UFC 294’s main card was opened by a bantamweight clash between persistent wrestler Said Nurmagomedov and enthralling striker Muin Gafurov.
Tonight’s main event involves an eagerly-anticipated rematch between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski for the Lightweight title. In a similar turn of events, re-arranged opponents face each other in the co-main, as Kamaru Usman returns to battle the ever-dangerous Khamzat Chimaev.
Nurmagomedov will be no stranger to Makhachev’s fighting style. The 31-year-old entered the contest with a record of 17-3, off the back of a decision loss to Jonathan Martinez back in March. Before that, he had been on an impressive four-fight win streak, most notably beating Saidyokub Kakhramonov via second round submission.
Tajikistani fighter Gafurov is certainly fresh to the UFC’s standard. The 27-year-old made his promotion debut back in June with a decision loss to John Castañeda. Gafurov, like Nurmagomedov, has not lost any of his bouts before the final bell. Tonight’s appearance acted as a gargantuan step-up in opponent for ‘Tajik‘ skill-level wise.
Said Nurmagomedov Breezes to Victory
The bout started off reasonably evenly. Both fighters looked to be feeling their octagon counterpart out throughout the opening minute, with Nurmagomdeov landing a decent head kick.
Gafurov seemed to have slightly caught his opponent’s chin, and chased the Russian down around the octagon’s circumference. A slow level change subsequently acted as his undoing, however, as Nurmagomedov countered with a standing guillotine choke, somewhat of a specialised move.
Gafurov quickly began to tap to the choke, so rapidly that referee Marc Goddard failed to see it intially. Nurmagomedov let his opponent go, and ‘Tajik’ fell clumsily to the ground, appearing out. The victory acts as an important result in the career of the 31-year-old, as he looks to rise through the bantamweight rankings.
Official Result: Said Nurmagomedov defeats Muin Gafurov via first-round submission (guillotine choke): R1 (1:13)
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
