UFC Fight Island 5 Results: Cory Sandhagen Defeats Marlon Moraes With Stunning Kick

October 10, 2020

The main event of UFC Fight Island 5 was a bantamweight battle between top-ranked Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen, with the latter finishing the fight early with a well-executed spinning heel kick.

The fighters started out cautious, with Sandhagen chipping away at Moraes’ legs with low kicks, but Moraes came back with a strong leg kick of his own. After a few quick strike exchanges, Sandhagen came at Moraes hard with a flying knee, but the damage appeared to be minimal. Moraes threw a nice spinning back fist at Sandhagen, which was blocked, and Sandhagen worked a solid uppercut on his opponent. Sandhagen landed a body kick on Moraes with a little under a minute left, then hit another body kick and followed it up with a knee. With about fifteen seconds left, Moraes caught Sandhagen’s leg following a kick and managed to get him down to the ground, but ran out of time before being able to do anything with it.

In round two, both fighters opened up with leg kicks, staying light on their feet and exchanging a few quick combos. Then, in about a minute into the round, Sandhagen landed a beautiful spinning heel kick that hit its mark on Moraes’ head. Moraes fell to the ground, and Sandhagen capitalized and rained down punches until the referee called the fight.

HEEL KICK TO THE DOME ?

âŒ›ï¸ @Cors_Life has arrived on Fight Island!

[ #UFCFightIsland5 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/p0tHHDUTNs
— UFC (@ufc) October 11, 2020

Sandhagen’s victory marked another fancy kick finish for this card. Earlier in the night, Joaquin Buckley knocked out Impa Kasanganay with a spinning heel kick of his own that has since gone viral and is being called one of the best knockouts in UFC history.