When it got here to Dagestan vs. Eire, to paraphrase the nice
Tito
Ortiz, there was by no means no rivalry.
The Skilled Fighters League launched itself
to Dubai within the United Arab Emirates with a showcase occasion pitting
opponents from Dagestan towards their Irish counterparts. The
Russians largely ran by their opposition, culminating with a
Bellator MMA light-weight championship protection.
Usman
Nurmagomedov (19-0, 1 NC; 1-0 PFL) carried the load of the
defunct league on his shoulders, and he approached that problem
with a stoic depth. Within the face of the hardest check of his
skilled profession, Nurmagomedov held on and secured the victory
by majority verdict.
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!#RoadToDubai
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January 25, 2025
The champ and Paul Hughes
(13-2, 1-1 PFL) chewed up the lead legs of each other with kicks
within the opening spherical when not connecting with a groin shot on
both facet. As Hughes overcommitted on strikes within the second
interval, Nurmagomedov practically scooped him off his ft, however the
former Cage Warriors Combating Championship titleholder
rebuffed his first takedown effort. Whereas a number of successive photographs
got here from varied angles, Hughes remained upright and hurled heavy
counters on the enormous betting favourite. The 2 loved one
one other’s firm in shut, thrilling exchanges on the ft,
grinning and celebrating their handiwork.
Because the struggle waged on, Hughes discovered himself attempting to win a battle
of attrition. The Irishman took it to the champion, attacking with
quantity, ferocity and an exhausting tempo. Nurmagomedov matched him
each step of the best way, just for two extra of his kicks to land beneath
the belt. After the third total groin strike landed by the
beltholder, referee Mike Beltran was compelled to deduct some extent for
the fouls. This lit a fireplace within the stomach of the unbeaten man, who
instantly chained wrestling makes an attempt collectively and located success
he had not seen so far. Hughes bounced again and gained confidence
in his arms and ft, working the physique and chopping down the calf
of his adversary to position momentum on his facet getting into the
championship frames.
The challenger picked his photographs in Spherical 4 quite than going for
broke, chasing Nurmagomedov across the cage whereas the Russian
potshotted him with jabs and calf kicks. As Nurmagomedov confirmed
indicators of fatigue within the face of Hughes’ energy strikes, the 2
lunged in the direction of each other on the identical time and clacked their domes
collectively to slash open Hughes’ brow whereas a compromised
Nurmagomedov stumbled away. Witnessing the injury sustained by
their head conflict, Hughes stood in his nook for minutes sporting a
wry grin, staring down a recovering Nurmagomedov. Nonetheless wide-eyed
and shaken up after taking ample time to get his bearings,
Nurmagomedov hit his security valve of wrestling and planted Hughes
on his again for the rest of the stanza.
Choosing up the place he left off, Nurmagomedov engaged in heavy
grappling to nullify the correct striker within the ultimate body.
Hughes by no means discovered himself caught within the dangerous facet of a dominant
place, however management time added up quick within the Russian’s nook.
Hughes gained a full head of steam and ripped into Nurmagomedov,
battering the physique and shucking off determined makes an attempt to place him
on the canvas yet one more time to seal the struggle. The duelists
concluded their sensational battle slugging it out proper to the
buzzer, leaving every little thing within the arms of the judges. One scored
it a draw as a result of level deduction, whereas the opposite two issued
48-46 scores in favor of the defending champion.
Nurmagomedov might have claimed the bulk determination and saved his
flawless report intact, however Hughes might need been the largest
winner of the night by placing himself on the map along with his
stellar efficiency. A rematch someplace down the road can be
ultimate for each combatants and the followers as effectively.
