UFC 266 was a tale of two very different title fights.
In one, dominant women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko was looking to tie Ronda Rousey’s title defense record. Shevchenko was up against “Lucky” Lauren Murphy, who had won five straight to earn her first title shot at 38 years old.
The other, the main event, featured Alexander Volkanovski defending his featherweight belt against Brian Ortega. Move men were looking to move out from under the shadow of Max Holloway. “Blessed” had soundly defeated Ortega; while Volkanovski had beat the Hawaiian twice, many had seen their second meeting the other way.
UFC 266 was notable for another fight as well, one that featured the return of the elusive Nick Diaz. Fighting for the first time since 2015, Diaz had been his usual, chaotic self leading up to the bout, skipping media day and forcing the weight up a weight class, to middleweight, at the last minute. He then took part in an interview with ESPN where he questioned why he was even fighting Lawler, having knocked him out at UFC 47.
In fact, Diaz questioned why he was fighting at all, sparking concern among fans and pundits about whether his return was for the right reasons.
Following UFC 266, tune in for the post-fight press conference, the live stream of which is available above.
