly transitioning to full mount. From here, Medeiros ends the round strong by raining huge elbows that bounce Oliveira’s head off the canvas.

Like round two, round three also starts off with a hug and an embrace from these warriors. Medeiros starts as the aggressor, but Oliveira takes control back by coming forward with a flurry of strikes. This leads to Oliveira getting a hold of Medeiros’ back and a series of takedowns. Oliveira gets control of Medeiros’s back on the ground, but only for a second before Medeiros reverses position to get top control.

They scramble to their feet and you can see that Oliveira is now clearly exhausted of all energy. Oliveira almost immediately retreats, putting his back up against the cage, and covers up. Medeiros comes forward to deliver several unanswered blows that force referee Bobby Wombacher to stop the fight.