UFC Fight Night 84 results: Makwan Amirkhani bests rival Mike Wilkinson

Makwan Amirkhani

LONDON – For a brief moment, it looked as though two rounds of athletic guard passes and dominant top control had exhausted Makwan Amirkhani against Brit Mike Wilkinson.

But even when Wilkinson (9-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) had the chance to turn things around in the third frame, Amirkhani (13-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) dug deep and used his superior grappling to reassert control and take him a decision.

The featherweight bout closed out today’s UFC Fight Night 84 preliminary card at The O2 in London. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

The final scorecards were 29-28 twice and 30-27 for Amirkhani, who picked up his third straight UFC win and avenged his teammate Niklas Backstrom’s knockout loss to Wilkinson two years ago in Sweden.

Amirkhani took an early lead by taking the fight to the ground with lightning-fast takedowns. On the mat, he largely refused Wilkinson a chance to escape. When Wilkinson scooted his hips, Amirkhani bounded over his legs and kept top position. There, he landed punishing elbows that had blood running from Wilkinson’s mouth.

Wilkinson, doing his best impression of bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz on the feet, had his best chance with a guillotine choke that intercepted Amirkhani’s shot in the second round. Amirkhani, however, created space and returned to mount position.

A pause from Amirkhani in the third indicated all of his movement in the first two rounds had taken its toll. Wilkinson stuffed a takedown and stood to capitalize with punches from top position. But an apparent submission setup backfired, allowing Amirkhani to get back on top.

Wilkinson is now 2-2 in the UFC after his knockout of Backstroke.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 84 results include:

• Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Wilkinson via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
• Davey Grant def. Marlon Vera via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
• Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey via knockout (punch and high kick) – Round 1, 4:45
• Arnold Allen def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Krzysztof Jotko def. Brad Scott via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
• Rustam Khabilov def. Norman Parke via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Daniel Omielanczuk def. Jarjis Danho via majority technical decision (29-29, 29-28, 29-28) – Round 3, 1:31
• Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 0:24
• David Teymur def. Martin Svensson via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 1:26

For more on UFC Fight Night 84, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in London.)