UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta | Event Profile, Full Results & Legacy
- Conor McBragger
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Introduction
UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta. April 7, 2018. Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. Khabib Nurmagomedov became the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion, defeating Al Iaquinta by UD (50-45, 50-44, 50-45) in the most chaotic fight week in UFC history. The card was the fourth attempt at a Khabib-Ferguson unification fight; the third time Iaquinta was the headliner; and the week the UFC learned that Conor McGregor was capable of anything.
The week’s timeline: Ferguson tore his knee on April 1 (4th cancellation of the Khabib match). Holloway accepted on 6 days’ notice. On Thursday April 5, McGregor arrived at the Barclays Center loading dock, smashed the windows of a fighter transport bus with a hand truck, injured two scheduled fighters (Chiesa; Borg), caused the cancellation of three fights, was arrested, and was charged with assault. On fight-day morning, Holloway was declared medically unfit by the NYSAC. Al Iaquinta, who weighed in 0.2 lbs over for his preliminary LW fight, was eventually accepted as the replacement. The card ran 9 fights instead of 13.
Rose Namajunas retained the WSW title in the co-main, defeating Joanna Jędrzejczyk by UD in their rematch. Zabit Magomedsharipov def. Kyle Bochniak in an exciting FW war. Iaquinta talked trash throughout all five rounds and survived to the final bell.
Contents
Quick Stats
Date: April 7, 2018
Venue: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York (2nd UFC in Brooklyn; card reduced from 13 to 9 fights due to McGregor bus attack)
PPV: 350,000 buys
Main Event journey: Khabib vs. Ferguson (4th booking, cancelled April 1 — Ferguson knee injury) → Khabib vs. Holloway (accepted; medically unfit Friday morning) → Khabib vs. Pettis (declined/asked too much) → Khabib vs. Felder (NYSAC rejected as unranked) → Khabib vs. Iaquinta (accepted; weighed 155.2, ineligible for title per NYSAC)
Main Event Result: Khabib def. Iaquinta — UD (50-45, 50-44, 50-45) — UNDISPUTED LW Champion at 26-0; Iaquinta survived all 5 rounds talking trash throughout
McGregor bus attack: April 5 — McGregor threw hand truck at fighter bus; Chiesa facial cuts (cancelled); Borg glass in eye (cancelled); Lobov pulled; 3 fights cancelled; McGregor arrested; later pled no contest; community service
Co-Main: Rose Namajunas def. Joanna Jedrzejczyk — UD — WSW Championship (1st defence; 2nd consecutive win over Joanna)
Bonuses: POTN: Zabit/Bochniak ($50k each); POTN: Gruetzemacher ($50k); POTN: Aubin-Mercier ($50k)
The Week’s Timeline
Sunday April 1: Tony Ferguson tears his fibular collateral ligament (FCL) walking across a cable on the set of a media promotional piece. He is transported to hospital. The injury is confirmed on Monday. The fourth booking of Khabib-Ferguson — five days before UFC 223 — is cancelled. Ferguson posts a video from the hospital.
Monday-Tuesday: Max Holloway accepts the fight on six days’ notice at featherweight, requiring him to cut from 145 to 155 lbs in days. The announcement is received with awe at the short notice. Holloway begins cutting weight immediately.
Thursday April 5: McGregor and a group of associates arrive at the Barclays Center parking garage during a media day. McGregor throws a metal hand truck through the windows of a bus transporting UFC 223 fighters. Michael Chiesa suffers facial lacerations from broken glass and is removed from his Anthony Pettis bout. Ray Borg has glass in his eye; his fight is cancelled. Artem Lobov is pulled from his card. Three bouts are cancelled outright. McGregor is arrested by the NYPD; charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief. He is released on $50,000 bail.
Friday morning weigh-ins: The NYSAC declares Holloway medically unfit to compete, citing concerns about rapid weight cutting. Holloway is removed from the main event. The UFC pursues Anthony Pettis (his own fight was cancelled; the deal reportedly fell through over money), Paul Felder (NYSAC refused as unranked), and finally Al Iaquinta. Iaquinta weighs in at 155.2 lbs — acceptable for a standard LW fight but 0.2 over the title limit. NYSAC confirms it will not recognise the fight as a title bout for Iaquinta. The UFC announces it will recognise him as champion if he wins. Khabib is the only fighter eligible to win the belt.
McGregor Bus Attack
The bus attack on Thursday April 5, 2018 is the most significant act of pre-fight chaos in UFC history. Conor McGregor’s motivation was reportedly the deportation of his training partner Artem Lobov, who had been pulled from the card after an alleged altercation with Khabib’s team the night before.
McGregor and associates accessed the loading dock area of Barclays Center. He grabbed a metal hand truck (dolly) and hurled it at a bus window. The glass shattered across the seated fighters inside. Chiesa sustained cuts to his face that required medical attention; his fight with Pettis was cancelled. Borg had glass shards in his eye; his fight with Matheus Nicolau was cancelled. Lobov was removed from the card.
McGregor was arrested at the NYPD’s 78th Precinct. He appeared in court and was released on $50,000 bail. His co-defendant Cian Cowley was released on $25,000. In late July 2018, after extensive legal proceedings, McGregor pled no contest to a single count of disorderly conduct, received five days of community service, and the remaining charges were dropped.
Main Event
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Al Iaquinta — LW Championship
Khabib secured four takedowns in round one. Over the five-round fight, he controlled over seven minutes of grappling time, landed sustained ground-and-pound, and won every round on every scorecard. Iaquinta defended tenaciously from the bottom, landed occasional sharp strikes in the standup exchanges, and talked trash throughout all five rounds.
