Ikram
Aliskerov waltzed into the
Ultimate Fighting Championship and nearly took someone else’s
limb with him.
One of five prospective mixed martial artists signed by the UFC on
Week 8 of
Dana White’s Contender Series, the Eagle Fighting Championship
alum submitted Mario
Filipe de Sousa with
a kimura in the first round of their middleweight
showcase on Tuesday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Filipe de Sousa (15-3, 1-2 DWCS) raised the white flag 2:09 into
Round 1 but not before suffering some apparent damage to his left
shoulder.
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The 29-year-old Aliskerov (13-1, 1-0 DWCS) waded through
considerable fire from the lanky Brazilian, attacked the hips and
secured a takedown. The onetime victim of Khamzat
Chimaev landed in side control, isolated the arm and torqued it
behind Filipe de Sousa’s back for the tapout.
Aliskerov has rattled off five consecutive victories and will be
joined on the UFC roster by Farid
Basharat, Trevor
Peek, Bruna
Emanuele Brasil and Daniel
Marcos. The unbeaten Basharat (9-0, 1-0 DWCS) rode educated kicks,
combination punching and takedowns laced with ground-and-pound to a
clear-cut unanimous decision over Allan
Begosso in a three-round bantamweight battle. Scores were
30-27, 30-26 and 30-26 marks from the cageside judiciary.
Begosso (7-2-1, 0-1 DWCS) found all avenues to potential success
cut off by a supremely well-rounded opponent. Basharat chipped away
with kicks to all levels, doubled up with a lightning-quick jab and
executed takedowns whenever he sensed a possible shift in momentum.
He put the finishing touches on a clean performance late in the
third round, where he twice achieved full mount.
The 26-year-old Begosso has lost two of his last three bouts.
A former Ares Fight Series champion, Peek kept his perfect
professional record intact and put away Malik Lewis
with
punches in the second round of their lightweight
firefight. Peek (7-0, 1-0 DWCS) drew the curtain 2:37
into Round 2.
Lewis (5-1, 0-1 DWCS) had the Alabama native on the run for much of
the first round, where he floored him with a right hand and
connected with punishing knees to the head and body. However, he
emptied his gas tank in pursuit of a finish that never
materialized. Peek stormed out at the start of the second round as
the fresher of the two men, dropped his diminished counterpart to
all fours with a knee to the body, assumed a dominant position and
prompted the stoppage with a sustained volley of strikes—first
elbows and then punches.
Peek, 27, has stopped all seven of his opponents.
Meanwhile, Brasil exploited her height and reach advantages to the
max, as she knocked out former Fusion Fight League champion
Marnic
Mann with
a head kick in the second round of their women’s strawweight
pairing. The previously unbeaten Mann (5-1, 0-1 DWCS)
checked out 4:33 into Round 2.
Brasil (8-2-1, 1-0 DWCS) drew a noticeable wince from the Montanan
with a front kick to the solar plexus in the opening seconds of the
first round and never looked back. She kept Mann off-balance with a
variety of strikes and tactical takedowns, consistently probing for
weaknesses. In the final minute of the middle stanza, Brasil
drifted into open space, set her feet and fired the fight-ending
head kick. No follow-up shots were necessary.
The 29-year-old Brasil has won seven fights in a row, five of them
via finish.
Finally, devastating leg kicks, multi-punch bursts and stellar
takedown defense carried Marcos to a unanimous decision over
Brandon
Lewis in a three-round bantamweight tilt. All three judges
scored it the same: 30-27 for Marcos (13-0, 1-0 DWCS), a former
Sparta 300 champion who made up for lost time in his first
appearance since December 2019.
Lewis (6-2, 0-2 DWCS) was behind the proverbial eight ball from the
outset. Marcos dropped him to a knee with a front kick to the face
and staggered him with a flying knee in the first round, then
proceeded to blow apart his base with a series of vicious kicks to
the lead leg. A visibly compromised Lewis did all he could to keep
it competitive, but he was physically and technically outmatched.