In addition, a Russian-speaking fighter from the post-Soviet space took part in each of the confrontations.
In third place, the American put the fight between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Jeff Neil, which took place on March 4 at UFC 285 in Las Vegas and ended with an early victory for the Kazakh welterweight.
“It was a crazy fight. Just review it. This is a case where the fight tells two stories – one about the coolness and resilience of fighter A, and the other about the dominance of fighter B. We got it at UFC 285. But as good as this fight is, this is not the best fight of the first part of this year.
In second place, Cormier sees a superfight between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski, which took place on February 11 at UFC 284 in Perth and ended with the victory of the Russian by unanimous decision.
“Ultimately, we got two of the best fighters in the world fighting for the lightweight title, and the fight was so competitive that Volkanovski guaranteed himself a rematch with Makhachev. The two most trained guys in the world competed at a level that not many can match. This is what we got at UFC 284.”
DC considers the best fight of the half year to be the confrontation between Rafael Fiziev and Justin Gaethje, which took place on March 18 at UFC 286 in London and ended with the victory of the American by a majority of judges’ votes.
“Justin Gaethje did what he does best – took the will of the opponent. Even despite the fact that Fiziev did not give up until the very end and tried his best, it was clear that the job was done. I have never met a person who handles adversity and difficult situations as well as Gaethje. He lives by it. He loves chaos. He likes to be in the middle of a train wreck. It was an amazing fight that people watched standing up from the start.”