Iaquinta was the #11 ranked LW in the world. He survived to the final bell. The scorecards: 50-45, 50-44, 50-45. Khabib Nurmagomedov was the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion at 26-0. He had entered as interim champion; McGregor’s belt was officially gone.
Co-Main: Namajunas vs. Jedrzejczyk 2
Rose Namajunas (c) vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk — WSW Championship
Unlike their first fight — where Namajunas KO’d Jędrzejczyk in round one — the rematch went five rounds. Jędrzejczyk was more cautious and more disciplined. Namajunas’s volume and accuracy were consistent across all five rounds. UD (49-46, 49-46, 49-46). Namajunas confirmed her WSW championship was not a fluke.
Full Results
Preliminary Card
Devin Clark def. Mike Rodriguez — Decision — R3 — LHW
Ashlee Evans-Smith def. Bec Rawlings — TKO — R? — WBW
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Evan Dunham — Decision — R3 — LW; POTN ($50k to Aubin-Mercier)
Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Felice Herrig — Decision (Unanimous) — R3 — WSW
Main Card
Chris Gruetzemacher def. Joe Lauzon — Decision — R3 — LW; POTN ($50k to Gruetzemacher)
Zabit Magomedsharipov def. Kyle Bochniak — Decision (Unanimous) — R3 — FW; POTN ($50k each); entertaining all-action fight
Renato Moicano def. Calvin Kattar — Decision (Unanimous) — R3 — FW; Moicano dominant
Rose Namajunas def. Joanna Jędrzejczyk — Decision (Unanimous) — R5 (49-46 x3) — WSW Championship; 1st defence; 2nd consecutive win over Joanna; Co-Main
LW Championship — Main Event
Khabib Nurmagomedov def. Al Iaquinta — Decision (Unanimous) — R5 (50-45, 50-44, 50-45) — LW Championship (vacant; McGregor stripped); Khabib 26-0; undisputed LW champion; Iaquinta survived all 5 talking trash
Bonuses & Awards
Performance of the Night: Zabit Magomedsharipov + Kyle Bochniak — $50,000 each.
Performance of the Night: Chris Gruetzemacher — $50,000.
Performance of the Night: Olivier Aubin-Mercier — $50,000.
Records & Milestones
Khabib Nurmagomedov — undisputed LW champion at 26-0. His next fight was the most anticipated in UFC history: vs. Conor McGregor at UFC 229 on October 6, 2018 in Las Vegas. That event drew 2.4 million PPV buys — the highest in UFC history.
Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov — four bookings and four cancellations. By April 2018 the fight had fallen apart due to: (1) Ferguson lung issue (TUF Finale 2015); (2) Khabib injury (UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans); (3) Khabib hospitalised during weight cut (UFC 209); (4) Ferguson torn FCL walking on set (UFC 223). It was booked once more for UFC 249 in April 2020 before COVID cancelled the event. The fight never happened.
Conor McGregor pled no contest to one count of disorderly conduct in late July 2018. He performed five days of community service. No jail time.
Legacy & Impact
UFC 223’s pre-fight week is the most chaotic in the UFC’s history. The convergence of Ferguson’s injury, McGregor’s bus attack, Holloway’s medical disqualification, and the scramble to find a replacement opponent — eventually settled on a fighter weighing 0.2 over who was ineligible to win the belt — produced a fight week that read like a bad film pitch.
Despite it all, Khabib won the fight decisively. And McGregor’s arrest set up the McGregor-Khabib fight at UFC 229 in October 2018 as a personal confrontation in addition to a sporting one. 2.4 million PPV buys followed.
FAQ
Why was Khabib vs. Ferguson cancelled for the fourth time at UFC 223?
On April 1, 2018, Tony Ferguson tore his fibular collateral ligament (FCL) while walking across a cable on the set of a promotional media piece. He was hospitalised and confirmed unable to compete. This was the fourth consecutive booking of the fight to fall apart, following cancellations in 2015 (Ferguson lung issue), 2016 (Khabib injury), and 2017 (Khabib hospitalised during weight cut at UFC 209).
What happened in the McGregor bus attack at UFC 223?
On Thursday April 5, Conor McGregor and associates entered the Barclays Center loading dock during a media day. McGregor grabbed a metal hand truck and threw it through the windows of a bus carrying UFC 223 fighters. The broken glass injured Michael Chiesa (facial lacerations; fight cancelled) and Ray Borg (glass in eye; fight cancelled). Artem Lobov was pulled from the card. Three bouts were cancelled. McGregor was arrested by the NYPD, charged with assault and criminal mischief, released on $50,000 bail, and later pled no contest to a single count of disorderly conduct.
Why was Max Holloway removed from the UFC 223 main event?
Holloway had accepted the fight on six days’ notice, requiring him to cut from his natural featherweight to lightweight (155 lbs) in days. At Friday morning’s official weigh-in, the New York State Athletic Commission declared Holloway medically unfit to compete, citing concern about the speed and method of his weight cut.
Was Al Iaquinta eligible to win the LW title at UFC 223?
No. Iaquinta weighed in at 155.2 lbs — 0.2 lbs over the 155 lb lightweight championship limit. Under NYSAC rules, he was ineligible to fight for the title. The UFC announced it would recognise Iaquinta as champion if he won, but the NYSAC confirmed it would not. Only Khabib could win the belt, which he did by UD.
Who was Khabib’s next opponent after UFC 223?
Khabib’s next fight was against Conor McGregor at UFC 229 on October 6, 2018 in Las Vegas. The fight drew an estimated 2.4 million PPV buys in the United States — the highest in UFC history. Khabib won by submission in round four, then was involved in a post-fight brawl involving his team and McGregor’s team that resulted in fines and suspensions for multiple participants.
References
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