Azamat
Murzakanov made deliberations easy.
The undefeated Russian leveled Matheus
Scheffel with punches in the first round of their light
heavyweight attraction on
Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas. Murzakanov (10-0) closed the show 3:00 into Round 1. He was
one of five competitors—A.J.
Fletcher, Joanderson
Sa de Brito, Victor
Altamirano and Carlos
Candelario were the others—who were awarded
Ultimate Fighting Championship contracts during
Week 1 of the 2021 season.
Operating behind a three-inch reach advantage, the 6-foot-2
Scheffel (14-7) tried and failed to keep his counterpart at bay
with body kicks. Murzakanov charged forward, sidestepped return fire
and dropped the Brazilian with a right hook, then delivered two
standing-to-ground-punches that forced referee Herb Dean to
act.
An undefeated Gladiators Academy prospect, Fletcher cut down
Leonardo
Damiani with a flying knee in the first round of their
welterweight confrontation. Damiani (10-2-1) bowed out 2:24 into
Round 1, as he suffered his first setback since Jan. 21, 2018.
Fletcher (9-0) chipped away with a few leg kicks and kept the
Italian off-balance with two takedowns. Midway through the first
round, he backed Damiani to the fence, took flight and
unleashed a perfectly timed and exquisitely placed knee that folded
him where he stood. Fletcher followed with a handful of punches
on his unconscious adversary before referee Chris Tognoni could
arrive on the scene.
The 24-year-old Fletcher has now authored eight finishes in his
nine victories, six of them inside one round.
Meanwhile, Brito leaned on takedowns, ground-and-pound and airtight
submission defense, as he laid claim to a technical unanimous
decision over Diego Lopes
in a three-round featherweight clash. All three cageside judges
scored it the same: 29-28 for Brito (12-2-1). The bout ended
prematurely 10 seconds into Round 3, where Lopes was unable to
continue after being poked in the eye. Brito was deducted a point
for the foul.
Operating out of a
Chute Boxe affiliate in Bauru, Brazil, Brito executed multiple
takedowns and consolidated them with suffocating top control and
punishing ground-and-pound. Lopes (18-4) mustered significant
resistance from the bottom and made his moves with attempted
submissions. However, his bids for an armbar, a guillotine choke
and an anaconda choke all failed.
Brito now finds himself on a 10-fight winning streak.
Finally, Altamirano overcame a slow start to eke out a split
decision over the previously unbeaten Candelario in a competitive
three-round flyweight affair. All three cageside judges struck
29-28 scorecards, two of them siding with Altamirano (10-1).
Candelario (8-1) controlled the first half of the fight with
takedowns, ground-and-pound and counter left hands on the feet, but
his pace and output slowed noticeably down the stretch. Altamirano
cut loose with multi-punch bursts, often punctuating them with
kicks to the body or lead leg. The reigning
Legacy Fighting Alliance champion mixed in occasional knee and
elbow strikes at close range, connected with a front kick to the
midsection in the third round and scrambled to the back in one of
their final exchanges on the ground.
Altamirano, 30, has won four fights in a row.