Dominant efficiency from Vadim Nemkov at
Heavyweight!#RoadToDubai
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January 25, 2025
Vadim
Nemkov (18-2, 1 NC; 2-0 PFL) made it look straightforward towards highly effective
brawler Tim Johnson
(18-11, 1-2 PFL), tapping out the North Dakotan somewhat after
three minutes into the primary spherical. From the outset, Nemkov busted
open a minimize on the highest of Johnson’s head with a pointy kick, sending
a message he was not right here to play. Though Johnson tanked just a few
extra highly effective blows, his option to storm in the direction of the Russian
labored towards him as Nemkov retaliated with clean, environment friendly
grappling. After wrestling Johnson to the mat, Nemkov climbed onto
Johnson’s again 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 marketing campaign again up at heavyweight took one other step ahead
with the one-sided victory, and along with his PFL contract accomplished, a
transfer elsewhere might loom for the 32-year-old ex-champ.
Akhmed Magomedov snaps Kelly’s win streak
with the end!#RoadToDubai
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January 25, 2025
Akhmed
Magomedov (10-1, 1 NC; 1-0 PFL) overcame critical adversity when
taking up Nathan
Kelly (11-3, 4-1 PFL) of their Dagestan-Eire featherweight
conflict. The once-beaten fighter took injury early and had his
eyebrow shredded with a nasty minimize, however as soon as he received his gears
turning, the struggle rapidly shifted in his favor. Kelly stuffed
early takedowns, however in the end couldn’t maintain Magomedov at bay and
discovered himself in grappling exchanges he didn’t take pleasure in. Throughout a
scramble, Kelly tried to flee, solely to surrender his again and
succumb to a rear-naked choke.
The faucet got here at 4:22 of the second stanza, with Magomedov placing
an finish to Kelly’s 11-fight win streak whereas bouncing again from his
first profession defeat in an enormous approach.
The failed weight minimize was not the worst factor that Kenny
Mokhonoana (5-2, 0-1 PFL) needed to endure this weekend, as
Ibragim
Ibragimov (9-0, 3-0 PFL) ragdolled him throughout three grueling
rounds. The Dagestani by no means gave Mokhonoana a second to breathe,
repeatedly grounding and hitting mat returns to maintain the underdog
trapped on the canvas for almost all of their three-round
endeavor. Not solely did Mokhonoana give up a share of his
purse by lacking the featherweight restrict by a pound, however he was
additionally suplexed on his head and despatched flying courtesy of a spinning
wheel kick in the course of the in any other case workmanlike effort from the
unbeaten Ibragimov.
When the ultimate bell sounded, the one query was whether or not a 10-8
may come into play. Judges balked at that, as an alternative issuing three
30-27s in favor of the overwhelming -2500 betting favourite
Ibragimov.
Renat
Khavalov (9-0, 1-0 PFL) opened up the primary card with a
grindingly efficient efficiency towards Brazilian submission
specialist Cleiver
Fernandes (9-2, 0-1 PFL). Though Fernandes had success on the
ft just a few instances, even rocking the Dagestan native on a couple of
event, Khavalov in any other case saved issues shut within the clinch when
not looking for takedowns. The bantamweights reached the ultimate bell
with the looks that they may go two extra rounds, however judges
needed to weigh in and unanimously gave the nod to Khavalov.
With a rating of 30-27 and a pair of 29-28s on his facet, Khavalov
improved his unbeaten report to 9 up and 0 down.
Of 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
couldn’t return to his stool on the conclusion of the primary spherical;
Mirafzal
Akhtamov (9-0-1, 1-0 PFL) smothered Mike
Thompson (7-3, 0-1 PFL) with a consciousness-depriving
arm-triangle choke, placing the British 155er to sleep at 2:50 of
Spherical 2; Hadi
Omar Al Hussaini (6-1-1, 1-1 PFL) outlasted fellow flyweight
Ruel
Panales (6-3, 1 NC; 0-1 PFL) and obtained two 30-27s and one
29-28 all in his favor; John
Mitchell (10-2, 3-1 PFL) received Eire on the board early with an
exhausting win on the scorecards over Souhil
Tahiri (7-6-1, 1-2 PFL), with the light-weight incomes 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 entrance kick to
drive the harm stoppage at 3:18 of the opening body; the night time
started with Talal
AlQallaf (3-0, 1-0 PFL) choosing up a grapple-heavy determination
over fellow beginner light-weight Saeed
AlHosani (4-3, 0-1 PFL) with scores of 29-27, 29-28 and 30-27.
