Australian Jack Della Maddalena will have to go back to the drawing board after his first UFC title defence ended in a crushing loss to modern-day great Islam Makhachev at Madison Square Garden.
Makhachev, who vacated his lightweight crown to rise to welterweight, entered Saturday night's (Sunday AEDT) bout on a 15-fight winning streak and looking to become a two-division champion.
Della Maddalena was confident he could fight his way out of Makhachev's grappling prowess, but it wasn't the case in front of a packed New York crowd.
Makhachev took Della Maddalena down in each of the five rounds, with more than 18 minutes of the 25-minute fight resulting in Makhachev dominating his opponent on the canvas.
Although Della Maddalena fought hard to avoid being submitted, he had to rely on the bell on numerous occasions to get out of the grapple.
All five judges scored the bout 50-45 in a unanimous decision, with Makhachev becoming just the 11th fighter in UFC history to claim titles in two different divisions.
"This is a dream. All my life for these two belts. I'm really happy," Makhachev said.
"My life has changed. No cutting weight, five rounds non stop I can wrestle. I make this night so easy.
"Jack's one of the best in this game, one of the hardest opponents.
"That's why I prepared so hard - to make this easy.
"I tried to do some chokes, but he defends it very well. But I made this easy because I trained so hard."
With Makhachev strongly indicating his preference to stay at welterweight in a bid to dominate the division, Della Maddalena will have to significantly boost his grappling-escape techniques if he is to be any chance of winning a re-match down the track.
Makhachev (28-1) was barely hit throughout the fight and needed just 70 seconds to earn his first takedown.
It meant Della Maddalena (18-3) had to scrap for survival for almost four minutes until the round-one bell saved him, with the 29-year-old handed a foul for a late kick.
Della Maddalena made a mistake early in the second when his attempt to throw Makhachev resulted in another takedown, forcing another long, exhausting scrap for survival.
Makhachev's calf kicks early each round started to take a toll on Della Maddalena in the third, with the Russian continuing to control matters in the same manner for the rest of the contest.
Della Maddalena did well each time to avoid a submission.
But with his right leg in tatters and having no answers to Makhachev's grappling, the West Australian was barely able to fire a shot.
In the co-main event, Valentina Shevchenko stamped herself as one of the greatest women UFC fighters of all time when she defended her flyweight title against strawweight star Zhang Weili.
Zhang vacated her strawweight belt to come up to meet Shevchenko, but the size difference between the two was noticeable throughout.
Shevchenko (26-4-1) took down Weili (26-4) in each round, dominating from start to finish to earn the unanimous decision.
Ecuadorian Michael Morales (19-0) took another step towards a welterweight title fight after defeating No.2 challenger Sean Brady with a first-round knockout.
Carlos Prates (23-7) also put himself in the welterweight title conversation by knocking out former champion Leon Edwards (22-6) in the second round.
The first fight of the main card lasted just 16 seconds, with Benoit Saint-Denis felling Beneil Dariush in what was the sixth fastest knockout in UFC lightweight history.
Meanwhile, American MMA fighter Dillon Danis, who is not part of the UFC, has been banned from UFC events for life after engaging in an all-in crowd brawl against Makhachev's support team.
