When it came to Dagestan vs. Ireland, to paraphrase the great
Tito
Ortiz, there was never no rivalry.

The Professional Fighters League introduced itself
to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with a showcase event pitting
competitors from Dagestan against their Irish counterparts. The
Russians largely ran through their opposition, culminating with a
Bellator MMA lightweight championship defense.
Usman
Nurmagomedov (19-0, 1 NC; 1-0 PFL) carried the weight of the
defunct league on his shoulders, and he approached that challenge
with a stoic intensity. In the face of the toughest test of his
professional career, Nurmagomedov held on and secured the victory
by majority verdict.

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The champ and Paul Hughes
(13-2, 1-1 PFL) chewed up the lead legs of one another with kicks
in the opening round when not connecting with a groin shot on
either side. As Hughes overcommitted on strikes in the second
period, Nurmagomedov nearly scooped him off his feet, but the
former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder
rebuffed his first takedown effort. While multiple successive shots
came from various angles, Hughes remained upright and hurled heavy
counters at the huge betting favorite. The two enjoyed one
another’s company in close, exciting exchanges on the feet,
grinning and celebrating their handiwork.

As the fight waged on, Hughes found himself trying to win a battle
of attrition. The Irishman took it to the champion, attacking with
volume, ferocity and an exhausting pace. Nurmagomedov matched him
every step of the way, only for two more of his kicks to land below
the belt. After the third overall groin strike landed by the
beltholder, referee Mike Beltran was forced to deduct a point for
the fouls. This lit a fire in the belly of the unbeaten man, who
immediately chained wrestling attempts together and found success
he had not seen thus far. Hughes bounced back and gained confidence
in his hands and feet, working the body and chopping down the calf
of his adversary to place momentum on his side entering the
championship frames.



The challenger picked his shots in Round 4 rather than going for
broke, chasing Nurmagomedov around the cage while the Russian
potshotted him with jabs and calf kicks. As Nurmagomedov showed
signs of fatigue in the face of Hughes’ power strikes, the two
lunged towards one another at the same time and clacked their domes
together to slash open Hughes’ forehead while a compromised
Nurmagomedov stumbled away. Witnessing the damage sustained by
their head clash, Hughes stood in his corner for minutes wearing a
wry grin, staring down a recovering Nurmagomedov. Still wide-eyed
and shaken up after taking ample time to get his bearings,
Nurmagomedov hit his safety valve of wrestling and planted Hughes
on his back for the remainder of the stanza.

Picking up where he left off, Nurmagomedov engaged in heavy
grappling to nullify the accurate striker in the final frame.
Hughes never found himself stuck in the bad side of a dominant
position, but control time added up fast in the Russian’s corner.
Hughes gained a full head of steam and ripped into Nurmagomedov,
battering the body and shucking off desperate attempts to put him
on the canvas one more time to seal the fight. The duelists
concluded their sensational battle slugging it out right to the
buzzer, leaving everything in the hands of the judges. One scored
it a draw due to the point deduction, while the other two issued
48-46 scores in favor of the defending champion.

Nurmagomedov may have claimed the majority decision and kept his
flawless record intact, but Hughes might have been the biggest
winner of the evening by putting himself on the map with his
stellar performance. A rematch somewhere down the line would be
ideal for both combatants and the fans as well.



Vadim
Nemkov (18-2, 1 NC; 2-0 PFL) made it look easy against powerful
brawler Tim Johnson
(18-11, 1-2 PFL), tapping out the North Dakotan a little after
three minutes into the first round. From the outset, Nemkov busted
open a cut on the top of Johnson’s head with a sharp kick, sending
a message he was not here to play. Although Johnson tanked a few
additional powerful blows, his choice to storm towards the Russian
worked against him as Nemkov retaliated with smooth, efficient
grappling. After wrestling Johnson to the mat, Nemkov climbed onto
Johnson’s back and snared the rear-naked choke, flattening the
grizzled vet out and forcing him to say “Matte” at 3:08 into the
heavyweight contest.

