The squeeze of @Omari_Akhmedov
forces Tom Breese to tap
#UFCFightIsland8 pic.twitter.com/GDcScdehik— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
January 20, 2021
It’s been a long time since Omari
Akhmedov finished an opponent in the Ultimate Fighting
Championship.
That changed at
UFC on ESPN 20, when he tapped out Tom Breese
with an arm-triangle 1:41 into the second round of of their
middleweight clash at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The
fight-ending maneuver didn’t come by chance, either.
“I was working on that submission the whole camp,” Akhmedov said.
“My coach told me I have to finish the fight with this submission
when I get mount. I have to work ground-and-pound first and then go
for it when he raises his hands. I did it probably 1,000 times in
this camp, so it came naturally.”
The 33-year-old American Top Team representative followed his
coaches’ instructions perfectly. Prior to the submission. Akhmedov
battered his opponent with purposeful ground-and-pound from above,
forcing Breese to scramble for desperation submission attempts.
Ultimately, it was to no avail.
“Tom
Breese is a very good boxer and a very tough fighter,” Akhmedov
said. “My game plan was to wrestle right away and make him tired,
then move around a bit in the standup.”
The end result was Akhmedov’s first stoppage win in UFC competition
since June 2015, when his UFC Fight Night 68 pairing with Brian
Ebersole ended after his opponent succumbed to a knee injury
following one round. Akhmedov’s previous seven Octagon appearances
had all gone to the judges.
“It’s been a few years since my last finish in the UFC,” he
admitted. “I don’t know why. I’m pretty glad I got it this
time.”
The victory also allowed Akhmedov to rebound from a decision loss
to former middleweight champ Chris
Weidman this past August. “Wolverine” has lost just once in his
last eight UFC bouts and is eyeing more high-profile opponents at
the top of the division.
“I want to fight someone in the top 10 or 15 next. I don’t want to
fight unranked fighters anymore,” he said. “Tom Breese is
a good fighter, but he’s not on my level.”