The line of
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweights who want to
test Abdul-Rakhman
Yakhyaev figures to grow even shorter given his latest
performance.
The fast-rising Turkish contender kept his perfect professional
record intact and did so in sensational fashion, as he wiped out
Julius
Walker with punches in the first round of their featured
UFC Fight Night 280 prelim on Saturday at the National
Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan. Yakhyaev (10-0, 3-0 UFC)
slammed the door just eight seconds into Round 1, authoring the
second-fastest finish in the history of the 205-pound weight
class.
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Walker (7-3, 1-3 UFC) never stood a chance.
Yakhyaev felled the Xtreme Couture rep with a devastating overhand
right on the counter, pounced with follow-up punches and drew the
curtain with an almost dismissive disdain.
Meanwhile, American Top Team’s Nursulton
Ruziboev put Andrey
Pulyaev to sleep with a vicelike rear-naked choke in the first
round of their middleweight encounter.
Pulyaev (10-4, 1-3 UFC) lost consciousness 3:58 into Round 1,
losing for the second time in as many appearances.
Ruziboev (37-9-2, 5-1 UFC) dragged the Alexander
Shlemenko protégé to the canvas, jumped to his back and married
steady ground-and-pound with repeated submission attempts. His
efforts generated the desired opening, as he weaved his arms into
place, cut off blood flow to the brain and waited for Pulyaev to go
limp.
The 32-year-old Ruziboev has strung together three consecutive
victories.
Elsewhere, former Hex Fight Series champion Kaan Ofli
dismissed Javier
Reyes with a mounted arm-triangle choke in the second round of
their featherweight tilt. Reyes (23-5, 1-1 UFC), who entered the
cage on the strength of a three-fight winning streak, made his
unceremonious exit 4:16 into Round 1.
Ofli (14-4-1, 3-2 UFC) successfully navigated the Colombian’s
enormous seven-inch reach advantage, peppering him with well-timed
counters and stout leg kicks.
He ultimately decked Reyes with a sharp one-two, swarmed with
punches and hammerfists, cinched the choke in full mount and
elicited the tapout.
It was the seventh first-round finish of Ofli’s career.
Deeper into the prelims, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 33 winner
Daniil
Donchenko dispatched Theodor
Berggren with a head kick and follow-up punches in the second
round of their welterweight affair. A late-notice fill-in for
Andreas
Gustafsson, Berggren (8-4, 0-1 UFC) clocked out 1:35 into Round
2.
Donchenko (14-2, 3-0 UFC) zeroed in on the organizational newcomer
with low kicks and brutal body shots in the first round, slowly but
surely immobilizing the Swede.
The emerging Tiger Muay Thai star floored Berggren with a head kick
roughly 90 seconds into the second period, gave chase and cut loose
with a violent volley of punches to seal the deal.
The 24-year-old Donchenko has won seven fights in a row, five of
them finishes.
Finally, former UAE Warriors champion Tahir
Abdullayev put away the previously unbeaten Renovacao Fight
Team prospect Jefferson
Nascimento with punches in the third round of their
welterweight pairing.
Abdullayev (20-3, 1-0 UFC) brought it to a close 4:28 into Round
3.
Neither man offered much in terms of meaningful offense ahead of
the stoppage. Abdullayev grew frustrated with the Brazilian’s
incessant movement—he flashed a middle finger at him in the first
round—but turned up the heat near the end of the middle stanza.
Nascimento (13-1, 0-1 UFC) picked up his pace in Round 3 but left
himself open for takedowns and started to absorb some significant
ground-and-pound. Abdullayev eventually increased the intensity of
his punches, prompting referee Jim Perdios to intervene.
Abdullayev, 29, has rattled off five straight victories.
In other action, Farman
Hasanov (5-0, 1-0 UFC) called on repeated takedowns and
outlasted Eric Nolan
(8-5, 0-2 UFC) to a unanimous decision in their three-round
featherweight confrontation, as he earned 30-27 marks from all
three cageside judges; and Jean
Matsumoto (18-2, 4-2 UFC) overcame a gnarly cut to his left
eyebrow and posted a unanimous decision—29-28, 29-28, 29-28—against
Bekzat
Almakhan (12-4, 1-3 UFC) in their three-round bantamweight
scrap.