By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
PFL: Nurmagomedov vs. Davis and UFC Fight Night: Bautista vs. Oliveira
were both this past weekend and featured some exciting fights and
finishes and two big title fights. Who won and who lost? Let’s get to the rundown.
PFL: Nurmagomedov vs. Davis
GOOD- Pouya Rahmani submits Karl Williams
They traded strikes in the first round and in the second round, Rahmani got the fight to the ground and started working to try to lock
in a submission. He does so and forces the tap a bit over three and a
half minutes into the second round.
Rahmani improves to a perfect 6-0 while Williams drops to 10-5 and has
lost 4 straight fights. Good win for Rahmani.
GOOD/BAD- Salamat Isbulaev stops Jesus Pinedo
Very slow start, as neither man wants to engage. Isbulaev finally gets
a takedown, moves to a mounted crucifix, and elbows Pinedo in the face
until the referee stops the fight with three seconds left in the first round. Wow, talk about whiplash.
Isbulaev improves to a perfect 10-0 while Pinedo drops to 25-8-1. Good
win for Isbulaev.
GOOD- Abdoul Abdouraguimov vs. Kendly St. Louis
They trade some strikes but spend most of their time on the mat.
Abdouraguimov controls the fights in my eyes but has to settle for a Split Decision win.
Abdouraguimov improves to 20-1 with 1 No Contest and has won 10
straight fights while St. Louis drops to 11-6. Good win for
Abdouraguimov.
GOOD- Ramazan Kuramagomedov vs. Shamil Musaev
This fight was to crown the inaugural PFL Welterweight Champion. Not a
great fight but to be honest, I was only able to half pay attention.
Something was happening here that I had to take care of. The fight looked solid but nothing spectacular.
Kuramagomedov won the decision to improve to a perfect 14-0 while
Musaev drops to 18-1-1 and has his 5 fight winning streak snapped.
Good win for Kuramagomedov, the new PFL Welterweight Champion.
Kuramagomedov then retired in the cage after the fight. Not sure if that’ll stick (as he’s only 29) but I wish him the best in whatever comes next for him.
GOOD- Usman Nurmagomedov submits Alfie Davis
Nurmagomedov was looking to defend his PFL Lightweight Championship
for the first time here, after having successfully defended his
Bellator Lightweight Championship four times.
They start off trading kicks for most of the round, until Nurmagomedov
gets a takedown and ends the first round on top. The second round
begins and ends with a lot of kicks being traded. The third round
starts with Nurmagomedov getting a takedown, though Davis is eventually able to secure a standup. Toward the end of the third round
Nurmagomedov grabs Alfie and locks in an arm-triangle choke and gets
the win with about twenty second left in the third round.
Nurmagomedov improves to 21-0 with 1 No Contest and has won 4 straight
fights while Davis drops to 20-6-1 and has his 3 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Nurmagomedov.
UFC Fight Night: Bautista vs. Oliveira
GOOD- Dustin Jacoby stops Julius Walker
They start off trading strikes until Walker tries for a takedown a few
times and slams Jacoby down. Jacoby is quickly back up but gets suplexed down. Again, he’s right back up. Walked ends the first round
by slamming Jacoby to the mat again. The second round begins with more
strikes flying from all angles and Walker gets dropped. Jacoby lands a
few bombs and walks off but the referee allows the fight to continue
and starts hammering Walker more. Walker fires back with a takedown attempt but is only getting smashed more. This continues for a while
until the referee finally jumps in to stop the fight a bit over a minute and a half into the second round.
Jacoby improves to 22-9-1 and has won 3 straight fights while Walker drops to 7-2. Good win for Jacoby.
GOOD/BAD- Farid Basharat vs. Jean Matsumoto
They start off firing right away, with knees, elbows, and spinning
back fists flying. They fight on the cage for a while until Matsumoto
gets a takedown. Basharat is back up and they trade strikes until the
end of the first round. The second round begins with the fighters clinching and trading hard strikes, including some stiff knees.
Matsumoto gets a few more takedowns and they grapple for the rest of
the second round. The third round starts with more striking and clinchwork. Basharat grabs the fence for the 19th time, with the
referee only admonishing him each time and no more. Basharat knees
Matsumoto in the head illegally while he was grounded toward the end of the fight as well, nothing done about that either.
We go to the judges to render the verdict.
Basharat wins the Split Decision to improve to a perfect 15-0 while
Matsumoto drops to 17-2. That should have been a Draw at best for Basharat. He committed more than enough fouls to be deducted at least
one point. Moving on.
GOOD- Michal Oleksiejczuk vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
The fighters spend the entire first round trading heavy strikes that
are nearly fight-ending. The second round begins with more heavy
striking exchanges. Oleksiejczuk was starting to pull away in the
first round as his damage piled up but Barriault is coming back well in this round. Oleksiejczuk is still landing heavy strikes but
Barriault is basically saying Screw it, mask off, and is walking Oleksiejczuk down and landing a bunch of heavy strikes of his own.
Great toughness on display here from both men. The third round starts
with still more heavy striking exchanges. Oleksiejczuk is landing a bunch of heavy strikes and is pulling away again. Barriault shows good
toughness, though, and won’t be finished so we go to the judges to
render their verdict.
Oleksiejczuk wins the decision to improve to 22-9 with 1 No Contest
while Barriault drops to 17-11 with 1 No Contest. Good win for
Oleksiejczuk.
BAD- Rizvan Kuniev vs. Jailton Almeida
The first round is pretty slow, as both fighters throw some strikes
but mainly are looking to establish themselves physically. The second
round begins with more of the same, as they grind on each other, much
to the crowd’s dismay. The third round starts with still more of the
same grinding and this bad fight goes the distance.
We go to the judges to render their verdict.
Kuniev wins the decision to improve to 13-3-1 with 1 No Contest while Almeida drops to 22-5. Moving on.
GOOD- Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Amir Albazi
They trade strikes early and often in the first round, with Albazi dropping Horiguchi with a big left hand. Horiguchi is right back to
his feet, though, and they feint at each other until the first round ends. The second round begins with more striking exchanges, with
Horiguchi getting the better of things. The third round starts with more of the same, as Horiguchi is pulling away with his fight with his
accurate and damaging strikes. Albazi is a bloody mess as the fight ends.
We go to the judges to render their verdict.
Horiguchi wins the decision to improve to 36-5 with 1 No Contest and
has won 5 straight fights while Albazi drops to 17-3. Good win for Horiguchi.
GOOD- Mario Bautista submits Vinicius Oliveira
They start off trading kicks until Bautista gets a takedown. The
action stalls and the first round ends. The second round begins with
Bautista getting a takedown but Oliveira grabs the fence and is quickly back up. They’re down and up a few more times until they go to
the mat for good. Bautista uses a kimura to transition to a rear-naked
choke and Oliveira has to tap out towards the end of the second round.
That escalated fast.
Bautista improves to 17-3 while Oliveira drops to 23-4 and has his 6 fight winning streak snapped. Good win for Bautista.
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My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence, the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
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magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you would check it out and support me. Thank you very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
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