Azamat
Murzakanov made his most significant move yet in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight division, as
he disposed of Alonzo
Menifield with punches in the second round of their featured
UFC on ABC 7 prelim on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates.
Menifield (15-5-1, 8-5-1 UFC) met his end 3:18 into Round
2.
In his first appearance in more than a year, Murzakanov (14-0, 4-0
UFC) picked up apart the Fortis MMA standout with a variety of
weapons, uppercuts and knees chief among them. His handiwork
resulted in a cut near Menifield’s left eye. Murzakanov stepped on
the accelerator in the second round, absorbed the return fire and
set his counterpart on skates with a slashing left uppercut. He let
his heavy hands fly from there, drove Menifield to his back and
drew the curtain with two devastating standing-to-ground
punches.
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Murzakanov, 35, has secured 10 of his 14 professional victories by
knockout or technical knockout.
Meanwhile, Nova Uniao prospect Kaue
Fernandes cut down ex-UAE Warriors champion Mohammad
Yahya with punches in the first round of their lightweight
encounter.
Yahya (12-5, 0-2 UFC) bowed out 4:45 into Round 1,
suffering his second setback in as many Octagon assignments.
Fernandes (9-2, 1-1 UFC) tortured the Emirati with a series of
kicks to his lower lead leg. It left Yahya grotesquely swollen,
compromised his mobility and forced him into desperation mode.
Fernandes decked him with a two-punch volley, then followed up with
punches and hammerfists to prompt the stoppage.
It was the sixth first-round finish of Fernandes’ career.
Further down the undercard, KHK MMA Team rep Shamil
Gaziev rebounded from a March 2 defeat to Jairzinho
Rozenstruik with a workmanlike unanimous decision over Don’Tale
Mayes in a three-round heavyweight confrontation. Gaziev (13-1,
2-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with matching 30-27 marks from all
three judges.
Mayes (11-7, 3-5 UFC) was a non-factor, outside of a few thudding
right hands to the head and body. Gaziev deployed a merciless
clinch, completed multiple takedowns, leaned on a suffocating top
game and stayed busy enough with his ground-and-pound to avoid a
restart. Mayes offered little resistance and looked very much like
a fish out of water with his back glued to the canvas.
The 32-year-old Mayes has lost three of his past five bouts.
Finally, Allstars Training Center export Guram
Kutateladze overcame an inauspicious start to post a unanimous
decision over former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship
titleholder Jordan
Vucenic in a three-round lightweight clash. All three cageside
judges scored it 29-28 for Kutateladze (13-4, 2-2 UFC).
A short-notice replacement for Abdul-Kareem
Al-Selwady, Vucenic (13-3, 0-1 UFC) acquitted himself well in
his Octagon debut. He floored Kutateladze with a sharp right hand
in the first round, then swarmed with elbows and punches for a
potential finish. However, Vucenic’s inability to close the deal
came back to bite him. Kutateladze suffered visible damage below
both eyes but slowly turned the tide in his favor across the final
10 minutes—he opened a cut with a standing elbow strike in the
middle stanza—and did his best work when it mattered most in Round
3. There, he scrambled onto Vucenic’s back, secured his position
with a body triangle and racked up points with ground-and-pound,
all while bleeding valuable time off the clock.
The loss snapped a four-fight winning streak for Vucenic.
In other action, Sam Hughes
(9-6, 4-5 UFC) eked out a split decision—27-30, 29-28,
29-28—against Victoria
Dudakova (8-1, 2-1 UFC) in a three-round women’s strawweight
scrap; Jai Herbert
(13-5-1, 3-4-1 UFC) laid claim to a unanimous verdict over Rolando
Bedoya (14-4, 0-3 UFC) in a three-round lightweight tilt,
drawing 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 marks on the scorecards; and
Sedriques
Dumas (10-2, 3-2 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Denis
Tiuliulin (10-10, 1-5 UFC) in a three-round middleweight
pairing, earning 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 scores from the cageside
judges.