Nemkov’s campaign back up at heavyweight took another step forward
with the one-sided victory, and with his PFL contract completed, a
move elsewhere may loom for the 32-year-old ex-champ.



Akhmed
Magomedov (10-1, 1 NC; 1-0 PFL) overcame serious adversity when
taking on Nathan
Kelly (11-3, 4-1 PFL) in their Dagestan-Ireland featherweight
clash. The once-beaten fighter took damage early and had his
eyebrow shredded with a nasty cut, but once he got his gears
turning, the fight quickly shifted in his favor. Kelly stuffed
early takedowns, but ultimately could not keep Magomedov at bay and
found himself in grappling exchanges he did not enjoy. During a
scramble, Kelly attempted to escape, only to give up his back and
succumb to a rear-naked choke.

The tap came at 4:22 of the second stanza, with Magomedov putting
an end to Kelly’s 11-fight win streak while bouncing back from his
first career defeat in a big way.



The failed weight cut was not the worst thing that Kenny
Mokhonoana (5-2, 0-1 PFL) had to endure this weekend, as
Ibragim
Ibragimov (9-0, 3-0 PFL) ragdolled him across three grueling
rounds. The Dagestani never gave Mokhonoana a moment to breathe,
repeatedly grounding and hitting mat returns to keep the underdog
trapped on the canvas for the majority of their three-round
endeavor. Not only did Mokhonoana surrender a percentage of his
purse by missing the featherweight limit by a pound, but he was
also suplexed on his head and sent flying courtesy of a spinning
wheel kick during the otherwise workmanlike effort from the
unbeaten Ibragimov.

When the final bell sounded, the only question was whether a 10-8
might come into play. Judges balked at that, instead issuing three
30-27s in favor of the overwhelming -2500 betting favorite
Ibragimov.

Renat
Khavalov (9-0, 1-0 PFL) opened up the main card with a
grindingly effective performance against Brazilian submission
specialist Cleiver
Fernandes (9-2, 0-1 PFL). Although Fernandes had success on the
feet a few times, even rocking the Dagestan native on more than one
occasion, Khavalov otherwise kept things close in the clinch when
not hunting for takedowns. The bantamweights reached the final bell
with the appearance that they could go two more rounds, but judges
had to weigh in and unanimously gave the nod to Khavalov.

With a score of 30-27 and a pair of 29-28s on his side, Khavalov
improved his unbeaten record to nine up and zero down.

In their unplanned 200-pound catchweight contest, Ahmed Sami
(12-4, 1 NC; 1-0 PFL) wrapped up the prelims by battering Tarek
Suleiman (13-9, 1 NC; 0-1 PFL) so mercilessly that the Syrian
could not return to his stool at the conclusion of the first round;
Mirafzal
Akhtamov (9-0-1, 1-0 PFL) smothered Mike
Thompson (7-3, 0-1 PFL) with a consciousness-depriving
arm-triangle choke, putting the British 155er to sleep at 2:50 of
Round 2; Hadi
Omar Al Hussaini (6-1-1, 1-1 PFL) outlasted fellow flyweight
Ruel
Panales (6-3, 1 NC; 0-1 PFL) and received two 30-27s and one
29-28 all in his favor; John
Mitchell (10-2, 3-1 PFL) got Ireland on the board early with an
exhausting win on the scorecards over Souhil
Tahiri (7-6-1, 1-2 PFL), with the lightweight earning a trio of
30-27 tallies; middleweight Haider Khan
(9-1, 1-0 PFL) shattered Mostafa
Rashed Nada’s (9-4, 2-1 PFL) left arm with a front kick to
force the injury stoppage at 3:18 of the opening frame; the night
began with Talal
AlQallaf (3-0, 1-0 PFL) picking up a grapple-heavy decision
over fellow amateur lightweight Saeed
AlHosani (4-3, 0-1 PFL) with scores of 29-27, 29-28 and 30-27.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

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